Will man-on-man or zone hockey win out in the Stanley Cup Final?
The battle between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes could feature an entertaining clash of styles.
The two teams have both proven to be incredible forces in this postseason. The Hurricanes have gone 12-1 through the first three rounds, hammering their opponents and making life difficult for the opposing team’s top scorers, including dismantling the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference. The Golden Knights had to work a little bit harder to get through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but shockingly swept the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.
Both teams run different defensive styles, with the Hurricanes playing man-on-man and the Golden Knights play a zone. The contrasting philosophies could bring out a fun Stanley Cup Final.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Steve Peters joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to discuss which team’s defensive structure could succeed in the final.
Steve Peters: It is something to keep a real close eye on. Carolina is an incredibly strict man-on-man team in their defensive zone from the blue line in. The problem when you’re playing a team that’s very active, that has the players like Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore, that can deliver the puck through crowds and through sticks, you create openings when you’re active. Carolina hasn’t seen what Vegas is going to do, offensively. When you have activity and you have movement, you create holes in behind, and more importantly, you end up with forwards defending in front of the net. Carolina is used to it, they play that way, but Vegas is going to be able to exploit them.
With Vegas, you’re going to see their defenseman returning back to the front of the net. They’re not going to chase up to the blue line. They’re going to be a lot more structured around the blue paint. So, it is two very different defending styles. Whoever can perform their system the best during the next four to seven games is going to definitely have an advantage in their defensive zone.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…