The strategy of an NHL game has evolved dramatically since the lockout that cancelled the 2004-05 season.
Pinching the blue-line and pressuring in the offensive zone used to be a choice — most teams did it when the odds and circumstances were in their favour, or in a desperate, late bid to rally when down on the scoreboard.
Now the teams that don’t do it at all times during a game are in a dwindling minority, and it’s been evident in the first five games of the Winnipeg Jets’ season.
It’s pressure and more pressure all over the ice.