Can the Penguins Continue Their Reign of Neutral Zone Dominance?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off of a Stanley Cup winning season where they dictated the terms of how hockey would be played in the neutral zone.

Game by game, series by series, the Penguins clogged lanes, forced turnovers, and put their opponents in uncomfortable positions with the puck between the bluelines.

In short, they were the biggest bullies in the NHL.

With the defense of their championship set to begin in just over 48 hours, we’re about to find out the NHL’s answer to this problem, if one even exists at all.

The Penguins identity is on tape and well documented. Assuming Mike Sullivan and the rest of the Penguins coaching staff takes a similar approach to last season (and why wouldn’t they?), the onus is on the rest of the NHL to come up with a way to counteract the Penguins stifling approach to hockey in the neutral zone.

What made the Penguins so tough to play against in the neutral zone? 

Mike Sullivan didn’t re-invent the wheel when he took over as head coach. When you have a roster that’s as talented as the one boasted by the Penguins, shiny new systems and complicated approaches to hockey aren’t really necessary. (After all, “just play” is engraved on the inside of the Penguins Cup rings.)

The Penguins bread and butter was the standard 1-2-2 neutral zone trap. As I mentioned last season, this isn’t the boring, sleep-inducing version that we saw throughout the clutch-and-grab era of the 90’s. The Penguins used this trap to not only make zone-entries difficult for their opponents, but to generate turnovers and head off to the races in the opposite direction.

The Penguins approach was to boss defensemen around using an aggressive forechecker who had the ultimate goal of funneling outlet passes into areas of the neutral-zone where the Penguins possessed a distinct advantage in numbers. The Penguins took away preferred lanes, smothered the opposition, and then used their speed to turn the play around and head into the offensive zone with the defense on its heels.

The GIF above is the perfect example of what the Penguins were able to accomplish last year. Force the play with pressure, take away all the passing options, use your numbers to your advantage, and head off to the races the other direction.

Any time a team as quick as the Penguins can reverse the flow of play and create chaos for the opposition, they’re going to be in business.

In retrospect, the fruits of this system are as evident as ever in the results of the Penguins six game victory over the Washington Capitals.

Corey Sznajder, who runs a fantastic micro-stats website called The Energy Line, detailed these results in his micro-stat’s review of the Pens/Caps series.

In his post reviewing this series (which features totals for dump-ins vs. carry-ins), he had the following to say about the results from both categories:

Pittsburgh’s success in the neutral zone also extends to the defensive side, as they forced the Caps to dump the puck in on nearly 55% of their entries. Washington didn’t rely that heavily on carrying the puck in to create their offense against the Flyers, but they are generally a team that prefers to carry the puck in and being held to a 45.7% Carry-in rate is something that’s probably outside of their comfort zone.

Forcing a team like the Capitals out of their comfort zone is the biggest compliment you can give to the Penguins neutral zone approach. Corey also went on to comment about how the Penguins stingy approach to the middle of the ice made things a bit easier for them heading back the other direction. They were able to carry the puck into the offensive zone with a much higher level of success than the Capitals were used to allowing.

How Mike Sullivan directs his roster to play in the neutral zone will be one of the most entertaining aspects of the Penguins title defense and I’ll certainly have my eye on it through the first few games of the regular season. Will Mike Sullivan continue with the 1-2-2 trap, or does he have a new approach to bullying the rest of the league around? Also, is there a team that has the key to unlock this stifling approach?

With the Penguins/Capitals series still fresh in our minds, and plenty of tape available for comparison, we’re going to find out more about Sullivan’s approach and Trotz’ response in just a few short days. If we see more of the same in the middle of the ice, the Penguins will have created a big problem for the rest of the NHL.