If you’re playing defense and the other team is really having a good time in your end, passing the puck around and taking shots, etc. your goal is to simply get the puck out of your zone. To get the puck across the blue line.
This forces all of the offensive players to leave the zone (cross over the blue line). They can only re-enter your zone again AFTER the puck comes back in.
That’s why you see the offensive players, when they can, set up with one guy near each side just inside the blue line. Their job is to keep the puck in whenever the defense tries to get the puck out.
Remember the basic two ideas about the lines on the ice:
1. Icing (when the puck crosses the red center line and the goal line) is an infraction to force the team to move the puck up the ice, not just throw it to the other end. This is waived when you are penalty killing (playing shorthanded) because you are already at a disadvantage.
2. Offsides is also to force the team to move the puck into the attacking zone, and not to simply make a long pass to someone camping out next to the goal. The rule is pretty simple: When entering the zone, the puck must cross the blue line before any member of the attacking team. A player can be offside on himself if he is carrying the puck and his two feet cross the line before the puck does. The corollary, as I stated above, is that when the puck leaves the zone, all attacking players must leave the zone.
That actually makes sense to me! I now have some comments ready for tomorrow’s Ranger’s game! The husband will be in shock!