Here are some quick hit items as we wait for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final
The San Jose Sharks need to figure out how to attack the Penguins more frequently than they have. Pittsburgh's speed is suffocating them through the neutral zone and they haven't been able to generate as many controlled zone entries as they are probably accustomed to. The real advantage the Sharks have is when they are cycling the puck down low. They may have to take a page out of the Los Angeles Kings playbook and play more chip and chase. Extended shifts in the Penguins zone are something that can be had based on the style of players Pittsburgh has. In order to maximize their chances of staying in the zone I would recommend a heavy 2-3 forecheck.
Here is a real half assed diagram on the forecheck due to time constraints.
Basically send two forecheckers hard on the puck. Their main goal is to prevent the Penguins from making a center breakout. They do this by forechecking inside-out and suffocating the defenseman that has the puck. It is a very aggressive forecheck. Inside-out means to take a path that will force the Penguin to skate or move the puck along the strong side wall. The F2 will read the play and either prevent the reverse pass to the defenseman or join F1 if they feel like they can outright win the battle. The Sharks defensemen have a green light to pinch hard all the way down to the hash marks. This is the bottleneck that will create turnovers and eliminate controlled exits. The Sharks F3 gets to slide behind and take the place of the defender. A lot of times the puck will come up top to the forward. They can then walk the blue line and let a snap shot go. F1 and F2 read and react to create the built in screen. The weakness of this forecheck would be the alley-oop play that HBK runs but at this stage of the game the Sharks have to play to win and not worry about the bad things that can happen.
You usually see an ultra aggressive 2-3 forecheck at the end of games when a team is frantically trying to tie the game up. I think the Sharks should probably go for blood right away and not wait until the end.
Here is some data on the Penguins defensemen on why I think this will work
PIT-SJ Game 2: 5v5 Individual Possession Analysishttps://t.co/gJ3n3UZ3gJ
— tempofreehockey (@TempoFreeHockey) June 4, 2016
The nice thing for Pittsburgh through two games is just how well Justin Schultz and Ian Cole have done. Mike Sullivan has utilized them in a sheltered role and it has had positive results. With the series shifting to San Jose I believe Peter DeBoer can get his horses up against that line and put a damper on their success.
I believe the 2-3 forecheck would work nicely against the slower moving Olli Maatta and Ben Lovejoy who is quick to fire the puck up off the boards.
If San Jose is unable to hem the Penguins in like they did in period two of Game 1 they are going to have a bad time in this series moving forward.
This definitely won't help the Sharks out at all
Tomas Hertl is out tonight, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer says. DeBoer says he has arguably been their best player in the first two games.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 4, 2016
Tomas Hertl has a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of 59.56% in the playoffs and an even-strength points per 60 of 1.75. Through two games against Pittsburgh his SAF is 63%. He is a great compliment to the two Joe's and his presence is going to be missed. It remains to be seen how the Sharks will allocate their lines with Hertl out of the lineup.
Pittsburgh has a great opportunity in front of them tonight. A victory all but seals their fourth Stanley Cup Championship.
****
Brand new Hockey Hurts Podcast talks about the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. You can find that here
Thanks for reading!