Playoffs? [1/2]

[jRuutu 2,464]

 

The first round of the playoffs is in the books for Ottawa Lynx, managed to go through to the next round by beating Mexico City Kings 4-0. I must say that the series was not exactly what I expected, I was expecting more evenly matched battle and at least six game or maybe even a seven-game series. The regular season for both teams supported that, Mexico, for example, had above average penalty kill with 80.83 % and in return, Ottawa´s powerplay was ´only´ sixth-best in the league.

 

Mexico and their playing style were thought out to be perfect for playoffs, you had the physicality where every player finished their checks and icing on the cake how every player was expected to play for the logo in every shift. Shush Nyko, for example, played around eight minutes per game during the final part of the regular season and the same continued in the playoffs, now that the series is over you can ask if the management went too far in teaching Nyko a lesson? After all, Nyko was Mexico´s best scorer with 51 goals and 103 points in 72 games. He played just under ten minutes in the four games and scored one goal. Nyko is and was just one player obviously, but for Mexico, he was one of the few players you could expect to make things happen in every game.

 

For Ottawa, the difference-maker in the series was the depth in the roster. Ten players scored at least one goal in the four games, which is excellent depth for playoff hockey. The scoring units were ready to play as well, which is great news when going forward. Got positive start to the playoffs, every player has confidence in their own abilities and most importantly they can trust the teams playing style - keep going and goals will come.

 

 

In the second round, we play against San Diego, that is a big test. They are a tough team with top-level talent. If you want to find one strength of theirs - it has to be the offensive game. San Diego players were the top-5 in regular-season scoring, all five players scored at least 145 points, Roque Davis the best with 154 in 72 games, so we need to find a way to stop that scoring group from getting hot.

 

One way to do that is by finishing our checks every time. San Diego relies on their top guns to play a lot of minutes in each game, that top-5 scoring group all play at least around 25 minutes per game. If we keep taking the body and grinding it out, at some point they start to feel those hits. Obviously need to be careful and not take any silly penalties, if there is one team in VHLM that has the ability to use those man advantages - it´s San Diego.

 

When looking at it right now, I´m hoping to see a close series. Game seven would be a fair way to end series in my opinion, both teams are that good and of course, that would be great for the fans, not often you get to see this many great players on the ice and on top of that playoff hockey - is there a better way to end it than a game seven?!