My Thoughts on Penalties

[tvset]

I wonder if there is any way to collarate (SP) when each penalty happens, either on defense or offense.
    What I have noticed from the stands is there seems to be a greater number of penalties when we go on the defensive ( I'd say above 80% ).
    So if the  offense has just put 3 unanswered points on the board, why go into a (PREVENT DEFENSE) and then start racking up penalties and then skate a man down putting them in a Power Play and letting them get back in the game and letting our momentum slip away.
    On our Power Plays, we seem to be able to pass the puck around for extended periods of time before taking a shot ( sometimes most of the 2 minutes ). So why wouldn't it be better to skate offensively and look for the "good shot" on their end of the ice. The benefit would be less penalties, more time off the clock and keeping the momentum in our favor.
   
GREAT GAME GUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HATE when any team goes to the "PREVENT DEFENSE", be it NFL, NBA or 8th grade soccer ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Townie]

First, defensive penalties should be more common due to the disruptive focus defensive play, which lends itself to interference, holding, tripping, etc.. Defensive penalties may also be deliberate to prevent a golden scoring opportunity, e.g., when the goalie is way out of position, sometimes resulting in penalty shots (as we saw last night).  Committing a penalty in the opponents defensive zone is dumb as it disrupts your own offensive efforts.  It's also not as common due to the basic focus of offensive play.

Also, winning teams tend to play less aggressively to avoid penalties whereas losing teams play more aggressively to re-gain the puck.  Aggresive or overzealous play (e.g., stiff or borderline dirty checks) can result in retaliation by the winning team.  And it always seems that the refs catch the retaliation!  Winning teams need to be very disciplined to keep a lead while not letting up on the offensive effort.

A common "prevent defense" is the trap, where the defensive team sends in one forechecker with the remaining four skaters guarding the neutral zone in an effort to prevent a dump and run.  If the offensive team dumps before the red line, it's icing (obviously).  Point is, I don't think this necessarily lends itself to penalties.