How can Jack Eichel turn his series around after slow start to Stanley Cup final?
Plenty of things are going well for the Vegas Golden Knights, who own a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final over the Carolina Hurricanes with an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead on home ice on Tuesday night.
Mitch Marner is waltzing to the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his first season with the team, and solid team defense and physicality has limited the Hurricanes’ scoring outbursts to smaller, concentrated stretches of time, allowing the Golden Knights to build up leads in the middle of games.
One thing that could still get much better for Vegas is the play of first-line center Jack Eichel, who has struggled mightily in the face-off dot while being limited to just two assists through three games in the series.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters discussed what has gone into Eichel’s lackluster performance and what he can do to turn things around.
Tyler Yaremchuk: It is surprising on the flip side to see the way Jack Eichel has struggled, though. And I mean, hey, you’re the one who could break down the systems and see all that. I can say something very simple. If you start with the puck only 42% or whatever it is, less than 40% of the time, you’re not going to have a lot of success if you’re not starting with the puck on your stick.
Steve Peters: Yeah, and unfortunately when you lose those face-offs for Eichel, he is going to have to defend more. And give him credit. He’s defended very well. He’s minus-2 in the series, but he’s getting those tough matchups and he’s spending too much time in the defensive zone. And it really is going to start with the face-offs. They need to start with the puck. I don’t believe face-offs are a huge factor in deciding games. Clearly, Carolina dominated in the circle in there behind in the series 2-1. However, when your best players don’t start with the puck, you can’t create offense. You’re defending, defending, defending, and then you need to change. Eichel’s got to start with the puck and then it’s going to be Theodore, McNabb getting the puck up the ice quickly so they can have time in the offensive zone. And we see Eichel shine on the power play on that half-wall just off of the left circle. He just doesn’t have time. Carolina is just exhausting on how aggressive they’ve been on Eichel on that half-wall. He’s the guy who likes to be patient. He likes to make that play below the goal line and get the puck into the bumper. He doesn’t have time, and Eichel is at his best when he has time and space or when he can get the opportunity to get some speed through the neutral zone. We haven’t seen that Jack Eichel yet in this series.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…