Instead of falling to a three-game skid and allowing their division rival to take one more step in closing the gap on their division lead, the Kings stormed back with a tying goal in the dying seconds and eventually an overtime winner in the game on against San Jose Sunday evening.
It was beautiful if you were a Kings fan, as the team had put forth two pretty rough efforts against Arizona and Minnesota.
It was ugly and frustrating if you were a Sharks fan. The Sharks have put together an inspired run recently and were looking to add to their form, which was previously 8-2-0 in their last 10 games.
The penultimate goal of the game, one of both frustration and jubilation depending on what side of the aisle you were sitting on, was the game-tying goal by Vinny Lecavalier with just 13 seconds left in regulation.
The empty net situation definitely added a different element to this breakdown, but upon further viewings it became more about several key one on one battles being lost in front than an extra man being on the ice. The one on one breakdowns also came from two Sharks players who are generally considered key contributors to the team.
We are talking about Brent Burns, who was “covering” Lecavalier in front. However, we are also talking about Logan Couture, who lost a key battle with Tanner Pearson to the side of the net. We are also looking slightly at Joel Ward, whose position on the ice may have led to some uncertainty with Burns and who he should be keeping tabs on.
That seems like a lot for one measly goal that came with an extra man, but this was a bit of fundamental awareness and communication that went haywire for the Sharks here.
Usually we take a look at different King breakdowns in this blog, but for a fun change, let’s look at what things the Kings opponent did in allowing a breakdown.
First off, the play in full:
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Looks pretty straight forward: Burns loses Lecavalier.
Right?
Rightfully, we can criticize Burns here. He really did not touch Lecavalier. He left him standing alone right in front. He was not even within stick checking range of the eventual goal scorer. In the still he has his eyes straight on the puck and loses Lecavalier for a split second.
All this is true, and remains true on second, third, and infinite more viewings of the play.
However, let’s highlight WHY Burns was playing the way he was playing. It was not simply that he is a player who is bad at defense. Ah but alas, hockey is a complex game with many things to think about in a matter of seconds. There are other things at work here.
First, let’s establish the mindset of Burns.
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He has eyes on the passer. He has Lecavalier in front of him. He has Joel Ward in the high slot. He has Gaborik behind him. He has a gap between he and Ward that he knows needs to be covered so Gaborik cannot be hit for the one timer on the weak side. He also sees that Couture is on Pearson, so he is mainly not a threat in this play. The Sharks are sunk in, the points are available, but given Nieto out high, Ward in the high slot, and both Burns and Couture in front it might not get through.
This was the status of the Sharks defense right before the goal.
Herein lies the issue though.
Joel Ward is a tad bit squirrley on the play leading up to the goal. He is not playing it altogether wrong by being in the high slot, but clearly there is a breakdown in communication between Ward and Burns in regards to who is covering the cross ice weak side one timer from Gaborik. To make matters worse, Ward is on his off hand, whereas Burns has the easier righty advantage of covering that pass. For whatever reason, Burns was way more concerned with the weak side play than Lecavalier right in front. Right before the goal you could see a moment of hesitation from Burns, as if he did not know what play to go to.
There is some legitimate reason to it, and this is where Logan Couture comes into play.
From the Burns’ point of view the passer has the following options:
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Option 3 is a low risk play, option 2 should be considered a high-risk play with the position of both Ward and Nieto covering the passing lanes with sticks, and option 1 is kind of a home-run play but poses the highest chance of success.
Burns may have, in the heat of this moment, really misread how unavailable and how difficult a position Gaborik really was on that backside. Dustin Brown was going to have to laser guide that pass through a player’s legs, between two sticks, and onto the tape of Gaborik. All Gaborik had to do was likely put it in on a one time or quick two-touch shot, by a big goalie in Martin Jones. Easy right?
Well, in the mind of the Sharks D-man, if he took step to his left in order to put a body on Vinny, that gap to get the pass across to Gaborik would have become that much wider, thus becoming that much more likely to have success. Ergo, he opts to take a step away from Lecavalier in order to cover the gap.
The real nail in the coffin here is the stick position of Logan Couture in front.
Couture is all sorts of turned around on this play as he engages Tanner Pearson during a battle in front. Instead of doing a good job defensively, he ends up with his back to the passer, and his stick off the ice for an extended period of time. He was attempting to box out and get body position on Pearson (which he did), but it ended up going like this...
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This creates a…not near perfect passing lane for Brown…but a much better one and a much more threatening one for him in Vincent Lecavalier.
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The tip off the stick of Pearson, a stick that probably should have and could have been tied up by Couture, slowed the puck down just enough to throw off Jones and allow Lecavalier to jam it home untouched by Burns.
While it may be simple and correct to blame Brent Burns here on this play to a degree, Couture puts his defenseman in an awkward position. He played off of Lecavalier, expecting that passing lane and gap to the front to not exist. Unfortunately for the Sharks and for Burns, it did.
Overall, Couture did a poor job of controlling his zone of the ice defensively at a key time. Brent Burns did a poor job of reading the lanes and reacting to a developing play. Both led to the goal scorer being wide open in front.
The Kings eventually went on to win in overtime, but this goal in the final seconds is probably going to be one that the team breaks down on film a little bit.
The Kings got out of San Jose with a big two points thanks to this play.
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