Hartley’s squad pushes for playoffs by breaking stretch into seven-game sets
Quote:
|
Hartley has divvied up his schedule into seven-game series, the goal being nine points out of each. (To make the math work, the first set is a six-gamer.)
|
Quote:
|
"We're starting a new segment (Wednesday [[March 6]] against the visiting San Jose Sharks)," said Hartley. "That's going to be a very important segment for us. Because, if we are successful, we are going to join that pack. We can generate confidence, we can generate momentum, out of a good segment."
|
Here's how we've done so far:
Jan 20 - Feb 2.....1-3-2.....4 pts (5 off pace)
Feb 5 - Feb 17.....4-2-1.....9 pts (5 off pace)
Feb 18 - Mar 3.....3-3-1.....7 pts (7 off pace)
Mar 6 - Mar 18.....1-2-0.....2 pts (TBD)
By my count, we've failed to meet our objective in 2 of 3 series so far and things don't look rosy for our latest stretch unless we rattle off 3-0-1 against LA/DET/NSH/DAL. Maybe we do it, maybe we don't.
Regardless, how does divvying up the season like this motivate players? On the plus side, players can see quite quickly that they need to correct course rather than saying "there's still time!" However, I think a very real negative repercussion is that if you're on your way to making your 9 points in a series then you can take your foot off the gas. Taking your foot off the gas is something the flames are very good at - just watch them when they hit .500.
So what's the point of splitting the season up into series?
Do other teams do this?
What are some other approaches?