New fan hyped for the playoffs
Please skip this if you have no time or patience for noobs and our stupid questions, thank you.
I've seen the Habs in a few playoff quests before this season. But this year I actually started paying a bit more attention to the regular season, and this is the year I'm the most excited about their playoff chances.
However, I feel like I still don't understand the nature of the game per se. Can you please give me a few pointers on how to watch it more 'strategically'?
To provide some context, I am a lot better now than a few years ago at following the action, I have more intuition about where the puck will go. But I still have zero strategic knowledge of the game, or what makes a team better than the other. For instance, in the NFL (which I've been watching for decades) I have a good idea of which matchups might decide a game, and the importance of the battle between the offensive and defensive lines. Are there any analogous things to watch out for in the NHL in general and in the Habs vs Tampa rivalry in particular?
Thanks in advance!