Because they have a lot of CLUTCH players, and Gaborik has done well.
We all know the old adage that "defence wins championships". But the Kings, on the verge of winning their second Cup in three seasons, are doing it with their scoring too.
They scored a measly 2.42 goals a game in the regular season. The lowest total of any playoff team.
They currently lead the playoffs with a whopping 3.40 goals per game average. Almost one whole goal MORE per game.
Anyone care to explain that?
Bottleneckers (12/16 in 2022)
16 team, points only. G: 2-W, 4-SO.
Top 9F, 4D & 1G . Keep 15, Max 23
F: J. Robertson, J. Hughes, Tavares, Lafreniere, Cozens, Newhook, Teravainen, Domi, R. Strome, Laine, Rossi, Raymond, Holtz, Perfetti
D: Bouchard, McAvoy, Morrissey, Heiskanen
G: Vasilevskiy
Because they have a lot of CLUTCH players, and Gaborik has done well.
Clutch players who raise their game when it matters most
small sample size that shows inflated stats.... I mean clutch scoring... definitely clutch scoring
14 team Fantrax H2H keeper league
G, A, P, SOG, Hits, Blocks, FOW, - W, Gaa, Sv%, Svs
C - Crosby, Tavares, Kopitar, Toews
LW - Hall, Giroux(C), Vrana, Gaudreau
RW - Pastrnak, Kane, Stamkos(C), Kubalik
D - Burns, Murphy, Morrisey, Cernak, Whitecloud, Chiarot
G - Mrazek, Campbell, Brossoit, Greiss
Bench - Middlestat, Wennberg, Perron, Olofsson, Schwartz, Atkinson, Yama
I get "clutch", but a whole goal more per game seems like a lot. It isn't like the Kings are now playing AHL teams who shouldn't be anywhere near them in terms of talent. These are other NHLers! Do the Kings have a monopoly on clutch guys?
Bottleneckers (12/16 in 2022)
16 team, points only. G: 2-W, 4-SO.
Top 9F, 4D & 1G . Keep 15, Max 23
F: J. Robertson, J. Hughes, Tavares, Lafreniere, Cozens, Newhook, Teravainen, Domi, R. Strome, Laine, Rossi, Raymond, Holtz, Perfetti
D: Bouchard, McAvoy, Morrissey, Heiskanen
G: Vasilevskiy
I'm thinking they somewhat do, but I'm to lazy to look up the stats. I also think it may have something to do with Sutter... That guy seems strict , but yet so mellow when games are not being played... And then just insanely intense during the game (but controlled)... He's kinda larger than life and I think he projects that a little on the players.
Is it "Clutch players who raise their game when it matters most"? Or is it players who slack and coast during the regular season because they know it doesn't matter. Either way it works.
Hockey Pools? Too many to mention. Points only, salary cap and dynasty.
Mainly because teams are worn down at this point IMO
Love Mister McGoo's chart. Plus 1 for your rep.
But despite the fact that the eventual champs do score more in the playoffs, I still can't help but notice the wide margin of difference between Kings regular season to playoff goals to the Blackhawks and Bruins goal differential. Crazy stats.
Bottleneckers (12/16 in 2022)
16 team, points only. G: 2-W, 4-SO.
Top 9F, 4D & 1G . Keep 15, Max 23
F: J. Robertson, J. Hughes, Tavares, Lafreniere, Cozens, Newhook, Teravainen, Domi, R. Strome, Laine, Rossi, Raymond, Holtz, Perfetti
D: Bouchard, McAvoy, Morrissey, Heiskanen
G: Vasilevskiy
Another interesting stat is that the Kings win the cup while only having the lead for 15% of the ENTIRE series. Wonder if that's the least amount of time a team has held a lead during an entire Finals series and won the Cup...
BTW, I believe they only led for 58:20 the whole series, meanwhile the Rangers held a lead for 61:01 over the last 2 games alone....kinda crazy!! NYR led for a total of 111:04 during the series.
Wow!!
GMHL Dynasty
14 Team H2H 27-Pro/20-Farm
4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 7BN, 4IR+
G, A, PTS, +/-, PIM, PPP, GWG,SOG, HITS, BLKS
W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO
C: Tavares, Barkov, Malkin, Nielsen, Zibanejad
LW: Lucic, Benn, Tatar, Fleischmann
RW: Johansen, Tarasenko, Downie, Perron
D: Doughty, Chara, Yandle, Edler, Seidenberg, Brodin, Wideman, Kulikov, Robidas
G: Niemi, Nabokov, Mason, Emery, Reimer
Farm: Lazar, Nieto, Pulkkinen, Compher, Fiala, Vrana, Barber, Pastrnak, Larkin, McCann, Rattie, Rakell, Salomaki, Connelly, Keranen, Clendening, Borowiecki, Matheson, de Haan, Carrick, Gillies, Nilsson-KHL, Dansk, Stalock
Picks Owned:
2015: 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd