Tuesday, November 22, 2005

 

Smyth da Sniper

Pretty slow game last night.

Morrison looked solid, which is nice. Sure he looks a bit awkward, but he certainly seems to have better rebound control than Jussi. After the game MacT indicated that he would be very willing to start him back to back, so we might see him in Minnie.

I wish they kept shootout statistics (anyone?). Unless I'm mistaken, Smyth is 100% going all the way back to preseason including both overtime shootouts and regular old penalty shots. Plus he is still in the league's top 3 in shooting percentage.

Comments:

If only Smyth netted on his breakaway against Chicago on Saturday, the Oil would have had a 3 win homestand.
What happened to Stoll last night? I didn't see him play at all in the 3rd, and i thought he'd be on the shootout list.
 


Huh? Really? Morrison and rebounds? I don't know, he seems to let out about one big one a period, and there was that slow shot he let get away from him trying to trap it in the third. Jussi's rough, too, but I don't know if Morrison has a better handle on it, myself.
 


"If only Smyth netted on both of his breakaways against Chicago on Saturday, the Oil would have had a 3 win homestand."

There. Fixed that for you.

I like Ryan Smyth, I really do, but he is not the best sniper in the league and not in the Top 3. The law of statistical regression (it may not be a law, but it is at least a guideline) means he is going to miss a lot of breakaways in the next couple of weeks until his shooting percentage drops down to where it belongs.
 


The Oilers as a team had an above-average shot percentage in '03-'04--they finished 10th or 11th in that category. Right now they're smack in the middle of the league--and if Smyth's getting too lucky for comfort, we can at least expect somebody snakebit like Dvorak to take up some of the slack. And Peca will eventually start finding the net a little more, though I'm not sure about Pronger (and I don't really give a crap how many goals Pronger ends up with anyway)
 

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