February 15, 2015

System Analysis: PK Breakdowns Threaten Wings' Playoff Chances

During Howard's injury the Red Wings went on an impressive run, going 9-2 without their number one starter. However during this streak the team carried by the offense as the Red Wings killed off only 73% of their penalties during this streak. For comparison, the Buffalo Sabres penalty kill is at 73.5% on the season. On Saturday night the PK problems continued as the Wings gave up 2 power-play goals against the Winnipeg Jets. The first was an incredibly bad goal that can only be attributed to Jimmy Howard's rust. However the second was the result of poor penalty killing, particularly by Darren Helm and Joakim Andersson. Two very subtle but smart plays allowed the Jets to move 200 feet, generate two scoring chances and take a 4-3 lead, all in under 15 seconds.


After killing off the first 30 seconds the Jets came back into their own zone to breakout. As you can see, both Helm and Andersson have swung to the outside to take away the wingers. With those two options covered Little makes a good read (or the coaching staff has a nice play design) to cut to the middle to create a third option.


With Little now alone in the middle of the ice Kronwall is forced to step up to take away his time and space. Still the Red Wings are in good position with a 4 on 4 in the neutral zone and Byfuglien as the only uncovered man. The problem is both Helm and Andersson have their eyes on the puck and are starting to move towards the middle of the ice, away from their men.


Little catches the pass and takes one stride laterally to get away from Kronwall and move the puck to the wing. Now Andersson, who was watching Little and not his man, doesn't have time to pivot with his man. Also notice Helm has come all the way to the center of the ice leaving Wheeler alone on the near side.


Ericsson goes to help cover for Andersson, assuming Helm has taken care of the far side winger. Unfortunately Helm is in no position to cover his man and Wheeler is left all alone on the backdoor.


Thankfully, Wheeler gets handcuffed by the pass and is unable to put it in. Also notice how slow Jimmy is to react to this pass, another sign that he was incredibly rusty last night.


After the Jets get the rebound they send it back to the point and the Red Wings are able to get into a  decent defensive position.


As the Jets go D-to-D, Ladd does a great job of finding some space in the high slot. Helm is slow to retreat back towards the net and Andersson does not force his player down the wall onto his backhand. I also would have liked to see Ericsson step up on Ladd and let Kronwall take care of the front of the net. With no one taking away the slot, the result is an easy forehand pass to Ladd.


Ladd takes one stride to square up and escape the desperation play by Andersson. Then he fires a shot to the low blocker side, past a screened Jimmy Howard, to give the Jets the lead.


Early in the season the Red Wings had one of the best penalty-killing units in the league. However much of this success was the result of Jimmy Howard's unsustainable save percentage. Now that  Mrazek has taken more of the load and Jimmy has shown some regression, the PK has dropped to 11th in the league. In the playoffs, goals are incredibly hard to come by as, with more opportunity to scout the opposition, teams are able to tighten up defensively. As a result, special teams play is often the difference between a long run to the Stanley Cup and an early exit. While both Little and Ladd made nice plays leading up to this goal, it was also entirely preventable. The Red Wings will really need to clean up their efforts if they hope to compete with the East's elite come April and May.

No comments:

Post a Comment