Debate: The 1-3-1

November 10, 2011

The Tampa Bay Lightning were utilizing the 1-3-1 defense against the Philadelphia Flyers, applying no pressure and trapping the Flyers defensemen. Philadelphia stood in their own zone and waited, but no player from the Lightning came down and applied pressure, leaving the game in a stand still.

Finally, the referee whistled the play dead. Should the NHL outlaw zone defenses? Please vote and leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

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4 COMMENTS

Comments: 4

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DocM
14 years ago
Speed and accurate passing beats the zone everytime.
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Eric
14 years ago
I don't like it but you can't outlaw it. A smart coach needs to find a way to beat it. It must have weaknesses. For instance there's only 1 defenseman back, hit the neutral zone running with a dump in and go fight that lone defenseman for the puck in the corners. Schemes always change in sports, its the smart coaches that exploit weaknesses that win.
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RStein
14 years ago
There is absolutely no reason that a defensive mechanism should be "outlawed" - how ridiculous! This is an obstacle the offense will need to figure out how to overcome in order to score, just like everything else in the game! I actually think it's hilarious that TB was able to screw with them for that long, and got a nice little on-ice rest to boot. Guess what folks, if your team has the puck, you're on offense - if you don't, you're on defense. And if you're on defense you can do whatever you want to try and trip up the other team's groove - looks like it worked like a charm.
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Garrett Eagle
14 years ago
both teams need too apply pressure. other wise they both can just wait for something to open up. I think the flyers should have got a delay of game for just standing around. the trap is a neutral zone play. if the flyers are too scared to try to cross it then thats their problem.
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Kevin Freiheit

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