The introduction of 3-on-3 hockey has brought new excitement to NHL overtimes. Back when the league was rolling with 4-on-4 play in the extra period, teams were often sitting back and waiting for the shootout out of fear of slipping up and making a mistake which would cost an extra point. This overly cautious approach has been mostly abandoned with 3-on-3 hockey, but the Vancouver Canucks have admitted they’re actively trying to get to the shootout.
As seen in The Province, Daniel Sedin revealed that the Canucks are treating 3-on-3 OT hockey like a penalty kill and are more than content to settle things in the shootout.
“The way we play in OT, we started talking to each other, saying let’s just play these tight defensively and we’ll take our chances in the shootout. Our thought is, play it like a PK. When you start skating around that gets tiring. Now, we’re standing still and just trying to defend the slot. It’s not pretty, but that’s the way we have to play.”
For what it’s worth, the Canucks have been horrible in overtime. They are 0-7 in overtime and have been mostly dominated as soon as play shifts to 3-on-3. With the Canucks seemingly unable to find answers in overtime, you can’t really fault them for packing it in and waiting to settle things in the skills competition. It won’t be entertaining – far from it realistically – but it may buy the team time until they can figure out a strategy which will produce actual results.
