Hurricanes @ Leafs - Dec. 23rd, 2:00pm - SNO, Fan 590

[ZBBM]

I see 88 skating hard until the blue line and then backs off a bit.  The problem is he didn't put himself into a position to interfere with a rebound shot if there'd been one. Didn't matter that time. It might next time.

Given the lead that Pesce had on him and the angle of the shot/way Freddie was playing it I really don't think it mattered that much. If it was a quick kick out sort of save or something that bounced directly to where Pesce was then even if Nylander is skating full tilt I don't think he catches up. If it's virtually anything else then Barrie is probably in a better position to make a play on it than Nylander would be anyway.

Is it within the realm of possibility that Nylander skating as hard as he possibly could the whole way would have resulted in him breaking up a real scoring chance? I guess, but I'm really trying hard to picture in my head what sort of chance that would have been.

If I were Nylander's coach would I tell him to skate that way regardless? Probably but that would have much more to do with rah rah rah "Everyone gives 110% all the time" sort of stuff than any actual element of it having a big impact on an individual play.

Like I said, Nylander's not blameless. It was not great execution on a tricky play and the end of it looked bad. But to file it under "Ugh, here's another example of what Nylander always does" just doesn't ring true.

Good points, and I agree.  He obviously is doing some kind of calculation of what kind of impact he could have by skating full out on that particular play.  Maybe he's right most of the time.  And if that's so maybe he's right to conserve energy even if it means losing the chance to thwart a goal every once in awhile.

But hockey is such a random game it also makes sense to reflexively go as hard as you can in situations like that, because (hopefully) there won't be too many in any one game and even if your extra effort doesn't often break up a scoring play, it will occasionally.  And goals are so rare it makes an outsized difference.

 

[Kin]

But I don't think the calculation was "Should I skate really hard and at least respect the possibility that I might prevent a scoring chance or should I ease up and conserve energy" but rather "Should I skate really hard and respect the possibility I might prevent a scoring chance or should I do what is more likely to help and be in a good position to take a pass from Barrie if there's a rebound".

 

[OldTimeHockey]

But hockey is such a random game it also makes sense to reflexively go as hard as you can in situations like that, because (hopefully) there won't be too many in any one game and even if your extra effort doesn't often break up a scoring play, it will occasionally.  And goals are so rare it makes an outsized difference.

the only issue i see on the back check by Nylander was not grabbing the high man. He was beat on the puck, as Nik says, so his job shouldn't of been going back to the net. His job should of been grabbing the 3rd Carolina player on the play as Nylander was the third man back into the play(near back checker had the better angle on the shooter and was closer).

Your job on a back check is to take a player. If it's the puck guy, you're hard on him. If he's taken, you find the next open player and that's your focus. Make sure that guy doesn't burn you. Chasing the puck carrier on that play was useless.