There's a minute to play in the 3rd period and you're down by a goal. Your goalie is on your bench. Now what?

There’s a minute to play in the 3rd period and you’re down by a goal. Your goalie is on your bench. You or maybe one for your assistant coaches are ready to draw a play for the ensuing 6-on-5. 

Do you want to attack right off the faceoff, or do you want possession, setup and then attack? I am going to answer this question over two stories; this is the first part, where I’ll break down the magic 6 vs. 5 that NHL teams have used in the previous two playoffs. Sadly, there’s no one size fits all play that leads to a goal. Still, I was able to breakdown some different things that have worked in the NHL. 

Faceoff 

The biggest thing you’ll notice in this breakdown of plays off the faceoff is there are always bodies at the net when the shot is going through. Traffic is terrific.

Bring the puck high 

In the first two examples in the video below, we can see DAL3 and STL57 trying to sneak behind the high guy. With Dallas, it’s opening the shooting lane and there are way too many players in front of that poor goalie, making it hard to see. For St. Louis, it’s opening the seam pass. After missing it, they keep it simple, walk the blueline and throw the puck at the net with two players in front. For Tampa Bay, they release the pressure from down low. But another option if you look at TBL86, he slowly skates behind the net and hides himself, opening the seam/back door play.

Below The Goal Line 

As a coach, you have to establish what you want in the offensive zone. Playing high, playing low, what’s your identity? Playing 6 vs. 5 there are a lot of advantages, like having one extra player. You can easily double or triple up the support and you can send three players below the goal line. There’s no way the opponent will send the same number of players to defend. If they do, well, I have some video to show how they get scored on. By playing below the goal line, it’s such a hard area to defend because you have to look and turn your body towards the puck. But at the same time, you don’t see what’s behind. Having your head on a swivel is good, but at some point, you cannot see everything.

3 High 3 Low 

How to spread the defensive coverage? This system is set up by having four players outside the dot, two high and two low, one player in front of the net and one in the middle of the blueline. For this one, I don’t mind how Boston is playing a 1-3-1 (not the first time they’ve done this), but let’s focus on Tampa Bay. They can use the width of the ice, attacking on the flank and opening the space for the QB. At the same time, the three forwards that were low are collapsing on net. Now, you have five players right in front or beside the goalie. Not easy to be a goalie in that situation. 

The Seam Play 

For this one, it’s more about opportunities than a setup. But still, that can give you some ideas on when and how to read the play and not forcing a pass or shot – there’s a huge difference. It’s always about reading, I call it TWIG (take what is given). In the Toronto video, CBJ13 is sealing the wall, but there’s no one there yet. Thus exposing the middle. But when you are Matthews and you don’t have your stick in the passing lane, he can make you look silly. For Winnipeg, it’s the same thing, TWIG. Great read by WPG27. The Habs are giving the seam play big time. Great feed and perfect one-timer.