Three week since last post in this thread. Now there is 7 games in and some kinks are still being worked out. I wouldn’t say we have reached stride defensively on the defense. Overall team defense is better with all the close games.
Two major things in the defensive zone we aren’t seeing as much of as we could.
1- They don’t eat pucks on the boards in our defensive zone to wind the clock down enough. They are trying to look for a pass and thats not what they should. Screw the refs when they are yelling move the puck. Eat it in your skates,fall on it but don’t rush low percentage passes. Doing that allows defensive coverage time for everyone to have a look around. Kill the clock at every opportunity when leading.
2- They don’t ice the puck enough out of our end. They lead the league in faceoffs win percentage. Trust your centermen, depend on them. It kills momentum and if you aren’t a tired line do it as soon as they are picking up momentum. Use the clock better and it adds intensity to our defensive game.
Yesterday i seen a few unexpected icings. We shouldn’t ever not use it as a option. Keefe needs to do a no stick defensive practice kicking the puck around. Sounds odd but its good practice.
Team defense to this point is improved
