from Travis Yost of TSN,

It’s hard – if not impossible – to get a read on a team after just two games, but the Nashville Predators have looked impressively different in their debut games under new coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette’s promised to bring more offense to a Nashville organization that’s seen their goal-scoring dry up over the years, but early signs suggest that the team’s just going to be more aggressive in every phase of the game – not just in terms of getting pucks on net.

This, of course, gets into the many different ways a team can improve on their Corsi%. One example I like to give is the stark contrast between that of Los Angeles and Chicago; two virtually equal teams at dominating control of play at five-on-five, but two teams that go about their business in entirely different manners. Los Angeles is a dump-and-chase heavy team – they prefer to sacrifice a bit of lethality when attacking in exchange for being able to set-up with more structure when defending the neutral zone. Chicago’s a polar opposite – nearly every possession through the neutral zone sees the Blackhawks carrying in with control, and it’s reflected in their ability to pile up the shot-attempts and goals year after year.

The first two games Nashville’s played are interesting in the sense that they seem to have really dialed up the force and frequency in which they harass puck-carriers coming through the neutral zone. In years past, I’ve felt as though Nashville played a more passive game, which let super-talented teams dictate the run of play.

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