from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Monday was a good opportunity to work on-ice on the three-on-three format.

"It's one of those things you want to work on, but don't get a lot of time to work on it," Lalonde said. "It's been frustrating for us because even looking at the underlying numbers, three-on-three, we've out-chanced our opponent in three-on-three time, we've had 60% possession in our three-on-three play, we've only given up seven chances against, and four of them have ended up in the back of the net. And all have been eerily similar.

"It's not managing our game, egregrious turnovers, and ended up in the back of our net. It's almost an extension of our five-on-five play. We've asked guys to manage their game five-on-five and this is the same thing.

"For me, it's not a structure issue when the underlying numbers are what they are; it's a managing your game issue."

Lalonde feels teams are better at defending three-on-three these days.

"People are having a smarter approach," said Lalonde, noting Dallas basically touched the puck for the first time in overtime on its only scoring chances several minutes into period.

Some analysts wouldn't mind erasing the overtime formats and simply going back to ties after regulation. But Lalonde doesn't feel that's the way to go.

"I like it; it's good for the fans," said Lalonde, noting the potential for high-end excitement and dazzling offense. "Maybe it'll get to that point (of people losing interest), but it's been great. Maybe it's lost a little of its wow and pow but because of people just learning how to defend it, but I have no problem with it."

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