Video Vault - Finding the Right Spot on the Rush

Finding the Right Spot on the Rush
 
How many times do you see an odd-man rush in a youth hockey game that should at the very least end up with a quality shot on goal, but instead something goes wrong.
 
Maybe the pass doesn’t get through, because a defenseman gets a stick on it, or the pass does get through and the player receiving the puck fumbles it or can’t get a shot of for some reason. While odd-man rushes do present golden opportunities for the offensive team, they often occur at speed and require vision, quick thinking and execution.
 
They are not as easy as they seem, and if they were there would be a lot more scoring in the NHL. But there are some very simple adjustments that can be made and concepts that can be understood and practiced to improve a team’s chances of creating more scoring opportunities off the rush.
 
This lesson is not geared at breaking down odd-man rushes and all the potential options that might arise in any particular situation. Instead it focuses on two simple concepts that often haunt young teams in odd-man-rush situations.
 
First, many players when skating on their non-shooting-hand side choose to spread out and move away from their teammate with the puck while skating at the same pace. Skating the same speed as your teammate allows the defensemen in 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 situations to easily play the pass across, allowing the goalie to focus solely on the shooter because the passing lane is being cut off by the D.
 
The key for the offense in any odd-man situation is to force the goalie to have to pay attention to more than one scoring threat. One way to accomplish this in 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 situations is for one of the players, usually one without the puck, to slow down to create an open passing lane and open up for a possible one-timer. Note, if a player is not on his off-side, he or she still should slow down and maybe cut across to catch a pass on the forehand and be ready for a quick one-two release snap shot. That will be covered in another lesson.
 
Here, we want to focus on players on their off-side slowing down, creating a passing lane and opening up for a pass rather than continuing to skate and not being an option. Many players also don't understand the concept of opening up before the pass is made to be able to fire the puck as quckly as possilbe. Instead, they often try receive the puck on the backhand and either fumble it, take a weak backhand shot or by the time they move it their forehand the goalie and possibly the defense have adjusted. 
 
The second concept this lesson stresses is to not overskate the play. Slowing down to find a soft spot or create a passing lane helps prevent this, but in a situation where the player carrying the puck decides to hold onto it longer to probe the defense or possibly take a shot, at some point the offensive players need to find a spot to stop where they are a threat to receive a pass and shoot or get a rebound.

Too many young players just keep skating, so when the puck is passed to them they are too close to the goalie for the pass to get through or to get a shot off if the puck does find its way to their stick. Sometimes you’ll even see players who literally skate past the goal and can’t get a shot off or watch helplessly as the rebound lays in the crease untouched.
 
Below please find some video clips that illustrate these concepts.
 
 
Orly and Ovie Opening Up on the Rush
 
 
Alex Oveckhin and Dmitry Orlov of the Capitals are skating on their opposite-hand sides of the ice in these 2-on-1 situations. Notice how when they don't have the puck, both of them slow down to create passing lane for the other player to be able to get them the puck. Then they open up and cock their sticks to get ready to one-time any pass that comes their way.
 
Doing this gives the shooter the advantage as he can either one-time the puck quickly before the goalie slides across to save the shot or, if the pass isn't perfect, he can catch the puck and hold it in hopes that the goalie overcommits and then shoot back to the other side of the net. If a goalie pushes hard to come across, it's going to be very hard to stop a shot back to the far side of the goal.
 
Either option is a good play for the forward and can work, but the key is to not skate at the exact same speed as the player with the puck so that the defensive player can take away the pass completely and let the goalie focus on the shooter. The player without the puck must slow down enough to give his teammate a clear lane in which to pass him the puck, and again by cocking his stick back the goalie has to be aware of that potential shot and be ready to push hard across. Note that the player with the puck can always slow down, too, but generally the off-side player will slow down, open up and even back away from the oncoming pass at times.
 
Orlov also winds up as if to shoot, which prevents the D and the goalie from cheating and should give Ovechkin a great chance for the one-timer if he delivers a good pass off the fake shot. Unfortunately, in the first example, he doesn't.
 
In the second example, Orlov opens up again to divide the attention of the D and goalie and giving one of the all-time great goal-scorers an opportunity to shoot and score.
 
 
Eberle Opens Up for the Patient Finish
 
 
This clip is a great illustration of a player opening up for a pass on a 2-on-1 so he can be a threat to one-time the puck then collecting the pass, waiting for the goalie to slide across and sweeping a shot back the other direction. When the goalie pushes hard across it's almost a desperation move to be able to stop the quick one-timer. If the forward feels that the goalie has the one-timer covered or that the pass is a little off and he can't get his best shot off if he one times it, holding onto it and firing the puck back the other direction is a great option. If the shot is placed just inside the far post it will be very difficult for the goalie to stop it. Once again, note how Eberle opens himself up BEFORE the pass, and glides away from the puck carrier to create an angle or passing lane for his teammate to get him the puck.
 
 
Jumbo Joe Goes Against the Grain
 
 
Here is another instance where the player opens up to be a threat for the one timer, but hangs onto the puck to allow the goalie to slide across before shooting back the other direction to score. Today's goalies are so athletic that they are phenomenal at going post-to-post to make acrobatic saves when players one-time the puck in these types of situations.
 
