VHLM Playoff Preview | Ottawa vs Mississauga

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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. Last year, we saw the Minnesota Storm win it all, but it certainly looks like we will have a new champion this year. Let’s take a look at the match-up between the Lynx and the Hounds

 

Ottawa Lynx vs. Mississauga Hounds

Season series: 4-3 Lynx

 

Offence

Ottawa has the best offence in the league hands down, with 297 goals they lead the league by 11 and are 53 ahead of Mississauga. Their top 6 split time evenly which has led to a depth of scoring for them all. Aston Martin broke 100 points and was 3^rd in the scoring race. All six of their top 6 are in the top 25 for points. Ottawa’s offence struggled in the last two games putting up just 3 goals in two losses after averaging 4.24 goals per game. Ottawa does however put up a massive 37.5% PP when facing Mississauga.

Mississauga on the other hand, plays a very mix up style and lines change often. Despite this, they have three players in the top ten including the league leading scorer Callum MacElroy. MacElroy clinched the scoring title by 5 goals and the points title by 2. Mississauga also sports the league leading defenceman Hulk Hogan, who is built around defence but manages to be a big playmaker for Mississauga. Mississauga’s PP has been lacking against Ottawa, managing a measly 16.22%.

Advantage: Ottawa

 

Defence

Defence is a weakness for both of these teams. Ottawa does manage to pull ahead letting in 26 less goals this season but this doesn’t tell the whole story. In the series Ottawa leads by 5 goals but in the last two games against each other they only outscore Mississauga by 1. In their last 10 games Mississauga has been managing a 2.5 GA while Ottawa has been averaging 4GA, including a 6-2 loss against a struggling Minnesota team.

Mississauga’s top 4 defenceman have accumulated 265 Pim’s while Ottawa’s has gotten 327 Pim’s. This could be a bit of a worry for Ottawa as their PK has struggled slightly against Mississauga. When it comes to defensive capabilities these teams are a bit of a toss up. You have Hulk Hogan vs Ambrose Stark and then Sundell and DeYeeto vs Parkey and Lawn. I feel like Mississauga has been playing better defence recently.

Advantage: Mississauga

 

Goalies

I’ll start by going back to the last ten games. Rayz Funk has been averaging a 2.5GAA while Pekka Pouta has been averaging a 4 GAA which is 1.66 higher than normal. Neither goalie will be all that pleased though as Funk went 5-4-1 and Pouta went 4-4-2. Pouta has outperformed Funk slightly this season overall but has faced 142 less shots. I assume that goalies will have either no effect on this series or they will be the key piece to winning.

Advantage: Even

 

Overall

With the season series being 4-3 in favour of Ottawa I’m going to go the other way with my prediction. Mississauga has been hot in the last half of the season while we saw Ottawa teeter out near the end and start falling from grace. I expect this to go the distance and be a hard-fought series between the leagues leading forward and defenceman against a deep Ottawa roster. The only other outcome is that a goalie pulls a stunner and plays like Grant Fuhr to steal a quik series. This has all the makings of a memorable playoff battle.

 

Prediction: Mississauga in 7 

 

Other series previews:

21st vs Marlins

Reapers vs Storm

Wild vs Kings

 

 

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Advantage = Mexico City