Van vs NY

[jRuutu 2,464]

 

The first round of S66 playoffs has started, today I´m going to talk about Vancouver - New York series that is currently tied at 2-2. Seeing how the series is tied is not that big of a surprise if you take a quik look on the regular season standings, Vancouver had 82 points and New York 81, the bigger difference between the two can be seen in goals scored and goals against, we have quite a classic offense vs defense in this pair. Vancouver scored 222 goals during 72 games regular season, New York ´only´ 183, but in return, New York´s defense was a lot better with 179 goals against when Vancouver let in whopping 210 goals.

 

If we jump back to the playoffs, I think it´s fair to say that the picture is still the same, Vancouver has the scoring potential, but in return struggle in their own end at times and New York is able to rely on strong defensive effort with Kingfisher as the final lock, but scoring goals has turned out to be challenging at times. New York won first game 4-3, but then Vancouver took home next two by winning 3-1, the huge game four ended to a 3-2 win for New York.

 

What to expect in game five? Well, first of all, the game is played on Vancouver´s home arena, so that is a big help for the Wolves, but as we saw in the first game - New York can win away. Both teams want to win game five, a massive advantage when going forward into game six if you are leading the series 3-2.

 

There are also a couple areas that neutral fans should follow, which team has the hot goalie? Kingfisher for New York was great during regular season, best save percentage in the league and in this series he has been stronger than Sterling on Vancouver´s net, Sterling has faced 111 shots so far in four games and saved 91.9% of them, Kingfisher has faced 142 shots and saved 92.3 % of those - not a massive difference in this series between the two goalies, but Kingfisher has been better all year long and unfortunately for Wolves fans - he has the ability to steal the game for New York almost on his own.

 

Another interesting thing to follow is Glade vs Jerwa battle, both are defenders, but are also leading their own teams in scoring! Quite amazing when you think about it, Glade has 0+6 and Jerwa 1+5, both play a lot and have played big parts in making goals to happen, but only 1 goal between the two - can either one be the difference maker and score goal or two? I know it´s maybe unfair to expect defenders to score the goals, but when every goal is potentially a game-winner, a good time to score one is now!

 

Overall, extremely interesting series, especially now when it´s 2-2, game five is massive game and winner more than likely is the one who has the better goalie that day, no room for off games or easy goals against, gotta perform at the highest possible level in order to have the best possible chance when heading into game six and keeping your own team´s season rolling on.

 

 

(theme week +6 uncapped)

Edited June 19, 2019 by jRuutu