11/1/11 - Studs & Duds

[ericdaoust]

Posting these early because I'm really tired and have to get up early for work. These don't factor in the Flames/Canucks game but if something stands out I'll add them as honourable mentions in the morning.

STUDS

Backstrom delivers in the clutch

Backstrom's heroics began with 42 seconds left in the game when he tied the game 4-4. Then, in overtime, he potted the winning goal. The goals capped off a comeback from two goals down after Corey Perry made the score 4-2 with roughly 11 minutes left in the game. On top of that, Ovechkin owners are relieved because his assist on Backstrom's OT winner was his only point in the five-goal effort.

Why won't you die?

Yeah, that's a line from Austin Powers but it applies very well here. Teemu Selanne just will not die. Tonight he posted two goals and two assists as he factored in on all Ducks' goals. Make that five goals and nine assists (14 points) in 12 games. Simply amazing.

Red Wing killer

Josh Harding has played three games this season - all of them against the Red Wings. He won two of those games, including tonight, along with an overtime loss. Tonight he stopped 36 of 37 in the winning effort to push his season totals to 110 saves on 114 shots (.965). It's a great redemption story given what he has been through with injuries over the years.

Honourable mentions (roto stand-outs)

Nick Foligno: 1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 3 shots
Chris Neil: 2 assists, +1, 6 PIM, 2 hits
Zdeno Chara: 2 assists, +2, 5 shots, 4 hits
Chad Larose: 2 goals, +2, 2 PIM, 5 shots, 5 hits
Mikko Koivu: 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 4 shots, 13/25 face-offs
Saku Koivu: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3, 16/26 face-offs
Jason Chimera: 2 assists, +3, 3 shots, 3 hits
Brooks Laich: 3 assists, +3, 3 shots, 2 hits


DUDS

Roloson's struggles continue

Dwayne Roloson is among a group of netminders struggling out of the gate in a big way. Tonight's outing did not help matters as he allowed four goals on 31 shots (.871) in a losing effort. It's not terrible but it's not the big performance that will help turn his season around.

Senators collapse in 3rd

Seems like this one is a theme often when I do the studs and duds. It must be deflating to have a six-game winning streak snapped after a 3-3 tie was broken in the third period. The Bruins would go on to win the game 5-3 to snap their own three-game losing streak.

Hedman, Hamrlik have rough nights

Both defencemen are known for their all-around abilities and their logging of big minutes but both finished minus-3 tonight while being blanked from the score sheet. Hedman was on the ice for all three even-strength goals by the Hurricanes. Hamrlik, for his part, was also on the ice for all three even-strength goals scored by the Ducks while not being on the ice for any goals scored. More is expected from such key figures.

Dishonourable Mention (Vokoun gets the win but...)

Tomas Vokoun picked up another win but the peripheral stats were not pretty. He gave up four goals on just 15 shots all night. If your pool counts GAA (3.87), save percentage (.733) or total saves (11) Vokoun was a total dud for your sqaud in this one.

I remember the discussion last week about Storage Wars and sure enough it's on again tonight. Brandi is up to nothing special tonight and is wearing way too much clothes. So it gets a dud this week. Back to the Canucks game as I get ready for bed.


Added bonus

For your viewing pleasure, here is the scene that is referenced in the Selanne title:
http://youtu.be/nvTb1B253fQ

Also, Down Goes Brown with the NHL Halloween party recap:
http://www.downgoesbrown.com/

[Dakkster]

Minnesota didn't deserve to win that game. They had about a billion power plays yet the Wings shut them down. The refs didn't allow the Wings to get into a rhythm by giving Minny power play after power play.

[dyzfunctioned]

Cheater... :P

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

Cheater... :P

I guess it is a lil' payback to post it early since we do read quite a bit about the Nucks on this site (cough D'angus cough cough) ahem, pardon me.

[bondon]

It amazes me how bad the Minnesota powerplay is considering how many individual offensive pieces they have.

PS: Eric I better see Edler's name up there on the studs list when I wake up haha

[dyzfunctioned]

I guess it is a lil' payback to post it early since we do read quite a bit about the Nucks on this site (cough D'angus cough cough) ahem, pardon me.

