Chamber-laid down?

Coming in on the back end of two home matchups in a row against the same team Strom Chamberlain was expected to show up big for his home club. Game 1 of the matchup, a 2-1 shootout victory for the Outlaws, was the Strom show as he stopped 31 of 32 shots en-route to his 5th straight win. Tonight was a different story for the goaltender as he never completed the game. However, when he was pulled from the game the Armada were outshooting his team a whopping 40-20. While an .825 sv% is rarely welcome, this was a case where Chamberlain was not able to upkeep his great play for two games against the same team, and wasn't able to keep Anaheim in a game they had no right winning. For reference, if you take Strom's curretn .901 sv% he would have let in 7-8 goals across the two games where he faced 72 shots combined, which is in line with what actually happened.

While it may seem reasonable to look at a goalie who let in 7 goals as a cause for the loss, the team in front of Chamberlain was not up to task with the Armada, especially with only 3 goals in regulation across two games. This is not a game where the tendie was to blame, it was a case where he preformed as he should've but got no support from the team in front of him.



Clean as a Whistle

This game only had 3 penalties throughout the match, showing how a 5v5 matchup was greatly in favour of the Armada who scored all of their goals at even-strenght this evening. However, the timing of penalties, specifically in the 2nd, shows a big shift in momentum in this contest. Two minutes after Pritchard tied the game at 1, 5 minutes into the second, LeBlond got caught in the hands and was sent to the box for slashing. There was no scoring on the man-advantage, but in the minutes following the powerplay, Gervais found the back of the net. Though Anaheim responded to the challenge with a goal of their own, Anchorage still controlled play aggressively following the penalty, eventually getting goals 3 and 4 on the night. This lack of penalties taken by the home-team was a key part in their victory. It's no coincidence that an early goal was matched by Anaheim in the second as they had momentum swing in their favour following a late 1st period powerplay. The last powerplay of the game came with 6 minutes left and was a non-factor momentum wise as the 7-spot against Anaheim really impacted their ability to take advantage of the extra attacker.



Let's Get Physical/The Big Takeaway

Tensions were high to start this game as Anchorage came out in an attempt to avenge their starter following the 2-1 shootout loss. This can be seen with how physically dominant the Armada were throughout this game. They tallied 27 hits compared to Anaheim's 10. There's no doubt in my mind this set fear into the Outlaws as a physical battle entering the Anaheim zone preceded Vyscok's game winning tally. This fear and caution seeped into the rest of their game, as the Outlaws weren't careful watching their backs on the breakout. They got pick pocketed 6 times throughout the game,and clean gave the puck up 7 times. The physical play had worn down the opposition to the point of losing 13 chances with the puck. Possession was easy for Anchorage to come by, as not only did they gain a net advantage of 3 opportunities with their giveaways/takeaways, they also dominated in the faceoff circle, coming out with a 31-24 score in their favour. With the puck on their sticks to start plays so much, it's no surprise they reached the 50 shot plateau and were able to score 7 on the night.