Late Tuesday night, defenseman Jalen Chatfield intercepted a pass behind the Carolina Hurricanes' net and whipped the puck down the ice to kill time on a New York Rangers power play during the second overtime frame in Game 2.Phew, crisis averted - or so Chatfield thought.Rangers goalie Igor...
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Ran across this today and i have to say, i think this is probably the way top teams are going. Systems are great, but having skill guys that can freelance and take advantage of what's available, makes things significantly more difficult for the opposition to defend. There are similarities discussed here that are in line with what edmonton seems to be doing as well. And finally, urgency was something ive felt was lacking from the king's PP for some time now, and i've harped about it before with the way doughty tends to move the puck up the ice on the PP.
I don't know for certain if the Kings truly have the pieces to go this route, but id certainly hope they move in this direction. Guys like Fiala, hopefully clarke next season, and honestly Arvidsson (likely gone) all seem to fit this more creative/improvisation mold. This feels like the sort of thing that would bump guys like kopitar and doughty off the top line PP, so who knows if there's a stomach for that, but i think this is how you truly improve the PP in today's nhl.