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Loss to Flames follows a pattern |
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We've seen this before, haven't we?
A slow start.
Bad penalties taken.
Two power play goals allowed.
Two centers with face-off percentages below 30%.
Third period surge and comeback.
Outshot in regulation.
The result last night was a shootout loss. But the pattern remains strikingly familiar, win, lose or dopey shootout (thanks Bettman).
And this morning, the Hawks are 3-3-1—which you can argue is sub .500—versus a pretty soft schedule to start the season.
I could dissect the entirety of the game, but rather I'll point out a few things.
A discussion on my message board thread yesterday argued the relative importance of face-offs. I jumped in at one point and pointed out that face-offs are more important late in close games, killing penalties in the defensive zone, etc.
But another thing is face-offs are important for a "possession" team. In this regard, faceoff wins (or losses) will lead to more shots and more goals.
An absolutely critical metric? Meh, maybe not. But face-off wins do matter. And when a center's face-off percentage is in the 20s—as was the case last night with Nick Schmaltz and Artem Anisimov— his line is at least somewhat disadvantaged up and down the ice.
Dumb penalties. Richard Panik and perhaps Tyler Motte took selfish stupid penalties last night. Panik continues to be Andrew Shaw Light. A useful offensive player whose aggressiveness gets the better of his judgement at times.
On Motte's penalty, a look at the game tape will show him complaining about a slash and lobbying for a call, just before going into the corner and jacking his stick up on a Calgary player. Cause and effect? Mmmm, very possibly.
On a team that can't stop a beach ball on the penalty kill, these types of rookie blunders are intolerable.
So let's please, finally, put the "Q hates rookies" fallacy to bed. The self-control being shown by Joel Quenneville and each member of the coaching staff is remarkable in light of the roster assembled by a front office that's overcommitted in veteran salaries.
Sure, the Hawks are getting a little dinged up on defense—but with the possible exception of Michal Rozsival, they still have a very good NHL blue line, even missing a couple of depth defenders in Trevor van Riemsdyk and Gustav Forsling. So injuries are no excuse right now.
There's no point in rekindling the veteran versus rookie debate. The bottom line is, until proven otherwise, the chemistry on this team is off—rookies are making mistakes, some veterans are repeatedly failing to deliver in key situations.
The experiment continues, and as I was told a couple of weeks ago, the 10-game mark could be where some changes will begin to happen, assuming the present pattern doesn't change.
All I have for now.
JJ
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