The season has started and with it we already have seen some good, some bad, and some damn ugly. There are few things that stood out to me, and I think these story lines will continue to intrigue us throughout the season.
The Five-holes Are too Damn Big!
Well, not really, but something must be said about the amount of goals we saw in the opening night of the NHL. The scores for the night were 4-3, 6-4, and 5-4. Have the goalie pads shrunk over the summer? Have the net posts been expanded thereby creating an offensive onslaught? Well, just hold your horses there little jump-on-the-bandwagon-pal. It was just the first night of a very long season and I am sure most players were a bit rusty with the actual speed of the game. There were not many five-hole goals anyway. Still, we saw three games with average goals scored at 8.6 per game. Last year’s season average was 5.3 for comparison, and last year’s opening day had 6.1 goals per game average. So, there are some jitters in the first few games that the defensive schemes need to adjust to. I would certainly love for this pace to continue as the Hawks vs Capitals game was absolutely fantastic.
Fighting Is Really, Really, Really Dangerous!
George Parros got into a scrap with Colton Orr – nothing out of the ordinary for these two heavy bruisers, but this time the outcome resulted with Parros lying unconscious on the ice without taking a punch. The NHL introduced the new rule about fighting and not taking off your helmet, yet in pre-season we saw Corey Tropp falling down head first on the ice which caused him to be carried off the ice on a stretcher. The rule has been circumvented by fighters already in that they both take off their helmets at the same time or take off each others’ before throwing fists of fury. George Parros unfortunately faced a freak accident that could not be prevented by any helmet or rule, be it only if the said rule banned fighting all together. I think there will be a lot of discussion this week and going forward as Parros recovers about fighting and its dying role in our sport.
Reimer is Alright, Isn’t He?
James Reimer came out of 12-13 season as the bona fide number one goalie for the Toronto Maples Leafs. Everyone had started to believe in his goaltending ability and were sold that he can carry this team with a bit more scoring and better defense. This, however, did not stop Toronto top brass from trading for a really good young goaltender in Jonathon Bernier. Reimer and Bernier would battle during the pre-season for the opening day start. Reimer got the go, as he should have, and proved that he is not going anywhere. He did give up 3 goals but made 34 saves and got the W over a more touted and praised goalie in Carey Price. So, while Reimer has a long way to go, it seems to me that he is a competitor and can surely handle any pressure the Hockey Mecca has to offer.
Oilers Defense Is Still Missing!
Oh, yeah, Andrew Ference is a great defensemen but he is only one man – one man who is not an elite enough rank to make a difference at this point anyway. The team was up against the Winnipeg Jets, a team not exactly known for their offensive prowess, and gave up 5 goals. With two goals in the final 20 minutes of the game, it really showed that the team is still very raw. A particular play stands out is when Taylor Hall took the puck through the neutral zone and instead of dumping the puck deep while his team was changing, he tried to go through 3 Jets players. The inevitable happened and when his turnover was quickly passed up, it turned into a quick rush the other way with Bryan Little scoring on Devan Dubnyk. This goal was not just Hall’s fault, obviously, but little things like that add up over the course of a game. Either way, there is still a long way to go for the Oilers and specifically learning how to play a complete two-way game.
Capitals Powerplay Is Still Filthy!
The Hawks gave the Washington Capitals six opportunities and the Caps buried 3 of them. The Adam Oates system is still unstable, but the Hawks did contain them to only 50% efficiency. The powerplay is amazing to watch because the Hawks did their best to take away Ovechkin, who still scored 1 pp goal, yet for some odd reason, let Mike Green of all the people, have free opportunity to wind up from the point. It resulted in two deflections by Mikhail Grabovvski and a frustrated Corey Crawford as the lead kept disappearing on the Chicago Blackhawks. What is interesting is how obvious the set-up is, and yet it is still so hard to stop. At one point Ovechkin, Backstrom, Troy Brouwer, and Mike Green were just standing still. Mike Green was holding the puck and seriously trying to find a way to set up Ovie for a one-timer. If the option was not there he would dump it to Backstrom who did the same with an occasional try to hit Brouwer in the slot. While, I respect the do-not-fix-it-if-it-isn’t-broken mantra, I cant help but feel as if teams will start to make up counter schemes and will not make it as easy for the Caps with the man advantage as it was last night.
