GDT: the game of destiny - canitals vs hurricaps

[tarheelhockey]

It's hard to believe there is a team in this league which is worse at defending leads than this one. Our record when leading has gone from "poor" to "abnormal, bordering on outlier".

I'm not mad about last night's game at all, but the point that it fits into a larger pattern is absolutely valid.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm blowing a gasket?

Sorry, I took all of the ****'s in your past couple posts as you getting upset about it. It's always hard to determine tone/intent from the written word so I apologize if that's not what you intended. I don't mind the discussion though, as it's a good topic so please don't stop here (even if we don't agree on this 1 game). Let's move on from this particular game.

After seeing your 13/18 comment, I went back and took a closer look

1 Goal Games Canes are 7-6-7: 21 points in 20 games
"Non-1 goal games" Canes are 5-5-0: 10 points in 10 games

So essentially, their points / game played (small sample size) is the same whether they play in a 1 goal game or a "non-1 goal" game. I have no idea how this compares to other teams. I think there are various factors as to why they are in so many 1 goal games to begin with. Part it is definitely not being able to close games out (VAN, WPG, NYR off the top of my head) as you said, no disagreement there. They had multiple goal leads and blew it. I have no idea how much of it is being a young team and needing to learn how to win those, coaching, or something else. I think there 2 other factors that are just as big (in terms of 1 goal games).

1) Average talent. They aren't really good enough to outscore most opponents by more than 1 goal so they end up being in a lot more tight games because of that. Their goaltending, while much better this year is still average.

2) Peters has them playing a "tight" system and typically keeps scoring chances lower and games close, thus more 1 goal games. Scoring has been going down year over year in the NHL, so I suspect we'll continue to see more games be 1 goal games.

I'd be curious to see how many games in total are 1G games in the NHL in total and how the Canes compare (not W/L, but how many)?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm not mad about last night's game at all, but the point that it fits into a larger pattern is absolutely valid.

That's probably a better, and much simpler way of what I was trying to say. Not denying or excusing the Canes have had problems holding leads, I just wasn't mad about last nights game and saw it a bit differently than prior ones.

 

[Joe McGrath]

If it shouldn't be too hard to understand why this team can't hold a lead. The two lines that aren't Jordan's and the 4th line have their best sefesnive and largest physical presence as Viktor Rask. This isn't a eschew skill for size post, it's just what it is. They would be worse without the lead with a different setup. It's just hard to hold a lead when you get outmuscled at worst 50% of the time while holding a lead.