Friday, October 26, 2007
Flames thru 10
Record: 5-3-2 (3-2-1 Home, 2-1-1 Road)
4 Regulation Wins, 1 OT Win, 3 Regulation Losses, 1 OT Loss, 1 SO Loss
Scoring & Preventing Goals:
The one utterly sub-par element of the team's game so far has been the PK. Even excepting 5-on-3s, their SHGA/60 is 9.38, which is not quite (but approaching) twice as porous as an average team.
Speaking of 5-on-3s: under the "For", they have 2 goals in 5 opportunities lasting a total of 275 seconds; 1 goal per 138seconds (recent league average = ~1 per 180 seconds). Under the "Against", 3 goals in 5 opportunities lasting a total of 222 seconds; 1 goal per 74 seconds.
Player Rates:
(Click to enlarge; sorted by ESP/60) It's early, but just about all the offensive rates are good-to-great. Nolan is probably due for some bounces; Iginla is impossibly hot at ES. Note also that the #2 PP unit, whoever they are, has been shut out: only the Big 4 of the Flames forwards have any PP points at all. I think we knew they were top heavy up front, but that's a bit ridiculous.
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Flames host the Avs tonight (7PM, RSN West). I haven't been doing Game Day posts recently, and I'm not sure I can start again. It's not superstition, it's that Rudy Kelly has taken over and pretty much mastered the form. As usual, this last one was packed with laughs -- enough that I didn't care that his date was off by a year (the NHL was on hiatus in April '05, right?) and thus all the accompanying historical references. But that's OK -- it was probably funnier this way:
Et cetera. Anyway, I'd love to see Moss pot a goal, and I'd also like to see a perfect PK night: the Oilers (aka2.86% 5.0% of the time, it works every time) are still the only team Calgary has held without a PP goal. So, something like a 4-1 Win then? Sounds good. Go Flames.
4 Regulation Wins, 1 OT Win, 3 Regulation Losses, 1 OT Loss, 1 SO Loss
Scoring & Preventing Goals:
The one utterly sub-par element of the team's game so far has been the PK. Even excepting 5-on-3s, their SHGA/60 is 9.38, which is not quite (but approaching) twice as porous as an average team.Speaking of 5-on-3s: under the "For", they have 2 goals in 5 opportunities lasting a total of 275 seconds; 1 goal per 138seconds (recent league average = ~1 per 180 seconds). Under the "Against", 3 goals in 5 opportunities lasting a total of 222 seconds; 1 goal per 74 seconds.
Player Rates:
(Click to enlarge; sorted by ESP/60) It's early, but just about all the offensive rates are good-to-great. Nolan is probably due for some bounces; Iginla is impossibly hot at ES. Note also that the #2 PP unit, whoever they are, has been shut out: only the Big 4 of the Flames forwards have any PP points at all. I think we knew they were top heavy up front, but that's a bit ridiculous.
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Flames host the Avs tonight (7PM, RSN West). I haven't been doing Game Day posts recently, and I'm not sure I can start again. It's not superstition, it's that Rudy Kelly has taken over and pretty much mastered the form. As usual, this last one was packed with laughs -- enough that I didn't care that his date was off by a year (the NHL was on hiatus in April '05, right?) and thus all the accompanying historical references. But that's OK -- it was probably funnier this way:
Even if the Kings do make the playoffs, though, I’m not sure how good they’d be. They’d probably have a better chance if Terry Schiavo was in net. (Too soon?) [Ed.: probably] I think, looking at the future, the Kings need to do a couple of things. First, they need to lock up Demitra. I know he’s injury-prone, but the guy can score. Putting him with Frolov will be excellent for his development. I also think they need to look for a defenseman who can play with Lubo and Norstrom. (Not Rob Blake; he sucks and there’s no way he’s worth the $4 million it will probably take to sign him.)
Et cetera. Anyway, I'd love to see Moss pot a goal, and I'd also like to see a perfect PK night: the Oilers (aka
# posted by Matt @ 2:40 pm 
Comments:
I hate Colorado. Don't take this the wrong way, Edmonton fans, I still hate you guys, but until you start pulling out some undeserved wins you just can't compare.
Once again, we outplay Colorado, and they get the win.
ngthagg,
We feel the same way about the Canucks. C'est la vie.
By the numbers, this is the first game in yonks that Sakic's line hasn't played more against Iginla than the other three Colorado lines combined. And vice versa.
You would think that some of them would have been blowouts, or there would have been games where one was playing injured or was playing without regular linemates, or something commonsensical like that. Apparently not, I went back to the last nine head to head meetings, Iggy and Joe were both playing in seven of them, and that pattern held true in all of them.
