First and foremost, my deepest condolences go out to the entire MacDougall family with the passing of Mr. Buckley, Taylor’s father-in-law.
The Moncton Wildcats face a must win scenario. That’s something they haven’t had to deal with throughout the entire season. Look the Wildcats haven’t played that poorly at the Memorial Cup and they were really close, and things could have gone either way in their first two outings, but we can all agree they still haven’t played their best hockey as of yet.
To be brutally honest they haven’t played that well in quite some time. You can look at all the video, numbers and analytics which is great and all, but the Cats have struggled to score goals and generate sustained offensive pressure over the past several games. Where have all their top players gone? Where is their offensive depth and offensive skill?
Now isn’t the time to harshly criticize individual players or point fingers, now’s the time to look subjectively at all aspects of their overall game and find solutions in order to get results. All of this talk of poor play can be rectified tonight with a complete team effort and massive victory against a familiar foe in the Rimouski Oceanic.
Nevertheless, the “stick to our game plan” mantra has to be re-examined. The current Wildcats game plan has worked in certain ways and hasn’t worked in others.
Their overall flow, vibe, swagger or whatever you want to call it is off. When the Cats are rolling as a group they have a ton of jump, play on their toes and are sharp and crisp with their puck movement and skating game. They haven’t been sharp and haven’t reached that flow state for a while. How do the Wildcats get back to that? Well, let’s face it, perhaps some players don’t have anything left in the tank. There’s no question some players are tired and banged up right now and you don’t get to this point of the season without dealing with some issues. We really have no idea what lingering injuries some players are experiencing so it’s really unfair to unjustly criticize individual “player” performance right now. Wanting players to step up in these moments is one thing, them possessing enough jam to do it is another. So how do you fix that?
Well, that’s where you would lean in on your depth and trust the players to go out and give you key minutes in key situations. You can say minutes need to be better distributed throughout the line up, but are you or would you be prepared to put players in unfamiliar situations in a “must win” game?
That’s the dilemma that is confronting the Wildcats coaching staff right now if they decide to “use everyone.” Offensively, the Wildcats have struggled. Sure, they have had their chances to score and being opportunistic is everything in the big moments, but the question still remains, how do you get your top guys going?
Well, there’s several different approaches you could take. You simply trust them to do the little things right, you stay status quo and believe that it’s just a matter of time before they get going and rediscover their magic or you drastically change everything up. The spontaneity of massive changes is a luxury if you have a few games to refine things, but that’s one luxury the Wildcats don’t have.
You can dissect the tape all you want right now, but the Wildcats top trio and entire top 9 for that matter haven’t gotten to the inside of ice with enough frequency and that’s one major reason why they are struggling to score and generate the kind of chances we are accustomed to seeing this hockey club generate. Whether it’s puck management or puck support things are off. Making massive changes right now might throw off the balance of the group even more which isn’t ideal, heading into the biggest game of the year.
The “status quo” has worked all year why change things up now? Well, the amount of regret if you don’t change things up is the kind of thing that coaches think about endlessly after the fact. This might be going out on a limb, but you can tell that some players know things aren’t working out from an offensive perspective right now. Instead of being automatic and instinctual, players are forcing the issue, so that’s where you have to go back to basics. Reestablish forecheck, rediscover the inside of the ice, take shorter shifts, be more patient or assertive with shots or passes and become less predictable.
You can’t sit there and tell me that the Rimouski Oceanic are prepared to see something different from the Moncton Wildcats. Perhaps the Oceanic are, but you never know so that’s why being less predictable right now with systems and strategy is an intriguing proposition. A systematic subtle change to the Wildcats game plan might cause momentary chaos. Speaking of chaos, when the Wildcats play their best brand of hockey it causes their opposition to look discombobulated.
Player tendencies reveal a lot especially in big moments. You’re going to see how some players respond to those moments tonight. Some tendencies have to be changed or refined in order for the group to be successful tonight versus the Oceanic, it doesn’t get any simpler than that. You can say the same thing as far as a coaching staff is concerned when it comes to tendencies in “must win” games as well.
If we have learned anything from the QMJHL Final, is that Langevin is a tremendously athletic netminder, but his rebound control is one area where you can exploit him. Look for the Wildcats to get to the middle and drive pucks into his feet or pads to try to generate those kinds of rebound chances and second chance opportunities.
How can the Wildcats play a more connected game? The Wildcats D corps are arguably playing their best hockey of the season which is fantastic and have chipped in monumentally on the offensive side of things at the Memorial Cup. Nevertheless, how can the entire Wildcats team get their groove back?
Well that all starts with puck support, taking better routes to pucks and using their speed at the right times. Playing fast is great and all and it’s a wonderful strategy, but you also have to be patient and assertive with the puck when you have possession of it. You see it’s a very fine line and that line is the difference between winning and losing, especially when you’re playing the best of the best.
There’s no secret formula right now for the Wildcats to get going and play their best game with their season on the line. Gardiner MacDougall has talked endlessly about getting better each and every day. Collectively as a group, the Moncton Wildcats need to apply what they have learned and come out tonight not searching for their best game, they need to play it.
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