will1066
If you score four, you better f'n win the game
- Oct 12, 2008
- 52,584
- 75,888
Actually Smith is the LD and Holden the RD on that pairing — although both are LHS which is far from optimal...
AV need to get a natural RD and LD on the ice when defending. You can’t have a RD out there trying to clear pucks with his back hand which a LHS is forced to do. The positioning, everything just becomes a mess.
I see your point. Just watched the play again, and in hindsight Smith was by far the transgressor over Holden. If Smith had flipped the puck high and into the Florida end, the whole sequence would never have happened. Instead, he triggered a two-on-one break, and by the time Holden got the puck, he was in between the hash marks and had little time and space as a LHS. Holden could have tried turning to his left and spin toward the right boards and flip the puck high off the glass on his backhand, but again he had little time and space and had to make a split-second decision, which was to go forehand toward the left boards. Then Holden wound up defending down low to Pav's left and when Smith got destroyed blocking the Pysyk shot he scooted across the crease to try and block Malgin's shot and wound up taking Pav's eyes away.