I would like to apologize to everyone here for turning in a below average rooting performance tonight. Thought I could get away with it but apparently Robert noticed. š
I think it was me Robert was addressing. I was at the game tonight, wearing the birthday gift my wife gave me just a few weeks ago... a brand new Jake Oettinger '99 Collection jersey. š
I'm at fault because I live in Carolina and simply wasn't able to watch the game. If anything this just proves the NHL needs to get rid of their stupid blackout rules.
10 Random Rambles - Mikko's Return Left in Shambles
1. The first period ended with a 3-1 Hurricanes' lead. Still, if the Stars had played the way they did in the first half of the first period during the previous five games, they would have come out with more than two points.
I'm not sure what happened after the first ten minutes though. I would say burn the tape but even fire wants nothing to do with this game.
2. Logan Stankoven pulling down Mikko Rantanen's pants on his goal must have felt like pure karma for Hurricanes fans and little bit of joy for Logan and the second part is OK by me.
3. With the score 2-1, Nils Lundkvist pinching in, winning the puck, and then immediately making a drop pass to no one, leading to a Carolina 2-on-1 will not endear him with the coaching staff. I can picture Pete DeBoer watching this yelling, "SEE!!??!"
4. Minutes later, Thomas Harley had a lazy giveaway at the Stars Blue line which led to extended Carolina zone pressure and, shortly after, the Hurricanes third goal. These are the types of plays he has made too often this year that had people surprised he made the US Olympic team.
5. Not to be outdone, Alexander Petrovic had a chance to make a quick clear while the Canes were pressing, got his pocket picked, and made the Canes made no such mistake when scored shortly after. Christmas is over but the season of giving continues.
6. Jake Oettinger promptly informed the fellas to hold his beer and made a perfect tip to the net-front with a wide open Seth Jarvis who kindly put his gift in the net for safekeeping.
The game was not thirty minutes old and it wasn't 5-1 because of bad puck luck.
7. The Stars had seven shots on goal when the second period started. At the 14-minute mark of the second period, they were still down 5-1 and had to only put 2! more shots on goal. This is not how score effects are supposed to work, I'm told.
8. For months now, Stars have been drifting along being out-possessed by other teams and still coming away with points. And, it worked for them most of the time. Not surprisingly, that stratagem is, unsustainable over a long period of time. Especially when you consider the fact they lead the NHL in shooting percentage and PDO by such wide margins.
If you don't have the puck a whole lot and, when you do have it, you take very few shots, a drop in shooting percentage is going to take a pretty healthy bite out of production. I did the maths on it. It checks out.
9. If you tack Sh% and PDO to the above to the lazy defensive plays made in this game, there is no hope in the NHL. It hasn't been lesser teams performing well against the Stars since the break, it's been the Stars under-performing and resting on their laurels.
10. This recent losing streak is really not that surprising. The regression monster always comes. Especially for a team who ranks 25th in shots-for percentage.
Is it time to start thinking about starting to worry? Well, it might time to start asking the question, at least. The Stars still have a preposterously high 13.42% shooting percentage even with their recent dip. It's likely to continue going down and that is worrisome if they don't figure out how to control games instead of relying on shooting their way out of them.
This is disturbingly fact-based and raises uncomfortable questions with logic. How dare you, frankly.
(But also, the Stars generate almost exclusively high-danger slot shots. Itās a frustrating method when it doesnāt work, because there feels like no hope for even a good bounce, but Iām not yet convinced it isnāt possible to employ it, provided they get back to level in terms of overall play.)
Yes. That's the worry too. What if they can't get back to level or just break level? Their HDCF% is ranked 13th in the league. Not exactly world-on-fire kind of stuff.
I may post the 7-pager. Why should I be the only one having to think about it?
You might be on to something. The hockey PDO Gods eventually come for them all. The Stars have been getting away for months with unusually favorable PDO numbers while having mediocre offensive zone time numbers at best. Some of the high shooting percentages is because they have players like Rantanen and Robertson, but much of it is just good puck luck which is now turning on them. The same mean regression is happening in the defensive zone as well and at the same time time. It's ugly.
I left a comment here, but somehow I didn't post it properly and now it's gone. Shorter version: losing really sucks. The even strength expected goals numbers might have seemed close, but my eyes and the scoreboard were telling me that the Stars were getting run out of the building.
Duchene and Benn look like toast. Duchene couldn't score in the playoffs last year and now looks a step slower and his stickhandling wizardry isn't happening nearly as often.
Benn also looks slow and his physical game has largely disappeared but he makes up for by still taking penalties! With Seguin gone the top 6 is looking pretty inadequate at this point. Then add shaky play from Harley and Lundquist and the D-corps is also pretty shaky.
The sample size is now big enough.... This is no bueno....
Iām waiting for tomorrow.
Be worried about tomorrow.
