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(Graded) Deep Dive #2 - CAR 8-3 Loss Against ANA - What Went Wrong?
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(This post was last modified: 01-11-2021, 08:16 PM by StamkosFan.)

The SMJHL Season 57 Playoffs began today with the 3rd game being the Carolina Kraken facing the Anaheim Outlaws. The result of the game found Anaheim coming out victorious with an 8-3 victory over the Kraken - certainly not what Carolina had in mind. Carolina - before the beginning of this matchup - had won the last 5 times they'd met Anaheim in and planned to increase the streak with a lot of confidence stepping onto the ice. The Outlaws were determined to end this streak and they certainly performed well tonight. Let's break down the game.

Blunt Man got the start for Carolina. He's had a - more or less - fair season with the Kraken as he's won 18 out of the 44 games he's played as the starting goaltender. For the Outlaws, their starting goaltender - Vincent Mietitore - was set to protect the crease tonight. Mietitore has had a good season so far with Anaheim and he's got 24 wins in 44 regular-season games. With the puck dropped, Hubert Andrews from the Outlaws would draw it back to their defense and set the tone for the game. 

It wouldn't take long before Carolina was already down a goal. In fact, it only took 48 seconds before Niccolo Livius found the back of the net on Anaheim's second shot of the game. However, not all hope was lost as they battled back, and just over a minute later, Aleksander Kozlov took the very first shot for Carolina and buried it. Mietitore certainly felt the pressure as he felt the eyes of Anaheim all on him. He knew that he needed to get back on his game, but the frustration was not yet over.

On Carolina's second shot, they found their second goal. Kyle Murray found the back of the net right out front and by now Mietitore's frustration was evident after a zoom-in on his face from the upstairs cameras. The embarrassment was still not over.

As the Kraken shot their 3rd shot, it sailed past Mietitore. With a big celebration from the scorer - Vincent Wolfe - all eyes were on Mietitore and a pull was certainly on the rise. Anaheim called a time out and a huddle began. We'd assume that his coach asked him what in the world was going on with him. To everyone's surprise, Mietitore skated back to the crease after the timeout and with a visible deep breath, popped his mask back on, and play continued. 10 seconds later, he made his first save of the game and got back in his groove. 

Blunt Man hadn't been having a good game thus far either. Anaheim shot back with their second goal - Thomas Rose's corner slapper - on only their 5th shot of the game. They then managed to tie the game with just under 3 minutes left in the first period when Asclepius Perseus Flitterwind sent it home. 

All of this action happened within 20:00 minutes of ice time. It had certainly been a rough beginning for both goaltenders, however for one, it was going to get a lot worse.

Carolina managed to put up only 6 shots in the second period where Anaheim put up 15 - with 4 of those resulting in goals for them. Blunt Man, at the end of 2 periods, had let in 7 goals on 29 shots and Carolina still let him start the 3rd period. The Kraken would need to have a fantastic 3rd period if they were looking to get back in this game. It simply didn't happen.

The game was over. With a tall order for the third period, Carolina put 2 shots on Mietitore. Anaheim's goaltender certainly improved from his awful performance early in the 1st period - stopping 13 straight shots after his blunder. Blunt Man finished the game with 8 goals against on 37 shots after getting hammered in the 3rd period. It was certainly not the best game for Carolina.

And thus Game 1 of this matchup has come to an end. There was a lot that Carolina could've done differently however the main reason they lost was the lack of shots on Anaheim. With a rough start to the series, they can certainly bounce back. Coming into the game with a lot of confidence, they managed to pick up 3 goals very quickly and didn't know what was in store for them after Anaheim's time out. Now they definitely understand Anaheim's determination and I wouldn't be surprised if they bounced back in Game 2.

APPROVED +5 TPE @ImYolo

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Thank you to @Carpy48 and @rum_ham for the signatures!
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