How NOT to Play Defense: Maple Leafs Edition

As I'm sure most hockey fans do, I tend to watch the highlights of the night's games. Whilst watching the highlights of the Leafs-Bruins game, I wasn't too surprised to see them losing, but this goal in particular boggled my mind.

Are you ready for some more MS Paint? Good.

Here, we see two Leafs forwards (Dave Steckel and Tim Connolly) covering the same guy at the point: Patrice Bergeron. Um. Why? Bergeron makes a quick pass to a wide open Zdeno Chara, and, newsflash: this guy's good at hockey. Chara then has all the time he wants to do whatever he wants with the puck. The two Leafs defensemen in front of the net (Schenn and Gardiner) seem to be doing their job for the most part. However, as Chara moves in, Schenn inches closer to him and even goes down on a knee to try and take away a cross-crease pass. I have no issue with that. Jake Gardiner then inches away from Caron (eventual goalscorer) which allows Caron to get free for Chara's pass.

Now, even though Gardiner leaves Caron wide open for one of the easiest goals he'll ever score, I'm more bothered by the forwards (Steckel and Connolly). Had they both not been at the point holding hands and enjoying a cup of tea, this could have been easily prevented. One of them covers Bergeron, the other follows Chara, and then Schenn and Gardiner don't have to react based on the play that's developed.

Who knows? Maybe I'm overlooking something or maybe I'm flat out wrong about this, but it all seems pretty logical to me. I'm sure (I'm not, I'm just hoping) Randy Carlyle and Brian Burke will somehow eventually fix this, though, so no worries, Leafs Nation.

How NOT to Play Defense: Steven Kampfer Edition

Let's overlook the fact that the Avalanche embarrassed the Wild tonight. That's a moot point by now. However, I had the game on at work tonight, and as I would glance at it every so often, I looked up at just the right time to see this goal.

First things first here: Tom Gilbert, you have to get that puck out of the zone. I realize that shit happens and you can't do much about it, so that just really sucks for him. I feel his pain, having played defense when I was (a lot) younger, but still. That can't happen.

Anyways. Let's break this down and pick on Steve Kampfer, shall we? With my amazing Microsoft Paint skills and lack of a telestrater, I've illustrated it a little:

One of the first things they teach you as a defenseman when dealing with a two-on-one, is take the pass away. As the above photo shows, Kampfer is cheating towards Stastny, when ideally, he should let the backchecking forward (assuming it's Nick Johnson here) take the puck carrier. Kampfer should then let Hackett (Mr. Goalieboy) deal with the shooter (Stastny) and hope Johnson can catch up to him in time. While all this is going on, Kampfer should move towards Mark Olver, and attempt to negate any potential pass to him, thus negating any potential goal. However, things don't always work as planned. Olver gets the puck and essentially has an easy tap-in for a goal.

Who do you think Matt Hackett is more pissed at after all this? Gilbert for not clearing the puck initially? Kampfer for failing his defensive assignment? Either way, Gilbert and Kampfer (why are they a pairing again??) should probably attempt to make amends with Hackett, especially since he got trampled by Olver after all this. The last thing the Wild need is another injured goaltender.