- Oct 23, 2014
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There is nothing easy about that play against a highly skilled forward who already had speed coming out of the defensive zone.
He would have danced around him if he was that aggressive and left the rangers defending an odd man rush.
Honestly, I don't know what there's really not to get. No one's saying he should have stood him up or gone for a big hit, that's how you get danced. What we're saying is he had the angle to close him off along the boards. A closeout is not a step-up, that can get you beat like you're saying, it's angling a guy off and forcing him to get rid of the puck. Instead of pivoting and skating forward toward Ehlers to close him out, he backed up and got burned.
It was a bad play, that's all.