VHLM Playoff Preview | Wild vs Kings

[Matt_O 896]

Well, it's that time of the year again. The playoffs are upon us, as eight teams will battle it out for the leagues 66th Founders Cup. This matchup is between the S63 Founders Cup Champions, taking on a new expansion team. Lets take a look at how these teams match up to each other:

 

Saskatoon Wild vs Mexico City Kings

Season Series: 6-1 Wild

 

Offense

 

The Wild's offensive attack is focused around one man, who happens to be inactive; Rocky LaGarza. With 94 points, he is well ahead of Milan Griffin for the team point lead. His role on the second line is instrumental to the Saskatoon offense, and he is the most important peice to the Wild. His wingers Brian Strong and Nethila Dissanayake are good compliments to LaGarza, even though Dissanayake had a disappointing season. This second line will beat down opponents, but it couldn't do that without a great first line. This lineup features two GM players in Vladimir Pavlov and Lucas Nygren, who put up 52 and 66 points respectively. Those two are put alongside Milan Griffin, an elite playmaker on the wing that finished with 75 points this year. The Saskatoon offense was great, but the Mexico City offense sure wasn't. Despite having Aleksander Rodriguez (90 points), Michael Gary Scott (84 points), and Boris the Forest (66 points), they struggled to score all season. Henrik Zoiderberg also provided meaningful contributions on their second line, but it wasn't enough for the Kings. They scored the second lowest amount of goals out of all the playoff teams, with 182. Every other playoff team besides Minnesota finished with at least 228 goals. Mexico City thrives on their defensive style of play, and offense is not their strongsuit. Saskatoon owned the fourth best powerplay percentage in the league, although it is worth noting that second and fourth highest percentages are only 0.4% apart. The Kings, on the other hand, owned the second worst powerplay in the league, and only 0.5% ahead of the Bulls, who were historically bad this season. It's pretty clear who has the advantage in this category.

Advantage: Saskatoon

 

Defense

This is where the Kings make up for their shortcomings on offense. They allowed the second least amount of goals, and own of the best defensive pairings in the league with Guillaume Fontenette and Derek England. They both play strong defense while also contributing on offense, with a combined 106 assists between those two. The soul of this Mexico City defense belongs to a lesser known player: Hiromu Takahashi. Even with only 32 points, his 172 hits and 133 blocked shots are way ahead of anyone else on the team, and his willingness to sacrifice his body is what a leader does. The Wild are able to match Takahashi's heart with two guys of their own; Anthony Amberback and Rusty Shackleford. They both had similar point totals, hovering just below sixty, and both will shut down the opposing offense. They have a combined 200 blocked shots, and 352 combined hits. Fylo Gibbles and Kefko Palazzo round out a solid top four for the Wild, a top four that allowed the fourth least amount of goals throughout the regular season. Both teams own elite penalty kills, but Saskatoon's is better, owning the second best penalty kill percentage in the league, while the Kings have the third best. The Kings will need to play some serious shutdown defense to stop the Wild, and they certainly have the ability to. It's close, but I'll take Mexico City on this one.

Advantage: Mexico City

 

Goaltending

Both teams own goalies that could be in the conversation for goalie of the year. Wrike Chyrnoble, the Kings goaltender, is one of the favorites to win it, while Juan Jaundice, the Wilds goalie, has an outside shot. Chyrnoble finished the year with a .912 save percentage and a 2.24 GAA, accompanied by five shutouts. Juandice had an .893 save percentage and a 2.62 GAA, which are certainly respectable. Lets not forget about Juandice's seven shutouts either, the third most in the league. Both goalies are at the cap for TPE, but I will give the edge to Mexico City. Chyrnoble had a better regular season in almost every category, and as long as he can continue his elite level of play, he can give Mexico City a decent shot to win this series.

Advantage: Mexico City

 

This is a similar situation to the Marlins vs 21st series. The higher seeded team is way better on offense, but defensively, the lower seeded team barely has the advantage. The biggest difference is that the advantage on offense isn't as overwhelming, which makes this series a tough one to call. The Kings have the starpower to keep up with the Wild, and on defense they have the advantage. Before I wrote this article, I was prepared to say Saskatoon in Six. Now, I'm not so sure about that. If Rodriguez and Michael Scott can play some great hockey, and Chyrnoble plays great, and the defense for Mexico City continues to play well, I can definitely see Saskatoon in Six.

 

Other Previews:

Reapers vs Storm

21st vs Marlins

Lynx vs Hounds 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Matt_O