On this night Ryan Smyth logged the most IggyMinutes of Quenneville's forwards. Granted just a touch ahead of Sakic. And with Wolski on Sakic's flank, and Svatos and Stastny being Smyth's linemates ... I can't imagine that went particularly well for either.
Smyth took more fresh minutes as well. A few times Sakic came onto the ice after Iginla had already been on for 20 or 30 seconds. There's a real difference in the difficulty of that icetime imo.
Generations changing hands, I suppose.
I never understood why MacTavish went all old school vs the Flames and Iginla. One game Horcoff/Smyth would play 16 of 19 shifts vs Joe Thornton, then Calgary would roll into town and he'd march Moreau/Peca types out at #12 all night. I mean it's not like it ever worked,Iginla killed the Oilers.
Keenan looks to be loving Dion, Aucoin and especially Langkow. Lombardi too. Surprised that the trust doesn't seem to be there with Conroy and Yelle so much. Or at least it doesn't appear that way by the way he's run his bench.
I think Yelle has really tailed off after injuries last year. Don't know if its wear and tear or something specific.
I think Yelle's play has been limited simply because he doesn't have a big role in even-strength or PP situations. Our lines of Iginla-Conroy-Tanguay, Huselius-Langkow-Nolan, and Moss-Lombardi-Nilson are doing pretty well. Any changes I would make would be internal, like Langkow for Conroy, or Nolan for Moss. That leaves Yelle with a spot on the 4th line with Godard and Smith. Since both of these players are usually less than 4 minutes per game, that doesn't give Yelle a lot of room. He has to make up most of his time blocking shots on the PK. I expect if you did the numbers you'd find he gets more EV ice time than either of his linemates, plus at least 3 - 4 minutes SH, which would mean that Keenan is finding ways to work him in despite his 4th line status.
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I hate Colorado. Don't take this the wrong way, Edmonton fans, I still hate you guys, but until you start pulling out some undeserved wins you just can't compare.
Once again, we outplay Colorado, and they get the win.
# posted by 
: October 27, 2007 2:26 am
: October 27, 2007 2:26 am ngthagg,
We feel the same way about the Canucks. C'est la vie.
# posted by : October 27, 2007 8:13 am
: October 27, 2007 8:13 am By the numbers, this is the first game in yonks that Sakic's line hasn't played more against Iginla than the other three Colorado lines combined. And vice versa.
You would think that some of them would have been blowouts, or there would have been games where one was playing injured or was playing without regular linemates, or something commonsensical like that. Apparently not, I went back to the last nine head to head meetings, Iggy and Joe were both playing in seven of them, and that pattern held true in all of them.
On this night Ryan Smyth logged the most IggyMinutes of Quenneville's forwards. Granted just a touch ahead of Sakic. And with Wolski on Sakic's flank, and Svatos and Stastny being Smyth's linemates ... I can't imagine that went particularly well for either.
Smyth took more fresh minutes as well. A few times Sakic came onto the ice after Iginla had already been on for 20 or 30 seconds. There's a real difference in the difficulty of that icetime imo.
Generations changing hands, I suppose.
I never understood why MacTavish went all old school vs the Flames and Iginla. One game Horcoff/Smyth would play 16 of 19 shifts vs Joe Thornton, then Calgary would roll into town and he'd march Moreau/Peca types out at #12 all night. I mean it's not like it ever worked,Iginla killed the Oilers.
Keenan looks to be loving Dion, Aucoin and especially Langkow. Lombardi too. Surprised that the trust doesn't seem to be there with Conroy and Yelle so much. Or at least it doesn't appear that way by the way he's run his bench.
I think Yelle has really tailed off after injuries last year. Don't know if its wear and tear or something specific.
# posted by : October 27, 2007 12:08 pm
: October 27, 2007 12:08 pm I think Yelle's play has been limited simply because he doesn't have a big role in even-strength or PP situations. Our lines of Iginla-Conroy-Tanguay, Huselius-Langkow-Nolan, and Moss-Lombardi-Nilson are doing pretty well. Any changes I would make would be internal, like Langkow for Conroy, or Nolan for Moss. That leaves Yelle with a spot on the 4th line with Godard and Smith. Since both of these players are usually less than 4 minutes per game, that doesn't give Yelle a lot of room. He has to make up most of his time blocking shots on the PK. I expect if you did the numbers you'd find he gets more EV ice time than either of his linemates, plus at least 3 - 4 minutes SH, which would mean that Keenan is finding ways to work him in despite his 4th line status.
# posted by : October 27, 2007 10:19 pm
: October 27, 2007 10:19 pm Post a Comment
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