Since the start of November we have been playing at a 110 point pace (6th in the league in points over that stretch), top 10 in CF%, 3rd most 5v5 goals, but 18th in goals against. We are above water in xGF% which is impressive considering we’ve played Dallas twice, Vancouver, Colorado, and Vegas, as well as 66% of our games being on the road.
Our main issues so far is the team is still figuring out the system, as well as our atrocious power play. I’ve actually really liked our offensive system, it’s nice being able to attack up ice with speed and numbers again. Defensively the foundation is there but there are still obvious signs of confusion. We have the horses on the backend as well as Markstrom being back to himself so this definitely won’t be a long term issue. Powerplays generally boil down to familiarity, and our units haven’t played together much and like at 5v5, our players are still struggling learning a new system. Not saying it will every be elite, but it should get much better as the season progresses.
Could just be a hot month, but if this month is just a sign of the team starting to settle in we could be a lot better than people are giving us credit for. Our depth is starting to get fantastic as well, I genuinely don’t know who I want removed from this lineup when Pelletier is back (at this point it’s probably Dube).