Quote:
Originally Posted by _Q_
I may be in the minority, but I like low scoring games a hell of a lot more than something like the Philly vs. Pitt series from last year.
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know I'm in the minority, but I like higher scoring in the league as a whole. More goals per game = higher percentage chance of settling the game in regulation, the way God and Scotty Bowman intended, which = fewer pity points and shootouts to fudge up the standings.
Regular-season OT was introduced to reduce the number of ties, and it failed. The number of ties remained much the same, because teams would rather not risk 1 point for the chance of getting 2.
Then the OTL point was introduced to bribe teams to go for it in OT, and it failed, too. What it did instead (as any student of game theory could predict, and Bowman did) was bribe teams NOT to go for it when the game was tied late in regulation. More games were decided in OT, but more games went to OT, so once again, the number of ties didn't change much.
Then the shootout was introduced to eliminate ties altogether. This solved the original (perceived) problem, but it was a further incentive for teams not to decide games in regulation. The percentage of games decided in regulation time since the shootout was introduced is the lowest in the modern era. (And yes, Bowman predicted that too.)