Week 5 Power Poll

This past Wednesday in Tampa an incident took place that has all of the NHL talking.

In the 1st period of the game between Philadelphia & Tampa Bay the Lightning would set up in the 1-3-1 defensive mode waiting for the Flyers to bring the puck into the neutral zone.

The Flyers would respond by skating around in their own zone daring the Tampa Bay forward to come in after the puck.

What we had as a result of this is a stalemate that in all my years of watching hockey I have never seen.

This would happen numerous times throughout the 1st period where the referee would have to whistle the play dead and have a face-off only to have the process repeat itself.

I have read numerous opinions as to which team, Philadelphia or Tampa Bay, was right in the way they played. My personal opinion is the blame starts with the Flyers.

What happened last Wednesday is nothing new if you follow the Lightning. When Guy Boucher was hired to coach Tampa Bay he implemented a 1-3-1 defensive system where one forward play up front near the blue line of he offensive zone and one defenseman plays behind the blue line of the team's defensive zone. The other three players play between the blue lines waiting for the opponent to bring the puck into the neutral zone hoping to force a turnover.

That system if you recall helped Tampa come within one game of the Stanley Cup. It's not like the Lightning just started playing this way on Wednesday night.

If you watch all 30 teams in the NHL at least half of them use some sort of trap during the game and there is no rule in the rulebook against using a trapping system.

When you are a head coach in the NHL your job is to win games. If the 1-3-1 gives Tampa Bay the best chance to succeed then so be it. It's the other coaches job to figure out a way to beat the Lightning. The Flyers lead the NHL in goals scored. They shouldn't have a problem figuring out a way to play against the 1-3-1.

Because of this incident debates have come up as to whether the NHL needs to implement a rule so this doesn't happen again. A few of the suggestions I have heard was to call illegal defense against teams that use trapping systems or to institute a 10 second clock where teams have to move the puck out of the defensive zone.

My response to this is for everyone to take a deep breath and calm down.

Right now this is an isolated incident. Philadelphia is the first team to do this against Tampa Bay. St. Louis didn't try any stall tactics against the Lightning on Saturday and they won 3-0. My guess is the teams Tampa Bay plays the rest of the year will find a way to move the puck against the Lightning instead of stalling and waiting for them to make the first move.

I have no problem with the General Manager's having a discussion about this when they meet in December but I don't think anything needs to be done. We don't need them to reinvent the wheel just because Philadelphia refused to play the puck against Tampa Bay.

And people wonder why I hate the Flyers.

Here's your Power Poll for Week 5.

1.     Chicago        11-4-3      25 points
Three-game point streak by Jonathan Toews has the Blackhawks on top of the Western Conference.
                    
2.     Pittsburgh        10-4-3    23 points
Penguins still keep moving along while waiting for Sidney Crosby to return.

3.     Dallas        11-5-0      22 points
Stars follow up big road win in Washington with back-to-back losses in Pittsburgh & Detroit.

4.     Washington    10-4-1    21 points
Capitals are finding a way to win despite injuries on the blueline.

5.     N.Y. Rangers    9-3-3        21 points
Rangers have won six in a row.
 
6.     Philadelphia    9-4-3        21 points
JUST PLAY THE FREAKIN PUCK ALREADY!!!!
 
7.     Toronto        10-6-1    21 points
The secondary lines for the Maple Leafs are having trouble scoring right now.
 
8.     Minnesota        9-5-3      21 points
2-2 on current road trip but are beating the teams (Calgary, Anaheim) they need to beat.

9.     Buffalo        10-6-0    20 points
Ryan Miller gets laid out and nobody on the Sabres rushes in to stand up for him? Hmm..

10.     Edmonton        9-6-2      20 points
Oilers finish 2-4 on six game road trip.

11.    San Jose        9-5-1      19 points
Joe Pavelski is tied with three other players for most multi-point games in the NHL this season with eight.

12.    Detroit        9-5-1        19 points
Don't look now but the Red Wings have won four in a row.

13.    Vancouver        9-8-1      19 points
Once again the Sedin Twins have cracked the 20 point barrier.

14.    Los Angeles    8-6-3      19 points
If the Kings can play most of their games the way they did against Minnesota Saturday night they might be the team to beat in the West.

15.     Nashville        8-5-3      19 points
Playoff hero Joel Ward returns to Nashville on Tuesday night when Washington comes to town.

16.    Phoenix        8-4-3      19 points
Upcoming four game road trip out East should tell us what we need to know about the Coyotes.

17.    Florida        8-5-3        19 points
Hard to win against Philadelphia when you go 0-5 on the power play.

18.    Tampa Bay        8-6-2        18 points
Good for you Guy Boucher for sticking to your system of play.
 
19.    New Jersey        8-6-1        17 points
Adam Henrique has 12 points in seven games this season. The puck is finding his stick right now.

20.    St. Louis        8-7-1      17 points
Blues go 2-0-1 in first week under Ken Hitchcock.

21.    Colorado        8-8-1      17 points
Congrats to Milan Hedjuk for being named the 3rd captain in Avalanche history.

22.    Ottawa        8-9-1      17 points
Nice bounce back for Craig Anderson making 31 saves in win over Toronto after being pulled two minutes into the previous game against Buffalo.

23.    Boston        8-7-0        16 points
While there is still plenty of work to do the Bruins are at least over .500.
 
24    Montreal        7-7-2        16 points
Good news for the Canadiens as Mike Cammalieri and Scott Gomez returned to action on Saturday night.

25.    Anaheim          6-8-3      15 points
Ducks claim Niklas Hagman off waivers from Calgary hoping he can provide scoring depth that is needed amongst forwards.

26.    Carolina        6-8-3        15 points
Of the four coaches I listed in Friday's column my guess is Paul Maurice is the next to be fired.

27.    Calgary        7-8-1      15 points
If only they could play Colorado every game. (eight wins in a row)

28.    Winnipeg        5-9-3        13 points
People of Winnipeg we promised you the NHL would return. We didn't say the team would be good.

29.    N.Y. Islanders    4-7-3      11 points
Islanders are 0-7-2 in their last nine road games.

30.    Columbus           3-12-1       7  points
Bright spot for the Blue Jackets is Ryan Johansen (5G, 2A) in last nine games.