All at even-strength except where noted. All adjusted for score and venue.
All analytic stats at even-strength
Well, I’m happy to report that I pulled off the motherfuck on Twitter tonight and the Hawks managed a comeback win (or maybe Carolina snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but who cares?).
– It was looking like Brandon Saad was actually just a human, until overtime that is. He missed a penalty shot in the first with a questionable shot location to Darling’s glove side; he had a shitty turnover on a power play in the second where he just managed to bail himself out with a good poke check; and he missed an open net on yet another power play later in the second. But it turns out all of that was just building up the drama to his OT winner, via a beautiful pass from DeBrincat.
– And let’s talk about Top Cat. When he was on the ice with Toews and Panik, he scored. When he was on the ice with Kane and Kero, he scored. When he was on the ice with Lance fucking Bouma he did nothing ARE YOU SEEING A PATTERN HERE. I actually thought his first goal was a PP goal and I was all excited that we scored finally on the power play, but no, I was blinded by the pass from Toews and didn’t realize the penalty had expired. Point being that having DeBrincat on the power play, and having him out there with top talent, will lead to him doing what he’s meant to do. I realize that Q is doing everything he can to sabotage this kid and justify getting rid of him—whether that means sending him down or who knows what the fuck else—but Top Cat is making it impossible and I couldn’t be happier about it.
– Forsling scored to tie the game, so that’s…good…and yet…he’ll play forever now. Granted yes, of course it was a huge relief when they tied it, but in the first Forsling ended up with Seabrook and it led directly to the first Carolina goal. It’s easy to pin that one on Seabrook because it was his shitty positioning and lack of awareness (or inability to move fast enough) that allowed the goal to happen, but still, the two of them shouldn’t ever be responsible for defending anything, and now the new pet has proven all of Q’s assumptions with his first goal, and Kempny will never get out of the Sarlaac pit.
– Speaking of allowing goals to happen, Forsberg had a rather shitty night again. Now, in all fairness I do think that first goal was Seabrook/Forsling’s fault, and the third one was a bit of a fluky shot, but still. He definitely should have had the second goal (and probably the third too). He had some decent positioning but all too often when it mattered, he was moving uncomfortably all over the place. He was lucky to get this win. It may be time to see what Berube or whatever the hell that guy’s name is can do as the back-up. I’m not totally ready to give up on Forsberg yet, but I’m damn close. I just wonder if the organ-I-zation is too.
– I get Movember and all, and obviously I support cancer awareness in any form, but man we are right in the midst of a creepy-douchebag-mustache parade. Anisimov is a prime offender, but the winner has to be Justin Faulk. That guy looked like he was straight out of that Twitter account Super 70s Sports.
– Another useless piece of information I learned tonight thanks to Konroyd was that Skinner Skinner Faster Than Lightning was a figure skater until he was 12. So there’s that.
This was an important win just because the Hawks desperately needed some points, and they needed to prove to themselves that they could come back from a deficit. So much the better that it happened on the road. And it’s nice they got their moms a win; it’s bad enough their moms had to travel to fucking Philly and Raleigh so it was the least they could do. It’s disappointing that the front office knows moms will put up with unending bullshit and so brought them along on a lame road trip, but whatever. Hopefully this will give them some momentum, however slight, and they can start crawling out this hole they’ve dug themselves into. Let’s get Crawford back in net tomorrow. Onward and upward.
John Fischer is the editor-in-chief of InLouWeTrust.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JKFischer. We also dug up this rock person on Twitter @HellBlazerVice. We don’t know either.
Let’s start with something easy: Just what the hell are the Devils doing at the top of the standings in the Metro when most of their analytic numbers aren’t good?
HellBlazer: The first few weeks looked good when they were skating fast and generating dangerous chances, which lead to goals. However, their defense was their achilles heel and Hynes has stopped trying to turn every game into a track meet and has started to dial down the aggressiveness in order to stop bleeding goals against- which thanks to their lack of capable defensive players has failed miserably. They’ve managed to stay afloat thanks to Taylor Hall putting the team on his back and Brian Gibbons somehow putting up 7 goals. Occam’s razor suggests their success is a dead cat bounce and with the way they’ve played lately, it very likely is.
