The Detroit News · Oct 5, 2018
Red Wings' absent fore-check both symptom and cause
(Photo: David Guralnick, Detroit News)Detroit — When the Red Wings’ fore-checking wanes, it is both a symptom of poor performance and a cause.
A lacking or lagging fore-check stymies their resolve to play as a tough opponent.
It is often a sign of staying in their zone too long, amid season-to-season problems with zone coverage, puck recovery and launching the transition to offense. And bottling up opponents to keep them away from your goal increases the chance for their errors to create scoring opportunities, a significant boost for a team challenged to score.
On Thursday, in the 3-2 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets, after the earliest going, the Wings mustered almost no fore-check.