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The Vancouver Canucks had a frustrating experience in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators.
They had 84 shot attempts, but just 18 actually managed to hit the net. The Predators did a great job defensively, getting in the way of pucks and making life difficult for the Canucks.
Rick Tocchet is a top candidate to win the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, and he has a strategic shift that he’s pulling out for Game 3.
“There’s two things I know we can do better at tactically against Nashville, and I’d like to see that tonight,” explained the head coach this morning. “That was shown twice, and we practiced a little bit with it, but after that, it’s over.”
While Tocchet wants his team to make the shift, there’s only so much time in between playoff games. The team had a full practice yesterday for the first time since the postseason began.
With so little time, the head coach needs to be careful with how he delivers the information.
“I’m not a big believer in overloading a player, especially [since] we’ve got some guys here [for the] first time in the playoffs,” said Tocchet after today’s morning skate. “The last thing I need to do is get these guys before they even start five things in their head. I mean that’s just a recipe for disaster, you want to keep guys calm.”
“But I think these two points will help the inexperienced guys, I really do.”
While Tocchet was understandably hesitant to give up too much about what the two points in question really are, he did give some hints when asked.
“They block a lot of shots, so I think there’s some places where we can go where we’ll get some creativity and a better look. But still, you’ve still got to shoot the puck; you’ve got to change angles,” he explained.
The Canucks cannot afford another game like the last, where they dominate possession yet can’t create enough shots on net to win the game.
While the new strategy will help, a large portion of the responsibility still rests on the players’ shoulders. Every team in the playoffs is going to be ready to block shots, and the Canucks need to be able to go through them.
“There’s a talent to it, being able to change an angle at the last second to get it by that first blocker or whatever you want to call them, the first three blockers,” explained the head coach. “There’s a talent to do that, but there’s also some spots you can go in their system, and it might not happen the first seven, eight minutes, but you’ve got to stick with it.”
The puck drops at 4:30 pm PT tonight as the Canucks and Predators face off.