Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
There is no real analysis done on segments of games that I can find. And I don't have the time or the care to go do it myself.
But it's pretty easy to extrapolate that if rest is important in terms of the days directly before a game, that if a team over a segment of 10-15 days has substantially more rest, that they are going to have an advantage.
In the Leafs game the Leafs had more direct rest (2 days off) and much more rest over a longer period. It was the Leafs 4th game in 10 days, compared to the Flames 6th game in 10 days.
One of those teams is going to have more energy.
In tonight's game it's more even for sure. Both teams had one day rest. But it was the Flames 6th game in 10 days, compared to the Avs 5 game in 10 days.
So not as much of a difference as the Leafs game but it's compounding a bit for the Flames this point. Generally NHL teams get about 2.2 days rest between games, this last stretch for the Flames is 1.67 days between games with 9 games in 15 days.
To me it was pretty obvious these last two games the Flames looked tired. Didn't have the legs to win races, uncharacteristic mental mistakes that generally happen with fatigue, and even the frustration teammates were showing generally comes with fatigue.
And it's not even really an excuse, it's part of a season and every team goes through it at some point but when looking at their performance these last two games it would be foolish to ignore that the schedule has at least some impact.
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Since every team plays the same number of games over the same amount of time, why don't we temper our excitement about a win in an advantageous rest situation when we excuse our disappointment about a loss in a disadvantageous rest situation?
The article you linked showed that 3+ days advantage is actually worse than 3+ days disadvantage. So it isn't about rest, exclusively, assuming n is statistically significant in the analysis. No data provided; simply charts.
Flames have won 5 out of their last 11 games and 21 out of the prior 43 this season. It isn't any anomaly.
Attributing slow play to lack of rest is not analysis. We can make note of their slow play, but there is no empirical evidence that it's due to them working too hard. Otherwise, everyone should be blazing fast in October, right?