They literally built their team to react to us. Should be flattered. They're literally paying a guy nearly 7 million just to shadow Kopitar. I haven't seen the full-on shadow since the 90s.
I have faith that we won't get pushed around when it matters. Ducks went out of their way to act like tough guys last night and refs aren't going to let goalie shots go in a playoff series because that's poor management that will boil over and make their lives harder. Sutter clearly has the noose on Lucic if not others or he would have gone murder-death-kill last night.
For us it was just regular season game #50 whatever. For the Ducks, it was a statement game. And they're a fantastic team so it is what it is, no point in stewing in it. They're not going to keep up a .900 all year; them and the Sharks are peaking a little early imo and we're going to wake up out of a mid-season slumber as always even if we drunkenly stumble to the finish line of the consolation season.
That's true about the shadow. 4 on 4 zone type coverage, with man on man for Kopitar coverage.
But at the same time in today's NHL, there is more man on man D coverage than ever before. Some teams engage a 5 on 5 man, while others are content to have the wings function like traditional zone coverage covering points and weak side high slot, and have the D and C follow their guy around with 3 on 3 man to man coverage, with switches if necessary. The switches are what save a player like McNabb with Doughty or Schenn with Martinez. You don't like to have the switches, cause it means you're in trouble. This is what I don't like about Schenn. He tends to just want to post up in front of the net the more his shift drags on. It allows players to take a step back from him into soft areas, and he can't or won't get there. Same with McNabb but he's played the system more and is better at knowing what he's supposed to do. It's just that sometimes he gets fried and he's looking at the numbers on the back of someone's sweater. Schenn won't see numbers because he's back in front of the net waiting to clear rebounds, and at times not guarding anyone. In bring Kopitar, who is part of the 3 on 3 coverage down low, and he's so good defensively that he's always saving Schenn. I know I'm rambling on here, but this is what I see. I'm not saying Schenn screws this up all the time, but many times this is where it all breaks down. To me, this is where Scuderi might be better than Schenn because he understands how all this supposed to work. But he's slower now as well. To me, that's why the eye test for players like Gravel or Forbort looks better because they have more speed, and yet they are not so soft physically like McBain or Ehrhoff are. I know they are just rookies, and DS doesn't believe in rookies for the playoffs, and I respect his decision. It's a tough call to make. But if DS thinks Scuds is going to fly around the zone like Gravel in coverage, he's needs to drink some different coffee. It's too late now in the season, but I wish they would have just started the season playing both Forbort and Gravel as a pair, and we would have easily known by Christmas whether it had a chance to work. If Panarin were on the Kings, he would have never seen the ice. In today's NHL, there are some young kids situations that will work. And, it's not like Forbort or Gravel are kids. They'll both be 24 very soon. When you hear post game quotes about them from DS, you'd think they were teenagers back in school still.
