- Feb 10, 2010
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Yes I think that players on relatively one line teams tend to see their scoring suffer more in the playoffs than other players. I don't have stats behind this, it is just something you notice over time. Playoffs are also a time to really create a gameplan for a team, and planning helps defence generally.
It makes perfect sense though.
Teams tend to have a top d pairing and a line of players that focuses more on defense. If an opposing team has 1 superstar - they are going to get the focus of that top pairing and that shutdown line. If a team has two superstars (like Sakic and Forsberg), then the team has to decide to focus their top defensive players to shut down one of them or else split time, in which case both Sakic and Forsberg are (more often) facing the 3-4 or 5-6 D pairing and the non-shutdown lines.
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