Game Thread: Belated Blue Jackets @ Red Wings thread

[Winged_Wheel88]

Forgot today was Thursday. Columbus leads 2-1 after 1.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Forgot today was Thursday. Columbus leads 2-1 after 1.

Seems like the Wings forgot it was Thursday, too, based on the score

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Zidlicky with a brain fart.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Seems like the Wings forgot it was Thursday, too, based on the score

Shots were 17-12 after 1, and currently 21-14 in Detroit's favor. Red Wings also owned the faceoff circle with 88% wins.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Zetterberg, that was a goal.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Shots were 17-12 after 1, and currently 21-14 in Detroit's favor. Red Wings also owned the faceoff circle with 88% wins.

Maybe it was just the goaltender

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Maybe it was just the goaltender

Damn Fortythree probably has his kid in net for the Jackets tonight.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Who was that? #13 just blew by two Red Wings.


Big E. Should have figured.

Well now we're screwed.

 

[tsawchuk]

for fuck sakes....

 

[tsawchuk]

This is gonna ruin a perfectly good BBQ

 

[tsawchuk]

I'm gonna be positive. They will come back and win this.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

This is gonna ruin a perfectly good BBQ

I'm gonna be positive. They will come back and win this.

No we won't.

Pass the BBQ, please. And a beer. Lots of beer.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

How long is Helm due to be out, btw? He went down with injury while I was out of town.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Dammit, thought we were about to get one back.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

Fight! Fight! Fight!

 

[tsawchuk]

Ok, PP goal right here.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

And another PP chance.

 

[detroit_schlegs]

There are some basic axioms that apply when playing in the NHL that are often improbable to escape if you want to be successful on a consistent basis. One of those, which sits near the top of the list, is that when you get out-skated for nearly 60 minutes of a game, especially against a team whose number one asset is their foot-speed, your chances of coming out on top will be but a dream much of the time.

 

[Winged_Wheel88]

BLOOD's not here, so.............


This team needs an ENEMA

 

[detroit_schlegs]

So, that being said, one of your number one objectives on the list within the game plan, must be to counter that speed with something in order to improve your chances to be successful. What might that be? A) It is necessary to buffer some of that benefit of that quickness of theirs; B) Finding ways to limit their space is essential, since that is what promotes that foot speed most of all so that the speed-a-foot could become of epidemic proportions; and C) A necessity to find ways from allowing any attack in your zone from being too deep is paramount to avoid too much attention in the paint. Addressing each of these three potential threats doesn't require the need for a nuclear physicist to solve these issues. The Jackets have beaten the Wings on a regular basis in their last 12 meetings (9-2-1); and, what seems to have stood out most in those games, is the imbalance of quickness to the puck in many of the areas of the ice. Being very physical against teams like that tends to wring out much of the immediacy in their play by changing the dynamics of their time and space for consistent puck possession, first and foremost. Another weapon in this regard is to focus on a continued N-zone containment strategy, similar to that which the Devils teams of old continually employed against teams, like those Wings' teams of that era, who were much more fleet-a-foot than they were. Those Devils' teams were so successful at that system that many of the teams who played them requested the league to devise rule changes to prevent that type of strategy. It does work though, and it tends to supplement some of the lack of quickness which some of our back liners have. Another key element which a structure like this promotes, especially whenever the attackers enters your zone with immediacy, is that your personnel must restrict their tendencies to "chase" the man with the puck, like we so often do, and focus their concentration more on restricting the space for that player to deliver the puck to those who are open for passes or rebounds. This is the area that we are lacking in putting our effort far too often, resulting in disastrous turnarounds in momentum. Opposing players are consistently being "unattended" in our end, and, in far too many of those cases, the results have given those in the successful shooting areas capable of tipping the score sheet in their favor. Preventing the players who are off the puck from having any space could solve many of the problems that has ailed us in our end for far too long. We literally spend far too much of our total energy on the puck-carrier when in our end, while at the same time, leaving the danger lurking among those off the puck to be able to be consistently putting our netminders at risk for fending off the onslaught by himself.