What the Toronto Maple Leafs can learn from the Florida Panthers’ offensive attack
The Florida Panthers have been stretching the Toronto Maple Leafs to their limits all series in the offensive zone. Cape Breton Eagles head coach Jon Goyens joined Daily Faceoff Live to discuss the Panthers’ offensive attack and how the Maple Leafs can mimic it in the future.
Frank Seravalli: So, Jon, I loved the approach from the Leafs in game 4; they seemed a lot more comfortable. They didn’t feel like they needed to press for the offense, and as Mike said earlier in the show, they were comfortable winning a game 2-1 or 2-0, whatever it might been. So can they take any of Floridas’ offensive zone strategy, and instead of essentially relying on scoring off the rush, can they mimic some of that and turn the tables on Florida?
Jon Goyens: Absolutely, I agree. If you think you’re just going to score off the rush, then you’re also susceptible, typically and analytically, to potentially have turnovers that bite you in the butt going the other way. It’s just going to happen; the numbers support it. If you are willing to relinquish the position to reload in another area of the ice, get defensive zone coverages, move comfortably and spin and become puck focused with their skill set and their quick-strike abilities, then they could absolutely use this as a strategy.
Currently, they are last in terms of teams who are left in the second round; they are last in goals that are scored in the trapezoid area in 5v5. As we saw in the game-winning goal yesterday, not only did they use the trapezoid area to release pressure, they go to it four times; they don’t force a blocked shot they don’t force a turnover, it’s a different version of possession, but they have the opportunity to create off of what seems like chaos and getting Florida to run around. They were able to regain possession, and now they got their defenders moving around, and nobody gets Marner at the top, and they win the race to the net.
That’s probably the last spot when you start doing this and getting your lows to highs, which is how quickly defensive coverages seem to lose the net presence guy as he sprints to either box out or just creates that chaos. I thought it Toronto could add this to their arsenal, if you will, and this will get Florida’s defense running around, and they might not be Abel to keep up to their pace.
Frank Seravalli: Yeah, it was amazing to see that puck pass through the trapezoid four times in that sequence—the trap goal, as we like to call it. Jon, I love to tap into your hockey brain, and you can follow Jon, the coach of the Cape Breton Eagles, on Twitter @gourmet_hockey.