Well SHL, the playoffs have officially begun and like an underage teen taking their first sip of glorious alcohol, it did not disappoint! The league was left both shocked and excited as if the first wildcard game is any indication, we are in for a thrilling ride. Let's dive into the match we've all been waiting for, the Los Angeles Panthers VS the Edmonton Blizzard

VS

BATTLE PLANS

Now before we dive into the actual score of the game, lets look at the major strategic adjustments each team made to try and win this one.  

The Edmonton Blizzard made some drastic changes as they try and claim game one as their own. As mentioned in my most recent article "Wild Card Analysis", we highlighted the mediocre season of @Leafs4ever Hercules Rockefeller. Well would you look at that, the first change Edmonton made to their line up was by moving star forward @"TommySalami" Tony Pepperoni down to the second line, and giving Hercules Rockefeller a chance to play with better line mates in hopes to push his productivity. Next we see the 4th line regular season forward @"Panda" TJ Bayley (who only averaged 15% ice time) make a crazy jump to the second line with Pepperoni averaging 31%, talk about entering the spot light.  As for defensive changes, a questionable announcement was made entering game 1 of the wild card series. Defender Tor Tuck was promoted to the first line now playing with  @caltroit_red_flames McIntyre, stacking the first defensive unit. Now for most of the season Tor would lead the second pairing while McIntyre would lead the first, giving the blizzard some ridiculous defensive depth as these two defenders are for sure top 8 in the league. However, looking at how the regular season played out, maybe this change could be the deciding factor for Edmonton as this could be the answer to shutting down LAP's very own @RomanesEuntDomus Philipp Winter. The responsibility now falls on @karlssens Karlstrabe Scholz as he is expected to anchor this second line now with Tuck moving on up.

As for the Los Angeles Panthers, they literally made no significant changes. In fact, I don't think they made a single change! From this you can clearly see which manager has faith they'll be victorious and which manger is feeling the pressure going into this series.

THE GAME

Now let's look at some of the highlights of game 1.

I have a feeling @Fordyford Tony Ford was reading my previous article "Wild card analysis" as it was highlighted how if the Panthers were going to win he would need to take charge. Well one minute and twenty four seconds into this game who scores the opening goal of the series, none other then the rookie Tony Ford! Talk about making an impact in your first ever SHL playoff game. However, Edmonton would not let them hold on to this momentum as twenty three seconds later@James Truong James Truong would tie up the game with his first of the playoffs! While the opportunities were going both ways in the first period, Los Angeles would continue to take control as trade deadline acquisition @Velevra Luke Atmey  would get his first playoff goal as a Panther along with @Wasty Max Mauldin getting a shorthanded goal that the Blizzard would see to haunt them later. @sarmo Terrance Nova would close out the period scoring with about two minutes left. On a side note, Terrance Nova is one of the oldest members of this Blizzard team, but continuously manages to stay relevant even as he enters the closing days of his career. It's clear Terrance is still hungry to win and being one of the members on this squad with a challenge cup, I feel Edmonton is going to need him to build some quick chemistry with Hercules Rockefeller if Edmonton wants to regain control.

With the score being 3-2 going into the second period, both teams played very passive as each team only registered 7 shots this period. Tommy Tuck looked a little nervous in his crease though as Los Angeles' very own @"Marley" Hiro Fujikawa would capitalize on the power play AND during 5 on 5 making this a 5-2 game going into the third.

As the third began, things would go back and forth for the most part. Hiro Fujikawa would complete the hat trick around the 14th minute mark making it 6-2. Edmonton would regain some dignity moments later as Tuck would capitalize on the powerplay making it 6-3 and then 4th line call up TJ Bayley  would prove he deserves this new spot in the line up by adding a 5 on 5 goal of his own making it 6-4. Edmonton looked like they were in a position to come back, but they waited too long to gain this energy as the clock would run out. Evgueni Marmeladov would out play Tommy Tuck as Evgueni would finish with a .867 save percentage while Tommy finished with a .786.

POST GAME THOUGHTS

Maybe stacking the defense was not the best option for Edmonton as technically yes, you did shut down Philipp Winter (who had 0 goals on 4 shots and -1), but as mentioned in our previous match up analysis Los Angeles has some good depth that will require all your D-men to be delivering solid performances. Besides the unfortunately goaltending in game 1, you can see the result stacking the defense had. Gilmore Tuttle and Sven Brokstad combined for a -4. Not to mention Tuttle, a 341 TPE defender, getting 15% ice time?? I think it is fair to say we can expect to see some changes heading into game 2.

As for Los Angeles, enjoy the win, but you cannot expect Hiro Fujikawa to get you a hat trick every night. For a top line that was dominant for most of the season, Winter and Cannellini are some of the younger studs of the SHL and were nowhere to be seen. They should know by now that for LA to stay in this series they will both need to raise their offensive production.

Los Angeles takes game 1 of this series and your three stars are:

1 - Hiro Fujikawa (LAP) (3 Goals 1 Assists)
2 - Luke Atmey (LAP) (1 Goal 2 Assists)
3 - Tony Ford (LAP) (1 Goal 2 Assists)


I hope you enjoyed the game 1 breakdown and good luck to both teams going into game 2


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