The Defense is starting to Improve, The Rangers game tells the Tale. The Panthers game has shown us that Our Special teams=Defense PK has gotten a lot better. THAT 5 ON 3 KILL WAS GODLY!. Tampa’s PK giving the second best PP in the NHL the Finger was probably the best part about that game last night. Not gonna lie Blashill does have some positives, the PK has gotten so much better. Little Nicky and Darren have really improved on their stat cards for this month. Calvin Dehaan seems to be a liability, his report card [https://www.nhl.com/lightning/player/calvin-de-haan-8475177](https://www.nhl.com/lightning/player/calvin-de-haan-8475177) Isn’t looking all too well. :/ That being said. I think The Stinkin Panthers only managed to outpower the Bolts last night was due to the fact that Tampa was a tad bit tired from their game with the Rags. The Boys just need some rest. Those Kittens can keep their filthy 45 SOG. cuz they got schooled by the Big Cat. Please leave a comment I’d love to read your Opinions. <3
by Fragrant_Parsnip_175
5 Comments
The forechecking has definitely gotten better as well. I would honestly love to see some boring defensive hockey in the upcoming schedule where we legitimately shut down games after getting a score.
That does not mean leaving the goalie high and dry to just come up with saves for an entire period.
Outside of the first month or so, I think our defense has been decent in their own zone. They make some coverage mistakes which look to be mostly the result of communication issues, but a lot of the goals we’ve given up have been from low danger areas, which you live with from a defensive standpoint. The PK has also been pretty good all season.
Where they continue to struggle is in transition and in clearing the zone. The defending of odd man rushes is comically bad and because Hedman has lost a step, we aren’t as fast on the back end as we have been in years past. They also really struggle to break the puck out. We get hemmed in and that puts a lot of pressure on everyone to defend for decent chunks of time. That’s partly why we’ve struggled in second periods. We have trouble making the long change.
[xGA/60 5v5 5 game rolling average](https://imgur.com/a/2ouHCK5)
[League rankings xGA/60 5v5](https://imgur.com/a/xAa8yP0)
Edit: My point is the D has improved as the season has progressed. Our recent rolling average would be among tops in the league. This is with the current lack of talent or experience. Fire Blashill is just a meme by people looking for a scapegoat.
Better but not elite enough to handle 2 months of playoff games, imo. I of course want to make a long cup run but there are teams that are better defensively.
Our trades seemed to have sparked life into this team. I looove it