Keep Your Eyes on the Puck!

The playoff games are full of physical plays, with lots of pushing and shoveling, hits and checks. It's exciting and intense, not to mention highly entertaining for the fans.  Sometimes, however, in the heat of the moment, players get carried away with the physicality and lose track of the play, and moments like these often determine the final outcome of the game.

Filppula's Goal

In Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, when the score was still tied 1-1, Red Wings' Filppula scored the game-winning goal on a pass from Holmstrom in the crease. Penguins' Malkin was backchecking and, instead of tracking the puck, he turned and pushed Holmstrom to the ice along with his own goalie, leaving Fippula plenty of space to make the unbelievable play from an improbable angle. By the time Malkin turned around, the puck was already in the net. No wonder he had a meltdown at the end of the game.

Lidstrom's Goal

A similar scenario occurred in Game 1 of the Ducks vs Red Wings series. Detroit's Franzen was in front of Ducks' net, looking for rebound from Lidstrom's shot. Ducks' Pronger, instead of clearing the puck, turned his back and shoveled Franzen out of the crease, giving Lidstrom the perfect opportunity to swoop in and score on his own rebound. It was a great sequence of play that Lidstrom himself started from behind Detroit's net.

"Lucky" Goals (AKA, Net Presence)

Lots of sports writers wrote about how the Red Wings got lucky in Game 1, scoring two-goals off the end board and Fleury's body parts. The truth is they created their own scoring chances and made the most of them by getting players into position around the net (Thanks to Zanstorm for bringing it up) The Penguins want to learn from the Red Wings in terms of "net presence" and scoring "dirty goals", but if that's not the way they've played all year, it's hard to execute consistently in the playoffs.