A tale of two Brothers // Jekyll and Hyde

[Daniel Janser 2,216]

Swiss Central Gazzette

 

While Marcel is enjoying the Swedish lakes in his neverending search for new fishing grounds, Daniel is knee-deep in the post season.

 

The Wranglers have 3-3 tied series against the Stars and will have a do or die game tonight in LA, the city of broken dreams.

 

The series was certainly nothing for the faint of heart as the suspense is palpable and every game was a nailbiter.

 

The first match went to the Stars with a 5-2 win. LA won the first period 3-1, with Eagles scoring the first post season goal for the wranglers. Calgary then caught up with Kotkakoivu's goal early in the second. Alas, the Stars scored a brace and the third period was without a goal and hence the Wranglers had to concede the game.

 

The second match was an inverted picture of the first, with the Albertan team taking an early lead by three consecutive goals from Nasherov, Reinhart and Janser. The Stars were able to score a deuce on their own, but it was too little, to late and the game went to Calgary. 

 

The third encounter between these two teams ended with a 4-3 win for the Wranglers. As in the first two games it was pretty much touch and go, with the better end for the Canadian team thanks to goals by Kotkakoivu, Reinhart, Funk and Reinhart and a stellar performance by Klamasteris in the net with a .925 saving rate.

 

The fourth match was a goal-fest where both teams neglected the defense (and in the Wrangler's case also any discipline whatsoever) and slugged it out in a 8-6 win for the Californians. It was a rollercoaster of a game and certainly brought some in the crowd and certainly the two coaches at the bring of a cardiac arrest. Nasherov, Eagles, Reinhart, Kotkakoivu (2) and Perry found the back of the net for the Wranglers, while Klamasteris did whatever is humanly possible to do to keep his team in the fight, when a netminder is abandoned by his defence. Therefore, the Stars took the win with not less than five power play goals in ten attempts. 

 

In the fifth game, Calgary showed massive improvement and through four goals in a row scored by Perry (3) and Funk took the win with the final score of 4-2. Again, Klamasteris was a pilar of his team with a all-star worthy .935 saving rate, which helped to keep the team in the race.

 

Unfortunately, in the sixth match up in this series, defensive negligence raised its ugly head in the Wrangler's box play, when they allow three goals in four attempts. This is just not good enough if you want to beat one of the best teams in the league. Kotkakoivu and Johnson scored for Calgary.

 

So all in all, Calgary so far gave LA a run for their money and might even have won the series already if it was not for the collective defensive black out in game four and six. The Wranglers show in this series a boxplay efficiency of 66.67% which is the worst of all the playoff teams (and Wild card participants for that matter) and one can only hope that this will improve drastically going forward. The power play on the other hand is with 22.22% efficiency amongst the top four in the league. 

 

As for Janser, he is a little of mixed bag as well. He is not as frequently scoring as in the regular season with only one goal in six matches (albeit a game winning one), on the other hand he only took 6 PIM in total and his Check/SB ratio is much more balanced in the playoffs. His success rate at the hash marks has also dropped considerably and he shows a negative +/- for the first time this season.

 

This can of course be explained that now he competes against the best of the best and that fact that he is still new to the league and the playoff intensity that is standard in the VHL. Yet, we all know that he just wants to do better and help his team to win the damn cup. Not for him (okay maybe a little) but for his team mates who have their last shot at it this season.

 

Daniel's stats so far in the playoffs:

6gp, 1g, 2a, 3pts, -5, 6 PIM, 8 hits, 7sb, 1gwg, 45.85 FO%

 

Fingers crossed for the Wranglers for tonights decisive match.

 

https://vhlforum.com/topic/116301-a-tale-of-two-brothers-a-quarter-done/

https://vhlforum.com/topic/116343-a-tale-of-two-brothers-thats-a-hatpick/

https://vhlforum.com/topic/116462-a-tale-of-two-brothers-quick-wrap-up/

https://vhlforum.com/topic/117076-a-tale-of-two-brothers-playoffs-in-sight/

https://vhlforum.com/topic/117330-a-tale-of-two-brothers-mixed-results/

GM 42: Calgary Wranglers vs. Los Angeles Stars (vhlportal.com)

GM 46: Calgary Wranglers vs. Los Angeles Stars (vhlportal.com)

GM 50: Los Angeles Stars vs. Calgary Wranglers (vhlportal.com)

GM 54: Los Angeles Stars vs. Calgary Wranglers (vhlportal.com)

GM 58: Calgary Wranglers vs. Los Angeles Stars (vhlportal.com)

GM 62: Los Angeles Stars vs. Calgary Wranglers (vhlportal.com)

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