Shift in Defense a Key for Ducks

The left-wing lock isn’t the latest auto-theft prevention device, but an effective style of play the Ducks have adopted and started to perfect recently.

By now you’re probably aware of the neutral-zone trap, which looks a bit like a halfcourt press in basketball and slows the pace of hockey games to a crawl.

You’re also probably familiar with the run-and-gun style played in the past by the Kings with Wayne Gretzky and Detroit with Paul Coffey.

The lock isn’t as defensive-oriented as the trap and not as wide open as the “all-out blitz,” as Coach Pierre Page called it.

“Detroit used to have a team that only wanted to score goals, so [Coach] Scotty Bowman came up with the left-wing lock and they’ve become a great two-way hockey team,” Page said.

Basically, the lock calls for the left winger to adopt a more defensive posture while the center and the right winger move forward to pursue scoring chances. Those two are sometimes joined by one of the two defensemen.

“We all want to blitz because we want to give the fans entertaining hockey, but you want to win too,” Page said.

The Ducks began the season with an aggressive forechecking style, but ditched that in favor of the left wing lock during a 2-2 tie Oct. 15 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Since the change, the Ducks are 5-3-3.

“We’ve got a system we’ve been using now and it’s working and we’re getting better at it,” forward Ted Drury said after scoring twice in Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over Tampa Bay.