The Florida Panthers took Game #1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes last night in an exhausting 4-overtime game and it is almost impossible not to notice how ugly, yet effective their breakout strategy is. The Panthers’ breakout strategy for the most part, is to have their wingers blow the defensive zone upon gaining possession, while the defensemen almost automatically fire pucks up the ice and out of the zone. While the strategy is ugly and may seem aimless at times, it has been wildly effective for the Panthers. The goal of this defensive zone exit strategy is to relieve defensive zone pressure and create loose puck battles up ice in the neutral zone. In the best case scenario, they advance the puck up ice quickly with possession and create even to odd-numbered rush plays. In the worst case, their defensive zone exits result in a neutral zone turnover and then they establish their neutral zone forecheck or trap setup. Overall, their strategy has been effective throughout the playoffs as it has limited their defensive zone time while also forcing their opponents defensemen to respect the stretch plays and act less aggressively in the offensive zone. We have talked many times in this newsletter about the importance of defensemen activation and the Panthers have found a way to neutralize this as best as possible. Here are a couple examples from last night’s game of how the Panthers have successfully employed this strategy.
Example #1
This example directly led to the first goal of last night’s game for the Panthers. As soon as the Hurricanes turn over the puck on their zone entry attempt, the Panthers’ forwards are sprinting to get up ice. Both forwards aim for the walls at the far-blueline and this opens up the middle of the ice as the Hurricanes’ defensemen have to respect the two wide stretch options. At the same time on the possession change, Panthers defenseman #18 Marc Staal immediately fires the puck off the glass and out where #23 Carter Verhaeghe collects it and hits one of the stretch options wide while continuing to drive through middle ice and to the net. Upon the entry the Panthers have now successfully widened out and driven back the Hurricanes’ defenders, creating space in the middle of the offensive zone for the Panthers to attack the net, ultimately leading to the goal.
Example #2
The 2nd example demonstrates the Panthers’ zone exit plan on a dumped puck. In this clip, the Hurricanes dump the puck behind the Panthers’ net where goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stops the puck and bumps it over quickly to #42 Gustav Forsling. While this is occurring, #19 Matthew Tkachuk begins to cheat up ice and posts along the wall wide while #23 Verhaege does the same on the opposite side of the ice as he comes off the bench. Forsling knows this is the “blind” exit strategy for the Panthers so he turns and fires the puck up ice immediately to Tkachuk who has a chance to create a rush play. The middle of the ice is wide open because the Hurricanes are once again forced to respect the wide stretch players. Even though the Panthers do not successfully connect on this play, they have accomplished their goal of exiting the defensive zone quickly while opening up the middle of the ice for their rush attack. If the Tkachuk was able to make this play to his middle or wide support there may have been a good chance to attack the offensive zone with possession.
In the end, the Panthers’ strategy may not be the prettiest, but it is a great example of how they are trying to limit their defensive zone time, neutralize the Hurricanes’ active defenders, and push the loose puck battles up ice. In the best of circumstances it has led to good zone entries and chances to attack off the rush which typically leads to quality offensive chances.