Red Wings’ Anthony Mantha in ‘confident groove’ – mlive.com
Generating shots is more difficult than it looks because they don’t want to simply skate across the blue line and unload a long-range, low-percentage shot that will not lead to a second or third opportunity. They must shoot more while in prime scoring areas.
“First off, you need to control the puck,” Mantha said. “You need a shooting lane. The defensive guys aren’t going to let you just shoot the puck, they’re going to be on you, they’re going to be quick. It’s not as easy as it looks. I think getting the power play going opens up a couple of shooting lanes.”
Mantha has been noticeably better of late. I definitely agree with the point in the first paragraph, however the team has to get better at not going too far the other way. Sometimes the team passes up shots that they should take.
I know that Detroit doesn’t have the same personnel that Tampa has, but in the two games against the Lightning, you could see the Florida team have success on the power play by having their players move while being set up in the zone. Detroit has been stationary too often on the PP this season, and that leads to the shooting lanes being blocked, like Mantha says in the second paragraph.
Trophy Tracker: Jack Adams Award
The fun in South Florida has Quenneville the midseason favorite to win the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year, according to a panel of 17 NHL.com writers. His 62 points led all voting totals, ahead of Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour (38), Jeremy Colliton of the Chicago Blackhawks (36), Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild (26) and Sheldon Keefe of the Toronto Maple Leafs (26).
It’s hard for me to disagree with Quennevile being at the top of the Jack Adams conversation now. I would have Barry Trotz higher than he was on the panel vote.