Crease battles intensify in playoffs

The New York Times details the chess match taking place in front of goalies between their defensemen and opposing forwards each night, particularly come playoff time. 

“It’s something you know you have to do in order to be successful in the playoffs, and you know you will pay a price for being there,” said Boston Bruins winger Jarome Iginla. “It’s something you accept. You’re going to get the sticks, whacks, the crosschecks — they’re going to come, but you also know that you’re making life hard for the goalie and defense. You do it because it’s the little things you have to do right to win these tight playoff games.

“Everybody wants to win; every team is good. It comes down to who is willing to sacrifice themselves more, take the bigger risk.”

Los Angeles Kings winger Justin Williams expanded on the nuance of positioning.

“You certainly want to have a net presence, but you also want to have a guy away from the net,” said Williams. “You don’t want to have two guys just standing next to each other; you want to be staggered a little bit so you can get those opportunities or you get a chance to recover the puck and get another opportunity.

“There’s a lot of big boys on both teams that want that front of the net, so it’s tough to find space, but at playoff time, you do it.”

Source: Joanne Gerstner, New York Times