Tom Poti's Penalty-Kill Positioning
by J.P. on Mar 20, 2010 1:00 PM EDT
65 comments
Tom Poti is one of the Caps' most important penalty killers. He leads the team in shorthanded ice time per game (and is 11th in the League in that metric) and plays against the toughest competition. He also has the worst Goals Against/60 at four-on-five of any of the blueliners now in the team's penalty-killing rotation, and that's for a team that's near the bottom of the League in penalty killing ranking overall.
In the past three games, Poti has twice been sent out (along with a couple of forwards) for the toughest task a penalty-killer is asked to do - kill a two-man disadvantage. Twice he and his teammates have failed. And while not all the blame can be put on Poti, two plays he made (or, perhaps more accurately, didn't make) stand out, especially in light of the similarity between them.
First up, Chicago. Down two men, Poti ended up between the puck carrier (Patrick Kane), his own goalie (Jose Theodore) and 'Hawks forward Patrick Sharp, who's camped out at the far-side post. Have a look:
Poti's in pretty good position, except for one thing: his stick. Rather than having his twig to the inside - where it would be directly in Kane's passing lane - it's to the outside where it defends... well, I'm not sure. A moment later, Kane zips a pass to Sharp, who rattles a one-timer off the far post before Jonathan Toews bangs home the rebound (watch it here if you care to). To be fair to Poti, he had been jostling with Toews and just got to his feet and regained his balance a moment before Kane's pass. One-time mistake by a guy with more than 800 NHL games under his belt, right? Wrong.
Two games later, after Shaone Morrisonn's double-minor for high-sticking put the Caps down two men in Carolina, Bruce Boudreau sent Poti over the boards to try to kill the disadvantage. A failed Matt Bradley clearing attempt later and Poti found himself in a similar position to where he was in Chicago four days earlier:
Again, the puck-carrier has the biscuit above the dot with Poti (unlike his teammates) in good position... except for his stick. Jussi Jokinen takes advantage and throws the puck down to Eric Staal for a tap-in (video here).
On both of these plays, Poti presumably is presumably trying to take away the shot when he should have his stick in the passing lane, leaving the puck carrier to his goalie (who has a far better chance of stopping a shot from the faceoff circle than he does a tap-in from the edge of the crease anyway).
These relatively little things may not be killers right now... but a month from now, they very well might be.
11 recs |
65 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
These are also both situations in which Poti would have to cover his weaker side (right). I wonder, is he completely comfortable playing that side? I’d imagine that I’d be harder. I also can’t recall a situation from which we can see the opposite side of things.
This brings the question, should Poti be sat on the PK in favor of someone else? Green-Schultz-Corvo-Carlson/Morrisonn is something I could get used to.
These relatively little things may not be killers right now… but a month from now, they very well might be.
I can picture Sidney Crosby in the same spot, right at the side of the net, with Malkin passing to him…so yes.
What exactly is the philosophy of a 3-on-5 PK? In one shot I see a line, in another a triangle. I wonder if there’s some miscommunication. In the second Bradley almost gets his stick there to intercept the pass, and in the first if the player isn’t jostling for position with the Hawk then maybe that pass doesn’t get through.
Cидни Kросби: Александр Oвечкин, он твой папа теперь
Capitals Coming: for Capitals fans no more intelligent than myself
Saturday afternoon content in the regular season? Awesome.
"I know I was the best CIA agent the CIA ever had, but I thought I told you honkies from the CIA that Black Dynamite was out of the game!"
Everyone’s gotta get ready to step up their game for the second season…
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
haha i mentioned this EXACT same thing in a thread yesterday…its such a little thing that means so much
I've often thought of becoming a golf club
by Caps Canadian Connection on Mar 20, 2010 1:24 PM EDT reply actions
Bushwack’d
Atta dinnin stick a who!
by Gould Old Days on Mar 20, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
BB oughta play Corvo and sit Poti with a printout of this article…
Now helping to keep an eye on all things Gr8 at Alex Ovetjkin.
One thing I mentioned in passing in the post but I think maybe deserves a bit more attention is that Bruce’s 3-on-5 PK is almost always two forwards and one D playing an inverted triangle (ideally). Thoughts on that?
