Dead angles: If there is a concern on the glove side recently, it involves shots from sharper angles off the wing.Crawford was beaten short-side high over the glove on a couple of rush shots off the boards late in the season, a trend that seems to be tied to prematurely executing a sharp-angle post-integration technique known as the reverse-VH when the play is still too far away and high in the zone. If the outer hash marks are his trigger for starting this move, don't be surprised if the Predators start firing pucks off the rush from there. It cost him on the blocker side as well, all part of eight bad-angle goals given up in the New Year. Add in the 31 goals Crawford gave up this season on low-high passes from below or near the goal line, and a Feb. 4 game against the Dallas Stars where all three goals were scored from bad angles or wraparounds, and don't be surprised if Nashville tries to create offense down low.
Rebounds but not in tight: Crawford gave up 29 goals on rebounds, which isn't an alarming total by any means, but nine came off clean shots where he was set, square and could see the release. But for all the "crash-the-net" talk we hear during playoffs, it's important to remember Crawford wears pads designed to produce more active rebounds that buy him more time to recover, so looking for loose pucks may be more effective from a little further out.