Close Game Training

[MattPie]

So I was thinking last night, could all these close games be some sort of training program for the playoffs? My thought process is in many things you practice before it matters. If you're riding a bike, you should practice full-effort braking and swerves, so if you actually have to do perform one of these maneuvers in the heat of the moment, your muscle memory takes over. I would think that a team would work the same way. Sports are littered with teams that win in the regular season but when the close-checking playoffs start everything falls apart. If nothing else, the Sabres have played a lot with the 1 goal lead so they should be used to it.

 

The other part of this is, could Lindy be 'mandating' they go into lock-down mode, or are the players doing out of fear of making mistakes? I would seem to be a pretty savvy coaching move to tell your players 'you're going to play with this one-goal lead'. Obviously they'd take goals if they can get them. I'm just not sure if a coach could have that much effect on the play.