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
How many shorties have we scored from two men down?
Now helping to keep an eye on all things Gr8 at Alex Ovetjkin.
I think it’s an acceptable formation, but when you factor in the subject of this post, it compounds the problem. If there’s one up top and two down low, maybe somebody is covering Poti’s ass on the other side and there isn’t a guy on the post for Poti to fail to stop a pass to because he’s been knocked on his ass. You risk, though, giving up some bombs from the point, but those can’t be any easier than the simple tap-ins he’s been giving up.
Overall, though, a 5-on-3 is a tough thing to stop, so I think the formation is less important than getting the stick in the passing lane.
Play the pass, you’ve got a goalie to help you play the shot.
Usually I sign in cursive, but I can't find the button for it.
I think it’s alright, but could be better. I can see the reasoning, I think, that the two forwards would limit moving the puck around easily on the outside and thus force the dangerous cross-ice passes through traffic in the middle. But I think the weak side forward maybe needs to move back a little bit, just like in that Chicago PK frame above, with the strong side forward pressuring the puck carrier a little, and I guess if the puck comes down low then the weak side forward moves down a little to cover that cross-crease passing lane.
Of course, it’ll be easier to know if in practice.
Cидни Kросби: Александр Oвечкин, он твой папа теперь
Capitals Coming: for Capitals fans no more intelligent than myself
by red army line on Mar 20, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Huge fan of the 2F formation. Mobility is a huge factor down two men and our Fs are much faster. If the D can take the cross-crease pass away then you allow the Fs to push the points off just a bit and buy a little more territory.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
by Fehr and Balanced on Mar 20, 2010 2:41 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Given that we’ve given up two close range post hugging goals, I would say the inverted triangle isn’t working so well. I prefer the standard triange. If the point shot beats you, oh well. I like the goalies chance at a point shot vs a close range slam dunk.
Just trying to capture the spirit of the thing...
by dcsportsfan1 on Mar 20, 2010 3:22 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
On both of these plays, Poti presumably is presumably trying to take away the shot
Which is something I don’t really understand with how far away he is from the shooter. If the puck is going along the ice it’s probably getting stopped anyway and if it’s elevated, his stick isn’t doing him any good on the ice. Worse, if the puck is going along the ice hard and his stick is there, he could cause a deflection on net.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Mar 20, 2010 1:56 PM EDT reply actions
On a single instance you could say a player in Poti’s position doing what he’s doing may be trying to get into the puck-carrier’s head and influence him to move the puck into a location you are anticipating.
But if Poti doesn’t then slide block, whack it away with a quick stick movement, etc, I’d say that’s not a successful approach, or more likely not in fact what he was trying to do at all.
Overall, the caps PK, 4-5 and 3-5 is way too passive. Its not a good system at all, especially when you aren’t built out of defensive forwards and your D range is middling (no offense, but a spade is a spade). Caps have the most trouble on the PP when playing teams with aggressive PK’s; it forces the PP to pass or shoot and doesn’t allow the Caps PP to set up and/or screen. Yet, the Caps themselves remain passive and allow the other team to move the puck around freely and set up screens. Passive vs aggressive PK, i’ll take aggressive every time. I know the Caps have one of the lowest shorthanded rates in the league, but that will change come playoff time when the action speeds up, intensifies, and every chance makes a difference in the series.
Which brings me to my next point. Poti has never been a very good PKer. He gets a lot of respect from BB because he’s an older guy and he’s 800 games in. On a team that is more even on the blueline in terms of skill, Poti wouldn’t be the one most relied upon, and before coming to the Caps he wasn’t. It is high time to switch Poti out and bring his numbers down; i think he’s been asked to do more than he can optimally produce, and kudos to him for giving his all. At this point, the obvious conclusion is that after 800 games, Poti should know where to put his stick, and all he did from those two examples (there have been many more this season), was leave a lane wide open. The best his stick positioning could do is cause a deflection that fools his netminder, anyway.
