When a hockey team is protecting a one-goal lead in the game's final minute, the coach needs to look to intelligent players who exude mental toughness and have the ability to read plays -- players with a desperate, fighting attitude to get the puck out of the zone.

	ESPN's analysts would tap Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom if they needed a goal ...

The coach needs to observe who's hot and who's not, who's playing well and who's not having a great night. First, he'll look at his top players and whether or not they're playing well and determine whether or not to keep them out there. If a consistently clutch player isn't having a spectacular night, most of the time you still go with him. I've always believed the coach should evaluate players in terms of their minimum performance level on any given night, in any given situation, because everyone has off nights.

When it's six against five, you know you're going to have the puck in your zone. The coach needs to pay special attention to who's hot for the opposing team. If someone has scored two or three goals or has had all sorts of scoring chances, the other team isn't stupid -- they're going to get him the puck. The coach also needs to determine coverage on lost faceoffs and be sure everyone understands the coverage.

Most importantly, the coach needs to look to guys with desperate do-whatever-it-takes attitudes. Fighting to get the puck out along the boards and out over the blue line may not be considered significant to many people, but to a team up by one with one minute on the clock, it's as good as scoring a goal.

Many of the same philosophies apply if you're down by a goal. Certainly the team that's up a goal is in the driver's seat and has a clear advantage -- it's tough to score goals in the NHL. But a coach will go through the same assessment of who's hot: who's had the best scoring chances, the best legs, who's really flying and (naturally) who will score a goal for us?

Again, he'll look at his top players first. Or maybe there's a third-line guy who's having a great night and seems to have a nose for the net. You need people with speed and creativity who can grab the puck and make something happen.

Much of it is instinct -- knowing your team, each individual's capabilities and how well each has played.

Down by a goal
When a team is down by a goal with a minute left, it becomes a six-on-five situation. With the extra skater, you have to try to create some room. Players are primarily thinking about getting the puck inside the opposing team's zone and finding a way to get the puck to that loose man.

	...and send out St. Louis' Chris Pronger if they needed to protect a lead.

When time is slipping away, great players have a tendency to be calm -- that's what you want in pressure situations. You want to stay calm and focused. A player thinks about moving the puck and moving with the puck. He thinks, "When I get it, then I move, and everyone else will move -- and we'll find a way to get someone open."

It's tough to have set plays, like football, inside the zone. It's about getting the puck in control inside the zone, similar to a power-play attitude, and trying to work it around. Standing with the puck is not going to work, because you know the other team is going to be super-aggressive, fighting for loose pucks desperately and doing whatever they have to do to get it out of their zone.

That desperation must be matched if you're down by a goal. If there's a loose puck, you have to go all-out after it. You can't afford to lose precious seconds by letting the other team beat you to an easy loose puck and send it all the way down the ice.

Up by a goal
You have to have that desperate attitude about all those little plays -- it's not about scoring into an empty net. If the guys on the ice are worried about scoring a goal on the empty net, then the coach has the wrong players out there.

It's about keeping the puck out of your own zone. If you have room, you can hold on to it. But if you can make a good pass, that's great -- naturally, possession is 9/10ths of the law. Basically, you're in good shape if you've got it and the other team doesn't. The more time you waste, the better off you are.

The focus is inside your own blue line; you're hoping you'll be in your end as little as possible in that last minute. The other team's objective is to get it in there, muck around and make something happen. All energy and focus is inside your own blue line; what do I do in situations where we're hemmed in?

It's about reading plays and dangerous players and keeping the puck to the outside -- outside the scoring areas -- and fighting for loose pucks. Players need that absolute desperate attitude to fight for loose pucks, to get it over the blue line and pursue it from there. You have to have all five guys with that desperate attitude or you're going to be in trouble.

We're talking about small things. Getting that puck out over the blue line is as good as scoring a goal -- however many times it takes in the last minute to protect that lead.

Brian Engblom is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He played 11 seasons in the NHL as a defenseman and won three Stanley Cups in six seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.