First off before getting into reviewing the keys I laid out
yesterday, I have to say Eric Ming WOW. He was not someone I had anticipated
doing much in this game, but he was very impressive scoring two goals, one of
which was absolutely dirty as he toe dragged around the defender and went
backhand top shelf (not quite backhand bar down unfortunately).
Now on to the three keys (for a recap check the previous
post)
The Perlini-Verhaege-Difruscia line for the Ice Dogs did go
out and dominate recording 6 of the 11 scoring chances recorded by Niagara. It
could have easily been more except for the fact that Perlini was the recipient of
two huge hits from behind, going head first into the board on both occasions.
The first hit required Perlini to head to the dressing room to be checked over.
He missed about a quarter of the period. The second hit was not as bad and
Perlini stayed in the game after it. There zone starts as unit were fairly even
by my estimation, I didn’t record it but I would guess they were around even
for offensive and defensive starts. Again like much like every other game, this
line did a good job of creating pressure, along with the 6 created chances, the
line combined for a goal and three assists. This key was definitely completed.
The second thing I was watching for was the playing tome of
the defencemen. It was clear in this game that Luke Mercer and Aaron Haydon are
the top defensive pair used by Niagara. They received first power-play and
penalty kill time. In being the top pair they benefit from playing with the top
line mentioned above. The fact that Haydon more than likely has been receiving
this kind of ice time all season and only managed to put up 16 points on the
season is crazy to me. He has no offensive upside and someone I am definitely
avoiding come draft day. Mercer isn’t as crazy to play more as he is the
veteran on the team and the captain. He did lead the Ice Dogs in scoring this
season with 39 points; however that was only 6 more than Vince Dunn who is two years
younger. It’s pretty clear to me anyway that Dunn and Blake Siebenaler are the better
two defencemen.
They played exactly the way I said they would in the preview
post. They both have the ability to create turnovers in their own end and when
they do both are able to skate the puck out the zone. One thing I really liked
from these two players was how they both never seemed to dump the puck it. On numerous
occasions they created a turnover in the defensive end and took the puck all
the way into the opponents end by themselves. Another thing I liked from both
of these defencemen was their stick work. They both have excellent hand eye coordination
to bat the puck down at the line and keep it in. Siebenaler is draft eligible
this season. He is currently ranked 47th among North American
skaters, and 19 spots below Haydon. I would pick Siebenaler over Haydon any day.
Dunn is not draft eligible until next season, he is someone who I don’t see
being ranked very highly due to his size (6’ 185), but I see the upside in his
game and he could real steal for a team that looks past his size.
Finally we come to Brent Moran, who despite receiving the
first star in this game was rather shaky in this one. I said in the preview
that he would face 40 shots and would have to stop 38-39 of them to win. He practically
did just that. He faced 39 shots and saved 36 of them(.923 SV%) . Moran did not
look good in the first period. He was making plenty of saves but he looked like
he had no idea where the puck was. He allowed tons of rebounds, even when the
puck hit him in the chest it would drop to the ground allowing North Bay a
chance to get a few more whacks at it. Despite all that he only managed to give
up one goal in the first period and eventually settled down.
Even though only two of my three keys occurred in this game,
Niagara managed to pull off the victory 5-3. This gives them a 3-1 lead in the
series and a chance to end it tonight in North Bay. I will be watching that
game tonight and again will be looking for these same things.
Scoring Chances by Period
Team
|
First Period
|
Second Period
|
Third Period
|
Total
|
North Bay
|
10(3)
|
9(3)
|
4(3)
|
23(8)
|
Niagara
|
3(3)
|
6(1)
|
2(2)
|
11(6)
|
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