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The easy thing to do is to blame the shot blockers.
Yes, they must be the reason why goals are down (from 2.8 per game last year to 2.5 this year) and the favourites keep falling out of the playoffs. Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Boston. And now Philadelphia, a team with the two top scorers in the post-season and the No. 3-ranked offence in the regular season.
All because star forwards like New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk are skating back into the defensive zone and taking one — or several — for the team. One columnist derisively coined what we are seeing as Robo Hockey, because players are not only sacrificing their body but their skill and creativity in the name of saving a goal.
It is a nice theory. And to an extent it is probably true. But...
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