Je veux analyser les deux premiers buts des Leafs, juste pour susciter une discussion plus réfléchie
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Shotokanguy
@Red Wings de Détroit
Je veux analyser les deux premiers buts des Leafs, juste pour susciter une discussion plus réfléchie
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Shotokanguy
1 Comment
So, I don’t really know why I’m doing this at 11:35 at night, but I got some crap from someone bothered by my commenting style in the game thread and I felt like trying to be constructive. I like to talk about what happened in a thorough way and I think a lot of people don’t see the little things that can lead to a goal, and they blame the wrong guys. Chiarot, for example, is on the ice for both of these goals, and I think there’s almost nothing he could do about them.
So, first goal. Pretty much on the first frame of the video, you can pause and look at the Wings forward positions. Rasmussen is pressuring the puck carrier, Veleno is covering Matthews, and Erne is on a path to move up and cut off the puck carrier’s only other easy option. What happens is that Erne goes out of position to land a pointless hit, and the puck is sent up the ice past Seider. This leads to a rush, and Rasmussen doesn’t have enough speed to pick up Matthews when Veleno has to switch to defend the other forward on his wing. Matthews is the late man and finds a spot between Chiarot and Veleno to snipe it over Husso. Just a good hockey play caused by one player going out of position.
The next goal starts with the players battling for the puck in the corner. It pops out in the Leafs’ hands, with two players up high. They rotate to the right side of the ice, and Larkin rushes up to the point man, then chases the puck to the right side despite Chiarot already being in position to block a shot. The puck carrier sends it right back to the guy Larkin should have stayed with, and he has a clear lane to get it on goal, and Chiarot tries to whack away the rebound but it’s instantaneous and only a little luck will save you there.
I do think the Wings played pretty well, but I also think « pretty well » for them this year includes these lapses in positioning and the lower quality of their scoring chances all throughout the game. There are several fundamental areas for improvement, and that’s why I’m still excited about this team’s potential. Let’s just hope the improvement starts before things start to balance out, as the stats suggest they should.