Hard to say what the biggest cause was, but pretty much everyone looked better. Was it getting rid of Peters? A 4 day break to heal some injuries? Line juggling? Practice time? Who knows.
Liked the blender. Pretty much every forward line looked good. Backlund-Monahan looks like a keeper, as they cover each other's weaknesses nicely.
Only thing strategically I didn't like: Hanifin-Hamonic pair still doesn't work this year for whatever reason. Only guys on the team under 50% in any possession stat.
The splits vs. Eichel were pretty jarring.
Giordano-Brodie: 8:22 TOI, 65% Corsi, 74% xGF
Hanifin-Hamonic: 4:45 TOI, 11% Corsi, 4% xGF
Kylington-Andersson: 2:07 TOI, 100% Corsi, 100% xGF
Eichel's line got dominated by our 1st and 3rd D pairs, and he did all of his damage against Hamonic basically. I think it's time for Andersson to move into the top 4 permanently.
|