Quote:
Originally Posted by gobears19
I felt like we dominated the first period. They got the one goal off the face-off but really didn't have much sustained pressures. I thought part of that was we were playing a really clean, but really physical brand of hockey. Tootoo laid a couple of big checks, and Weber absolutely destroyed Ponackerovsky (I think), and the crowd was going absolutely nuts.
But after the first intermission, I don't think we laid another big hit. Why? Think Trotz told them to play nice lest the other team "take numbers?"
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I ultimately think we don't play a physical game because it would effect our forecheck. If we finish checks, guys would get tied up with the man they're checking instead of being able to peel off of them and get back defensively. That's the only thing I can figure. It's funny because Tootoo was playing physical in the first and hardly laid a check after that as you noted. When Tootoo is playing like a little ball of hate, he's much more effective and the other team is looking over their shoulder. If they know he's not going to lay a hit, they have that extra second to make a play without any consequence.
Come playoff time physical play is going to get amped up and we're not going to know how to play that style, yet again.