I would like to apologize to everyone here for turning in a below average rooting performance tonight. Thought I could get away with it but apparently Robert noticed. š
I think it was me Robert was addressing. I was at the game tonight, wearing the birthday gift my wife gave me just a few weeks ago... a brand new Jake Oettinger '99 Collection jersey. š
Thereās enough blame for both of you characters.
I'm at fault because I live in Carolina and simply wasn't able to watch the game. If anything this just proves the NHL needs to get rid of their stupid blackout rules.
10 Random Rambles - Mikko's Return Left in Shambles
1. The first period ended with a 3-1 Hurricanes' lead. Still, if the Stars had played the way they did in the first half of the first period during the previous five games, they would have come out with more than two points.
I'm not sure what happened after the first ten minutes though. I would say burn the tape but even fire wants nothing to do with this game.
2. Logan Stankoven pulling down Mikko Rantanen's pants on his goal must have felt like pure karma for Hurricanes fans and little bit of joy for Logan and the second part is OK by me.
3. With the score 2-1, Nils Lundkvist pinching in, winning the puck, and then immediately making a drop pass to no one, leading to a Carolina 2-on-1 will not endear him with the coaching staff. I can picture Pete DeBoer watching this yelling, "SEE!!??!"
4. Minutes later, Thomas Harley had a lazy giveaway at the Stars Blue line which led to extended Carolina zone pressure and, shortly after, the Hurricanes third goal. These are the types of plays he has made too often this year that had people surprised he made the US Olympic team.
5. Not to be outdone, Alexander Petrovic had a chance to make a quick clear while the Canes were pressing, got his pocket picked, and made the Canes made no such mistake when scored shortly after. Christmas is over but the season of giving continues.
6. Jake Oettinger promptly informed the fellas to hold his beer and made a perfect tip to the net-front with a wide open Seth Jarvis who kindly put his gift in the net for safekeeping.
The game was not thirty minutes old and it wasn't 5-1 because of bad puck luck.
7. The Stars had seven shots on goal when the second period started. At the 14-minute mark of the second period, they were still down 5-1 and had to only put 2! more shots on goal. This is not how score effects are supposed to work, I'm told.
8. For months now, Stars have been drifting along being out-possessed by other teams and still coming away with points. And, it worked for them most of the time. Not surprisingly, that stratagem is, unsustainable over a long period of time. Especially when you consider the fact they lead the NHL in shooting percentage and PDO by such wide margins.
If you don't have the puck a whole lot and, when you do have it, you take very few shots, a drop in shooting percentage is going to take a pretty healthy bite out of production. I did the maths on it. It checks out.
9. If you tack Sh% and PDO to the above to the lazy defensive plays made in this game, there is no hope in the NHL. It hasn't been lesser teams performing well against the Stars since the break, it's been the Stars under-performing and resting on their laurels.
10. This recent losing streak is really not that surprising. The regression monster always comes. Especially for a team who ranks 25th in shots-for percentage.
Is it time to start thinking about starting to worry? Well, it might time to start asking the question, at least. The Stars still have a preposterously high 13.42% shooting percentage even with their recent dip. It's likely to continue going down and that is worrisome if they don't figure out how to control games instead of relying on shooting their way out of them.
This is disturbingly fact-based and raises uncomfortable questions with logic. How dare you, frankly.
(But also, the Stars generate almost exclusively high-danger slot shots. Itās a frustrating method when it doesnāt work, because there feels like no hope for even a good bounce, but Iām not yet convinced it isnāt possible to employ it, provided they get back to level in terms of overall play.)
Yes. That's the worry too. What if they can't get back to level or just break level? Their HDCF% is ranked 13th in the league. Not exactly world-on-fire kind of stuff.
I may post the 7-pager. Why should I be the only one having to think about it?
I need a place for guest posts. Or just give you the keys while Iām on a plane tomorrow.
You might be on to something. The hockey PDO Gods eventually come for them all. The Stars have been getting away for months with unusually favorable PDO numbers while having mediocre offensive zone time numbers at best. Some of the high shooting percentages is because they have players like Rantanen and Robertson, but much of it is just good puck luck which is now turning on them. The same mean regression is happening in the defensive zone as well and at the same time time. It's ugly.
I left a comment here, but somehow I didn't post it properly and now it's gone. Shorter version: losing really sucks. The even strength expected goals numbers might have seemed close, but my eyes and the scoreboard were telling me that the Stars were getting run out of the building.
This team really misses Tyler Seguin.
Petrovic is being exposed
Where oh where is Matt Duchenne?
Duchene and Benn look like toast. Duchene couldn't score in the playoffs last year and now looks a step slower and his stickhandling wizardry isn't happening nearly as often.
Benn also looks slow and his physical game has largely disappeared but he makes up for by still taking penalties! With Seguin gone the top 6 is looking pretty inadequate at this point. Then add shaky play from Harley and Lundquist and the D-corps is also pretty shaky.
Bad times, man, bad times!
I agree totallyā¦