Defensive breakdowns in the playoffs, Part 1 (cont’d)

This story was written by Eric T. It begins here.

The second chance for Buffalo again came on transition play (link to video in case the embedded player isn’t working):

We’ll start this one from here, with Nodl coming up on an aggressive forecheck. With Versteeg already below the goal line to cut off a pass, Richards rotates back to help out.

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Montador moves it up the boards to Stafford, where Timonen challenges the play. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get there in time, and Stafford is able to chip it to Ennis to start the two-on-two.

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Ennis goes wide on Richards and the coverage is good, with Timonen hustling to get back in the play. But Richards is never able to get into Ennis’ body, and Ennis is able to get the puck on net and generate a rebound:

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Coburn completely ties up Boyes, leaving the puck for Timonen:

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I’m not quite sure what happens from there, but for some reason Timonen is unable to clear it and ends up lying down on the puck and/or Bob instead.

Overall blame score: 2 points for Timonen for the bad pinch and the poor rebound clear, 1 point for Richards for not handling Ennis better.

>> Click here to jump to the final part of the story. <<

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