Neutral Zone
Springboarding off another topic from the original one is the neutral zone play. Both teams want to do different things offensively, but getting space or keeping it from your opponent in the neutral zone is going to be paramount.
The Nashville Predators are not a dump and chase team if they can prevent it. They want to utilize their speed, gain the blue line with possession and set things up from there.
A lot of that has to do with their defenders being the ones to actually carry it in. St. Louis cannot allow that.
It made for plenty of heart wrenching games, but the Blues did an excellent job of clogging up the neutral zone against Minnesota. Neutral fans will say it made for some boring bits of play, but that’s how you stop a high-powered offense.
St. Louis will have to do that again. Though they finished in the final playoff spot, only four teams in the Western Conference finished with more goals than Nashville.
Nashville likes to gain speed through the neutral zone and take it in with possession, often with their speedy defenders. The Predators had three of their top ten scorers as defenseman and that includes a down year (40 pts) for PK Subban.
Conversely, the Predators are going to want to do much of the same that they did against Chicago. Stand up at the blue line, force dump-ins and rely on Rinne to stop things as they go around.
The Blues are not as much a possession team entering the zone as any of us would like, so they are going to have to find ways to break down the pressure.
That is why the neutral zone is so important. The team that imposes their game plan the best on the middle third is the one that is going to have the most success.
Take away time and space and force it into a short rink game. Both teams’ goaltenders are good enough to stop that kind of offense, so the fewer breakouts the better. Clogging up the middle sounds so boring, but it will be necessary to win again.