Wry n Ginger
Water which is too pure has no fish
This game was a.coin flip. All about the bounces...but mother of f***ing holy dog shit God do I ever hate that style of hockey. I feel sorry for Kings fans that have to watch that crap...
I don't really have a problem with the Kings playstyle. It's incredibly boring to watch but it clearly works for them.
With that said, the Canucks can absolutely beat them. The scoring chances were 17-8 after two periods and we somehow ended up down two goals due to some flukey nonsense. And stuff like that can happen at any time and is pretty unpredictable, so you can't really get too bogged down about it.
I don't really have a problem with the Kings playstyle. It's incredibly boring to watch but it clearly works for them.
With that said, the Canucks can absolutely beat them. The scoring chances were 17-8 after two periods and we somehow ended up down two goals due to some flukey nonsense. And stuff like that can happen at any time and is pretty unpredictable, so you can't really get too bogged down about it.
Sim that game 7 times and we likely move on to the next round.
Saying that LA is able to create second attempts in dangerous areas from watching the game tonight is a... stretch. The puck literally went off Soucy's skate in the most favourable way possible, and Hughes was falling down and his skate accidentally kicked the puck in a lane right out of Lafferty's reach and directly to where Kopitar was going.It seems like the Canucks have the edge in scoring chances, but not in chance (imo). LA is able to create second attempts in more dangerous areas, such that they can 'fluke' into goals. They're chaos is near the net. By conrast, the Canucks will get chances are further away.
The Kings can play low event hockey better than the Canucks can. The Canucks' edge in skill is not able to overcome it.
Edit: You either rely on whatever edge you can create in shot differential, or your change out the wingers to get better shooters in the offseason.
Saying that LA is able to create second attempts in dangerous areas from watching the game tonight is a... stretch. The puck literally went off Soucy's skate in the most favourable way possible, and Hughes was falling down and his skate accidentally kicked the puck in a lane right out of Lafferty's reach and directly to where Kopitar was going.
The Canucks gave the Kings fits in the first two periods because they dumped the puck in and their puck retrieval system was excellent. I don't deny that the Canucks' skill hasn't been good lately, but this team is nearly first in the league because of their ability to play low event, structured hockey.
I used natural stat trick, which shows scoring chances as 17-8 after 2 periods.That scrambly play happens in the paint (the more dangerous area). I do agree that the Canucks had more zone time, and have been a better team on the season, but in this particular matchup they have not been as apt to create scramble plays inside the box.
Part of this may be a lack of size, but another part of it is having good enough shooters to create rebounds from distance.
Aside: What site are you using to track chances at 17-8? Tocchet said they were about 8-9 apiece, and Natural Stat Trick has HDCF as 10 to 4 for the Canucks.
I used natural stat trick, which shows scoring chances as 17-8 after 2 periods.
In 3 games against the Kings, the Canucks have been outplayed once and dominated the other two times but are 1-2. There's nothing negative to take away from this game aside from small things to fix like the bench mishap and maybe starting the 3rd with more jump to keep LA on their heels.
This is the type of match-up where you will see the Canucks lead in scoring chances, per the zones those shots are tracked in, and still lose in terms of the scramble plays in front of the net. LA is excellent at this.
It's getting to the net, for either team.