Caution might be the key for fixing the Loons defense
Minnesota isn't going to stop pressing - but needs to work on picking the right moments to press.
If you watch hockey for any length of time, you'll eventually see some version of one particular play that causes a breakaway, or a two-on-one rush. A defenseman, at the other team's blue line, will try to pinch in and stop the puck from exiting the zone.
Either they'll whiff, or the other team's wing will poke the puck past them, and suddenly the rush the other way will be on. At that moment, the defenseman is going the wrong way, the other team's wings are going the right way, and the defenseman's partner is usually in the other half of the ice - it's just a bad situation. Which is why the expected rate for a defenseman, in terms of attempting to pinch and successfully pinching, is more or less 100%; if one doesn't get there, one has made a terrible error.
I was thinking about this, in the context of Portland's fifth goal on Saturday night. It was about as close as you'll ever see to a hockey situation.
