"I still think we are a confident group. I think we know what we can do on the other side of these stretches. It is just about flipping it. I don't think it takes an extraordinary play to flip it. Just keep stacking the ordinary things that I think have slipped for us a little bit. The biggest one is turnovers in the neutral zone. When you turn the puck over in the neutral zone, you have fewer instances of forecheck."
"In our last game, our forecheck was good. We just didn't get enough of it because we were turning pucks over. And defending in our own zone is fine. But when you turn pucks over, there is no structure that is going to help you on the other side of that. That is how you create the rush game for the other team, and if they don't get anything off the rush, they get to start in the O-zone, and you have to defend."
Toronto and Montreal rank among the NHL's highest-scoring yet most defensively vulnerable teams through the first quarter of the season. Both teams seek to reverse recent fortunes after an underwhelming November. Team confidence persists, and recovery hinges on flipping short slumps by re-establishing routine plays and correcting neutral-zone turnovers that reduce forechecking and offensive-zone time. Defending inside the defensive zone is generally adequate, but turnovers create opponent rush chances and sustained O-zone starts that force prolonged defending. The matchup is a significant divisional game against a highly skilled opponent featuring dynamic players like Hutson who require careful attention.
Read at Maple Leafs Hotstove
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]