Welcome aboard, we are all set to sail into the playoffs here in S34. Its that time again, yes. Where I, Squally bring you a small bit of analysis about how each team stacks up on a game by game basis through the handy charts at my disposal. Goals for and against are each done in a per game basis. Special teams are always an important part of the playoffs and any type of winning. The final angle or 5th edge is Faceoffs. They are a small way for us to look at puck possession, which is more than useful. So if the numbers don't seem to make sense, I hope this blurb clears things up.
The west is, as always, wild. Now there is not really a huge gulf in goals for. But the fact that the lower seed outscores the higher seed is significant as it opens a window to speculation that Texas could cause an upset. Goals Against shows us why Los Angeles finished 1st in the West and Texas 4th. Defensively, the Panthers are going to be hard as heck to get pucks past. The Renes, really struggled to keep it out. A strong indicator that an upset can occur is Special Teams. LA running with a 17% Powerplay is just bad. League average was 19.54% they are roughly 1.5% below that. Its not good enough. Texas is on the other end of the spectrum, One way to get through that stiff defense is to get on the man advantage. We can talk about the Penalty Kill here too and its more of the same. That near last place Goals Against dries up real fast when they are a man down. LA is above the league average sure, but its very middle of the road. I DID state that LA was a by committee team and team defense seems to be another part of that. Possession wise, Texas seems to be ahead of them again. Possession is 9 10ths of the law so they say. I feel like this one will go the distance. Head to Head matchup leaves us with the same impression. In 6 games, LA went 4-2, scores were close, Texas outshot LA 214 - 152. The Panthers also sport a PK% of 78.57% which is ominus to say the least.
This is shaping up to look a lot like another close series. Higher seed with low powered offence? Check. Gulf in Defensive capabilities on paper? Check. Meh Penalty Kill? Yep. I don't know what is going on in the west but what i can see happening is that its going to be a long, hard road to the finals and ANY of these 4 teams can do it. Jets NEED this series to be full of firewagon hockey where games are 7-5. Portland is gonna look to slow things down and just grind out those 3-2 or 2-1 games. Gotta stay out of the box because Winnipeg is awesome with the man advantage. Its just another tale of a team who plays great system defense. Like full on, every man is in on it defense. Taking on a team that plays fast and loose with the score. Just like the LA VS Texas series, this one will go all the way, and the winner will be the one who's system wins out.
What an interesting spread the numbers here. Offensively? Nobody scores more than the defending champs. New England is crazy good at scoring goals. Its not really even that close. Nearly 4 goals a game should not be too much trouble. Toronto was the lowest rated seed to make it in and their meh on both sides of the puck. Very middle of the road. Worse yet is the fact that their special teams are just crap. bottom three in both categories is not going to get it done. They are not great possession wise and facing down one of the best teams at it. I just don't see this going well, 4 maybe 5 games at most. Past that? Toronto is dead in the water.
Another set of closeish numbers on paper. Of course Manhattan can score like almost no other outside of the Wolfpack. Both teams have the exact same GAA which is honestly wild. Special teams are both solidly okay, the Rage take home a slight advantage here too of course. Possession is the huge difference as Manhattan holds onto it. Minnesota sucks at it. I mean really bad. LAST in the league bad. It is going to be an uphill battle for the Chiefs. Its terribly tough but doable. I don't see the Chiefs taking this one, but they will make a series of it. 5 or 6 games.
Look out for the next part where we dive into round 1 of the S34 playoffs.
CptSquall
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