Its those plays that prove to me Poti is out of his depth on the PK (more so than when he tries a hip check in the neutral zone… oy vey).
by The Jade Donkey on Mar 20, 2010 2:06 PM EDT reply actions
They’ve changed the 4-5 PK, its looked alot better since ChiTown. . .idk if that can be said about the 3 on 5
Bah-Ram-Ewe, Ovechkin will wreck you. Fear the Furious Fleece!
A 3-on-5 PK has to be more passive by nature though. Just look what happened in that Carolina example. Belanger was very aggressive up high and he took himself out of the play. Even Bradley was a bit too high and it caused Poti to be the only PKer defending the net. For a moment it was essentially a 2-on-1 and it cost the Caps.
"We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll."
by Laich It Or Lump It on Mar 20, 2010 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions
PP/PK is all about 2 on 1s. The job of the PP is to isolate a defender in an advantageous situation. The D needs to slide to try to prevent being abused.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
by Fehr and Balanced on Mar 20, 2010 3:33 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Interesting observation JP. Definitely something to keep an eye on going forward.
The first example is more forgivable than the second example IMO. The three PKers in the first example have much better positioning all around than the second.
A moment before Kane’s pass, Poti had his stick flat on the ice to the inside blocking not one, but two passing lanes. He then got up to his feet and reverted to his default stance, which unfortunately for this PK configuration is left handed and to the outside. He then must have thought Kane was going to shoot to Theo’s stick side because he begins to move his stick outward to block the shot that never came. It looks like he got faked out straight up.
There is no excuse for the second example though. He has to read the puck carrier better and be aware of Staal’s positioning behind him. It did not help the matter than Belenger overcommitted up high and removed himself from that play. Not that that affects Poti’s stick positioning, but that was a pretty bad breakdown for all three PKers.
"We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll."
by Laich It Or Lump It on Mar 20, 2010 2:20 PM EDT reply actions
Agreed on the first one being more forgivable for the reasons you mentioned, though “must have thought Kane was going to shoot to Theo’s stick side because he begins to move his stick outward to block the shot that never came” isn’t very comforting to me, because, as Knee High said above, taking away the shot there has little chance of success and is more likely to deflect the puck past the goalie – gotta let Jose take the shooter there, IMO.
And also agreed that there was a lot going wrong in the CAR example.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
"must have thought Kane was going to shoot to Theo’s stick side because he begins to move his stick outward to block the shot that never came" isn’t very comforting to me… gotta let Jose take the shooter there, IMO.
Yeah, I agree. I wasn’t offering that as a mitigating factor, I was just guessing what his thought process might have been at the time the play was made.
"We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll."
by Laich It Or Lump It on Mar 20, 2010 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know enough about the fine details of hockey to really comment intelligently, but it seems clear to me that the aggressiveness that so many people wish our PK would exhibit was exactly what led to the 2nd example. Belanger’s pressure on the point leads to what is essentially a 4 on 2. You can argue that Poti should have adapted to Belanger’s overplay, but that goal never happens if Belanger is covering his spot in the zone.
I can only speak for myself in saying that any increased aggressiveness I want to see from the PKers is strictly limited to 4-on-5. 3-on-5 is a whole ’nother thing.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
I agree. As I said above, I think a 3-on-5 by nature should be more passive. I’d like to see the PKers setting up around the slot and protecting the net. The moment one PKer commits to chasing the puck carrier, you only have two PKers left to block passing lanes and protect the net. If a PKer is overly aggressive and makes a mistake, which is easy to do while down a man, then that mistake is magnified when down two men. Basically, the mistake of a PKer during a 3-on-5 is much more costly than a mistake of a PKer during a 4-on-5.
"We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll."
by Laich It Or Lump It on Mar 20, 2010 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Awesome post
I disagree with this statement re: the first picture:
Poti’s in pretty good position, except for one thing: his stick.
Poti is in horrible position here. He is screening Theo, and only one step more towards the slot and he is able to clog the passing lane for both the backdoor and slot pass. If he wants to block the shot he has time to recover…the better solution is to trust Theo to make that save.
I’m glad you brought this up, it’s something that has been bothering me for a while.
The keyboard is mightier.
Want OT Hockey...
