With the previous articles talking about breakouts and forechecks, I found this as a rare chance to talk about defensive zone faceoff wins. Faceoffs are a topic of debate in hockey. Looking at faceoff win percentages aren’t going to tell you much at the end of the day because what happens after the faceoff matters far more. In this article, we will look at what the Bruins and Leafs do after defensive zone faceoff wins.
Gabe Desjardins described defensive zone faceoffs as a “dangerous” play in 2011. The logic behind this was that teams generally give up more shots on goal in the next 30 seconds following a defensive zone faceoff win than a neutral zone faceoff loss.