BOSTON — Claude Julien compared it to driving a car. “If you’re a bad driver,” he said, “it’s going to take a while before we get you back on track.” By all accounts — not that there are any accounts — Loui Eriksson is just fine behind the wheel of a car. What he’s learning is where to be when his linemates come charging through the neutral zone with the puck. The new Bruins winger is adjusting to a different style under Julien. Over seven years in Dallas, Eriksson was used to overloading as an extra winger when he come into the offensive zone. For example, if the left-shot Eriksson was playing right wing, he would come into the offensive zone by the center of the blue line, closer to the left wing, as the center carried the puck into the zone. Even through three head coaches in the last five years, that was how the Stars preferred to operate. “I would come into the middle and be the slash guy, help out,” Eriksson said. The idea is to get the defensemen focused on one side of the ice and open up the weak side to activate the defensemen and create open space for rebounds. Here’s an example of Eriksson scoring on a rebound with the Stars after being the ‘slash’ guy entering the offensive zone. The Bruins don’t do that. Julien preaches for his wingers to hold on their side of the ice and stay in their lanes. If the puck is close to your lane, the winger is allowed to switch with the center; Milan Lucic and David Krejci excel at this. Here’s the Lucic-Krejci-Nathan Horton line scoring after staying in their lanes during last spring’s playoffs. A right wing with Boston, Eriksson is under orders to stay on Patrice Bergeron’s right. It’s a small change, but a significant one. “I’m used to going through and supporting the winger,” Eriksson said. “In Dallas I used to do that. Here you have to stay on your side a little bit more. That’s just it. When I don’t have the puck, I’d try to support the forward.” By staying in his lane, Eriksson can give Bergeron and opposite winger Brad Marchand more room to do their work. It can also prevent turnovers and breakouts going in the other direction. Through two games, Eriksson has yet to record a point. He admitted Saturday morning he’s still in the mindframe of being a ‘slash’ guy and he has to remember to stay in his lane. It hasn’t come naturally yet, which is what the Bruins expected. “It’s the same adjustment as it was for [fellow ex-Star Jaromir Jagr] and those guys,” Julien said. “There’s a lot of teams that continue to overload and yet our breakouts have been good in the past years because of the reason we don’t overload necessarily and that’s our belief. So it’s a bit of a change there for those kind of players and it takes a little bit of time just like anything else.” It hasn’t helped early-season production that Eriksson didn’t get to develop in-game chemistry with Bergeron, who played in just two preseason games. Bergeron is the leader of that line and can instruct Eriksson where to go. When Bergeron missed a preseason game at Baltimore, even the four-year vet Marchand came out of the system and started skating all over. With Bergeron playing now, they can find the right structure. “You just don’t become a good driver overnight,” Julien said. “It takes practice, it takes time.”
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 00:34:26 +0000
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