Joe Thornton uses the goalie's athleticism against him on this goal, knowing that he's sliding across and taking his time to place the shot in a location that the tender will have no chance of covering. You don't always have to fire the puck 100 mph. Putting it in the right spot is often more effective than generating maximum velocity.
 
I would have preferred to see either Thornton or the puck carrier slow down to create an easier lane to get the puck across, but the D helps them out by going down and taking no options away. Great shot by Thornton.
 
 
MacKinnon Opens up and Handles Tough Pass
 
 
This a highly skilled finish by Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon. It's also another great example of him opening up and creating a passing lane for himself on a 2-on-1. The advantage of opening up like this, in addition to being able to launch a one-timer and affect the way the goalie plays the situation, is that when the pass isn't great - like this one - he can still pull his arms and hands in close and get low to the ice to get some power on the shot and still finish. See how low he gets and follows the puck all the to his stick to make sure he strikes the biscuit with the stronger part of his blade and not the toe. Great finish!
 
 
Opening Up as a Decoy
 
 
This clip shows you how important it can be for the forward without the puck on his non-shooting side to get in the right position to receive a pass and open up for the possible one-timer. The goalie and defender have to respect that option. Often the goalie is distracted by the player setting up for the one-timer and either loses focus on the shooter or even cheats a little, giving the puck carrier just enough room to sneak one past him and into the net. On this particular play the defenseman overplayed the player with the puck and let the shooter walk right in. The off-puck player for Columbus did a great job with positioning to pull the D-man all the way over to cover the passing lane he created, which gave his teammate a great scoring opportunity.
 
 
Picture Perfect Odd-man Execution by the Sharks
 
 
Another odd-man rush for the Sharks that is finished by Radim Simek, a defenseman who does a great job following the play up to the ice to turn a 3-on-2 into a 4-on-2 as the trailer. Simek gets a great pass from Tomas Hertl, who opened up initially to be a shooting threat and occupied the focus of the D and the goalie.
 
There are so many great things going on with this play:
 
Hertil opens up to be a threat and then sees the ice and finds the high guy entering the zone late; the center net drive in which the forward doesn't get in so deep that he can't be a factor if there is a rebound and yet still is interfering with the goalie's vision and focus; and Simek with the quick release to catch the goalie off-balance while three San Jose players are in good position if there is a rebound or an extra pass.
 
No one overskates this play. This is a textbook odd-man rush, and not a great backcheck by the defending team. Defensemen we talk about the importance of always keeping up with the rush and being an offensive factor. Here is an example of it done to perfection.
 
 
Donskoi Almost Takes it Too Far
 
 
Joonas Donskoi finishes this 3-on-1 for the Sharks, but you can see that he was almost too deep to be in a position to score. He does a nice job of opening up immediately after making the pass back to Hertl. At that point he's in great scoring position, probably thinking that Hertl is coming right back to him with the puck. But that doesn't happen, and Donskoi keeps drifting and almost overskates the play.
 
Ideally he would have wanted to stop inside the faceoff circle at the lowest, perhaps even a little closer to the slot, to be both a threat for the rebound or a pass. Donskoi continues to drift, however, and actually ends up with one skate below the goal line when he finishes the play. Another few inches and he would have had a really hard time converting that pass, which had to be pinpoint as it was to allow him to get a shot on goal.
 
This is something we see often in youth hockey: A player makes a pass and then just keeps skating to so that eventually he or she is in too deep to get a rebound and either too close to the goalie for a pass to get through or in a position where there is no angle to shoot if the puck does get through. On the rush, players should always make a point so stop at some point so that they aren't too close to the goalie and are still in position to be a threat if there is a pass or a rebound.
 
 
Too Deep for Louie, Louie
 
 
Boston Bruins forward Louie DeBrusk (#74) does a nice job driving the net here and finding an open lane to get into scoring position, but instead of stopping and setting up to be a threat, he keeps going and ends up below the goal line by the time the blind centering pass is made.
 
This happens in youth hockey all the time. Instead of players stopping in a position where they can get a pass and be a scoring threat, they often keep skating and end up in a position where they cannot possibly score off a pass or a rebound.
 
Watch this through several times. DeBrusk sought out the soft spots in the defense - we stop the video when he is in a good, threatening position - but then just skates right through them. You want to find a spot where a teammate can get you the puck or you can get a rebound, but you are not so close that the goalie will stuff you.
 
 
Pominville Makes an Easy One Too Hard
 
 
This clip is a classic case of getting too deep and making what should be an easy goal difficult. As the play unfolds, Jason Pominville still should be able to tap it in, but he’s so close to the goalie, crease and goal line that he probably is not even expecting the puck to get to him. You don’t want to set up in a spot where the goalie can intercept or redirect the pass with his stick. This ends up being an incredible pass that gets through for what should be a dunk, but it appears to surprise Pominville, who doesn’t get good wood on it and ends up striking it twice and thus preventing it from going in.
 

Video Lesson #1 - Understanding the 5-on-3 Power Play

Video Lesson #2 - Reading the Play on the Breakout

Video Lesson #3 - Strategic Dump-ins

 

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