Fischer:
The Devils have been hot in the net and with their sticks throughout October. The Devils finished October with a hot 8-2-0 with a 10.38% shooting percentage in 5-on-5; a 92.74% save percentage in 5-on-5 play; four shorthanded goals; and a shooting percentage of 18.03% on the power play. You’re right in that most of their team metrics aren’t good. But when you’re shooting this well and the goalies have been great for the most part, then that makes up the gap. The Devils have cooled off in November with a 1-2-2 start to the month. They’re not just lighting teams up and while Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid have been very good, the team has bled a ton of shots and that catches up.
So why are the Devils still in first despite this? Easy: the other teams have not met expectations yet. The Washington Capitals have not played to their level of talent. The New York Rangers started off the season by gloriously falling on their face, mostly in their overrated building. The Carolina Hurricanes have continued to show great shot metrics and not much more – which is why their results have been limited. That said, the party may be over for the Devils soon unless they start winning some games and playing better games at even strength. The Columbus Blue Jackets have begun to assert themselves. Scarily, the Pittsburgh Penguins are around first place despite one of the league’s lowest PDO. Once that gets corrected, the Pens could rule this division with an iron fist. It has not happened – yet. If or when most of the other seven teams get their acts together, then the Devils will likely fall. For now, I’m just enjoying the view.
It’s been over a year since Peter Chiarelli shipped out Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson. It remains no less funny, especially as the Oilers grasp and claw for anyone beyond Run CMD and Leon Draisaitl that can a) score and B) move at something more than a glacial pace.
Hall bore the brunt of criticism in Edmonton, more than their other #1 picks did when things didn’t work. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins seems to have ducked most of the ire, even though no one’s been able to adequately able to explain what it is he actually does. Nail Yakupov was a bust, but also had the good fortune of just being the #1 pick in whatever everyone said was a weak draft. Jordan Eberle was tossed overboard only this summer.
And yet you can’t overstate the mistake here.
First Screen Viewing
Penguins v. Predators – 7pm
The last of the “rematch” as the Pens return to the scene of the crime for the only time this season. At least during the regular season. Because they could do this all again in June, given how everyone in the Eastern Conference is Three-Stooges’ing it so far and the Kyle Turris acquisition give the Preds an added dynamic. The Penguins have hung around the top of the Metro even though all their metrics are offline and Matt Murray has played far too much and hasn’t really been all that good. They just keep finding a way. There will be a buzz in the building as Turris makes his Predators debut as well. It’s a whole lot of yellow. No, we won’t make a Coldplay joke, because they suck to high heaven.
vs.
RECORDS: Hawks 7-7-2 Hurricanes 6-5-3
PUCK DROP: 6pm
TV: WGN
HE HIT THE FUCKIN’ BULL, DIDN’T HE?: Section 328
It’ll be a reunion of sorts tonight down in Raleigh. The Hawks will visit the biggest collection of their alumni in the league, and they’ll see a Hurricanes team that expected to be ahead of where they are currently. There should be some air of desperation at the RBC tonight, but then again there should have been in Philly and it took the Hawks 30 minutes to find the smelling salts.
Could it be anyone else?
Section 328 are the unhinged, the unwashed, and the unbreakable portion of Hurricans fans and blogdom. Follow them on Twitter @Section_328.
It feels like we’ve been here before with the Canes. Their underlying/analytic numbers are some of the best in the league, but finish-wise they can’t hit a bull in the ass with a snow shovel and the special teams blow. Is a lack of true, top-end talent to blame or just shitty luck?
328: That’s quite the analogy, but in no way wrong. This team currently has less finish than a box of Franzia (save for Jeff Skinner). Our PK isn’t the juggernaut we saw last season, and the power play is, I believe, one for their last nine thousand. While the Canes have a lot of second and third line talent, we’re sorely lacking in first-line players, particularly center, right now.