We try to keep the comments on topic with the post. :)
Founding member of the Tyler Sloan Fan Club
by terpgrrl on Mar 20, 2010 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions 5 recs
Additional Stats?
Is individual player 3-on-5 time totalled anywhere? All I can find is SH time in total, but not broken down further.
Also, I wish there was a way to handicapp PK performance by how long the player had been on the ice. For example, I’d fault a player more for giving up a goal in the first 15 seconds than for giving up a goal after 90s. The stat would certainly have some imperfections, but it’d be interesting.
Tom Poti's Penalty Kill Positioning
This observation is yet another example of how the “little things” can mean success or failure for a team in a given game. Surely this is an area that needs to be fine-tuned before the playoffs start to put the odds of success in favor of the Caps.
Another question to ask…how many 5-on-3 goals against has Poti been on the ice for and was he in the same position? Obviously that would involve reviewing a bunch of tape, but is this a pattern or an anomaly? I know I don’t watch hockey with the intensity and know-how that others do, but when I see Poti on the PK, especially the 2-man advantage, I cringe a bit.
Founding member of the Tyler Sloan Fan Club
Tee hee
I have a blog too! www.scottyhockey.com
Let's Go Rangers!
by Scotty Hockey on Mar 20, 2010 4:49 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Before you start getting too pleased with yourself, allow me to . . . MICHAL ROZSIVAL!!! WADE REDDEN!!!
:)
There's a fine line between arrogance and ignorance and only I manage to erase that line.
See, there was no need for that. That was just cruel.
I have a blog too! www.scottyhockey.com
Let's Go Rangers!
by Scotty Hockey on Mar 20, 2010 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Here’s some consolation: Rosival and Redden will both be off of the Rangers’ books before Yashin is off the Isles’ books.
Of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst
by Killer_Carlson on Mar 21, 2010 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions
That just makes me cringe.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Mar 21, 2010 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions
And makes me smile. That is so hysterical. Someone needs to throw that in Milbury’s face on national television.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
by Fehr and Balanced on Mar 21, 2010 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Nice analysis J.P.!
Только игра! Почему надо быть сумасшедшим?
WARNING: Irrrational defender of Semyon Varlamov
Caps Snaps - Washington Capitals Photography
Awesome analysis.
I hope Gabby pays attention.
I noticed this during the replay
I thought “There’s Poti with his stick in the wrong place again, there’s nobody over there to take the pass he’s taking away”.
agree on second case but not first
After viewing both vids it looks like Poti was still gaining his balance on the first play and it all happend so fast I can’t blame him but the second one is definitely a textbook mistake. Interesting that the PK improved with Gordo out. Is it really his back or did BB just use it as an excuse for an extended sitdown?
Awful lot of silence coming from the Poti Lobby on this one. Weird…
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
by Fehr and Balanced on Mar 21, 2010 8:13 PM EDT reply actions
Guess the Semin lobby is stronger.
Or we’ll find out how strong the Poti lobby is - when Poti’s traded.
Rocking the Red since 1975
Honestly, I don’t know if there’s a stronger lobby than the Semin Lobby. The Smith Lobby made a huge showing that one time but have died out since. I don’t really see a rival.
Killer_Carlson and Steckel Me Elmo are like brothers to me. And when I say brothers I don't mean like actual brothers. I mean it like how black people use it, which is more meaningful, I think.
by Fehr and Balanced on Mar 21, 2010 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
Related FanPosts on Japers' Rink
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Southeast Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington
|
82 | 54 | 15 | 13 | 121 |
|
Atlanta
|
82 | 35 | 34 | 13 | 83 |
|
Carolina
|
82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 80 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
82 | 34 | 36 | 12 | 80 |
|
Florida
|
82 | 32 | 37 | 13 | 77 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
The Vault
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Trending Topics: Odd arbitration decisions; more NHLers Tweeting
- Ovechkin wins fifth Kharlamov Trophy, talks Talbot
- Puck Headlines: Witt hits waivers; Kovalchuk grievance details set
- Jersey Fouls: Sharks get creatively awful; hockey movie pass/fail
- White, Flames agree to one-year deal; Bruins sign Wheeler
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
