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Capitals vs. Leafs - Nov. 28th, 5:00pm - TSN4

There must be a purpose to what Berube is trying to accomplish on offense, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is.
Maybe it’s the old lull the opposition defence and goalie to sleep from severe underwork so when you do do something attacking it’s such a surprise it leads to a shock goal tactic.

Almost worked when the goalie did nothing for 10 minutes then *BOOM* breakaway out of nowhere
 
Maybe it’s the old lull the opposition defence and goalie to sleep from severe underwork so when you do do something attacking it’s such a surprise it leads to a shock goal tactic.

Almost worked when the goalie did nothing for 10 minutes then *BOOM* breakaway out of nowhere

Ha, if only I could believe you.
 
There must be a purpose to what Berube is trying to accomplish on offense, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is.

Go North: move the puck to the OZ
Dump and forecheck: don’t turnover the puck in the dangerous NZ areas, give your team a chance to build momentum to forecheck their retrieval and force turnovers
Put it on net with traffic: cause chaos, make defenders turn around, generate rebounds (mini turnovers)

Most goals are scored from the slot off
1) odd-man rushes
2) turnovers in the OZ
3) passes from behind the net to the front

The Leafs are struggling because this is an effort and execution system, not a gentle no-contact regroup in safe uncontested ice and hope Marner/Nylander makes a play to break down a set defensive box to Matthews/Tavares. It needs puck movers from the backend to help the puck go north. Forwards need to dump and chase in sync or else it’s just a deeper turnover.
 
Go North: move the puck to the OZ
Dump and forecheck: don’t turnover the puck in the dangerous NZ areas, give your team a chance to build momentum to forecheck their retrieval and force turnovers
Most goals are scored from the slot off
1) odd-man rushes
2) turnovers in the OZ
3) passes from behind the net to the front

The Leafs are struggling because this is an effort and execution system, not a gentle no-contact regroup in safe uncontested ice and hope Marner/Nylander makes a play to break down a set defensive box to Matthews/Tavares.

Sounds reasonable in pixels, but none of 34 91 and especially not 88 are ever going to be good at forechecking shift after shift. So it seems like, let's neuter the 3 best forwards and then see if we can pull games out of our rectal region.
 
Sounds reasonable in pixels, but none of 34 91 and especially not 88 are ever going to be good at forechecking shift after shift. So it seems like, let's neuter the 3 best forwards and then see if we can pull games out of our rectal region.

Those three are actually decent to great forecheckers, but they’re also your best mid-ice options to make plays and tame the chaos long enough to weave some magic. Nylander often beats 2 defenders to strip the puck off their retrieval but then the puck goes to someone with no stick skills coughing it up.

Good skill can show up in any situation. It doesn’t need to be catered to the way they did under Keefe. They had almost zero battle experience come playoff time when space was nullified.

What they’re very not good at is generating emotional momentum for their team.

Last season Pacioretty (and OEL early on) would literally just go for a shift to run someone to spark the team because he saw that tepid, placid, flaccid media-trained skill group’s inability to read what their depth teammates needed. It’s a hard way to play though and you have to be a bit of a maniac.
 
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