Don't worry, to make up for it all my future ramblings will be on nothing but the Oil!

...too bad I write Wednesdays and they don't even play tomorrow.

[metaldude26]

It amazes me how bad the Minnesota powerplay is considering how many individual offensive pieces they have.

PS: Eric I better see Edler's name up there on the studs list when I wake up haha

They have some interesting pieces there but together I'm not sure it constitutes a real unit. I mean, posting Dany Heatley up on the half boards and trying to set him up for the one timer does not make for a great power play. Maybe if he tried a little and didn't move like he was skating in sand they'd be a bit better. He's only one cog of course, but he is just too much fun to joke about.

[metaldude26]

Also, how about that little slap in the face from Lou at the end of the game. All his owners were like, "Finally. Finally. Praise Jesus Finally! He's back. I knew he'd be back. Just needed to get out of October is all. Here comes the shutout. Oh yah. I'm gonna win my ****ing week bitches. What a great start. Thank you Bobby Lou... Oh what the ****! Seriously. 32 seconds left and you let one in? You're a dick Luongo. A cock teasing, mother ****er. Way to choke on the shutout, just like you choked in game 7 and choke every year against Chicago. You cock teasing choke artist bastard. **** **** **** A ****ING TRUCK!"

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

HM - Bobby Lu for stopping 28 of 29

Dishonourable Mention - Roberto Luongo for blowing a shut-out with 32 seconds left


Edit: Well that's another way to say it... haha

[dyzfunctioned]

You guys are acting like this is news. Hell, he's combined for 8 shutouts the past two years, one less than the year prior.

[ericdaoust]

Additional bonuses (Wow I give readers a lot of these... you guys better appreciate it!)

STUDS

Alexander Edler

By popular demand Alex Edler makes the studs list! Last night he scored a goal and added two power-play assists to push his season totals to 12 points in 12 games. He's doing a good job filling in the void left by Christian Ehrhoff.

Luongo doesn't suck

Sure enough, October is done and Luongo kicks off his "real season" with a big win. He had 28 saves on 29 shots. It's nice to see a "9" in front of his save percentage rather than a "7". Even with his struggles, nobody can argue that his situation is ideal to pick up high win totals. Now let's see the peripheral stats catch up.


DUDS

Kiprusoff chased after two

Heading into his duel with Luongo it was Kipper who had the sparkling numbers while his counterpart was struggling. But on this night it was Kipper getting shelled for five goals on 18 shots through two periods. The scoring chances were of high quality but he still leaves his poolies with a big fat "L" along with an ugly .722 save percentage and a GAA around 7.50.

Shutout tease

If you look at my sig you'll see that I own Luongo in the UHL. I catch a lot of crap for that and for 59 minutes it looked like I would be able to throw all that crap back at my adversaries. With 32 seconds left Alex Tanguay broke Luongo's shutout bid. I like the win and the save percentage but a shutout could have gone a long way towards helping his poolies. This makes me depressed. Can we just go back to talking about Brandi?

[metaldude26]

Kiprusoff chased after two what? What was he chasing! Women? Squirrels? Beer vendors? What?!?

[ericdaoust]

Kiprusoff chased after two what? What was he chasing! Women? Squirrels? Beer vendors? What?!?

Chased from goal after two periods. But there was no indication that he was playing poorly so maybe it was one of the items you mentioned. I'll send Kipper a text and we'll see what he has to say about it.

[newper114]

Good stuff alot to mention sat night. Interesting how you picked up on vokouns terrible stats but apparently hiller was the crapper goalie last night. The while game and post game the announcers could stop saying how badly hiller was in this one. Watched a big chunk of the game and he was good and great at times but wow some of those gold he let in were just terrible. One off his glove flies in the air and instead if looking for it he looks forward and then it bounces off his back and into the goal. That was terrible.

Antother dud should be BB. Yes the caps got the win but he benches both Alexanders with 1min left in the game and no goalie in net. And then in overtime it took almost 2 mins before ovechkin even got a shift. Let's just say if he doesn't smooth things over with ovechkin, who looked pissed after the game, his days might be numbered in was!

[ericdaoust]

Good stuff alot to mention sat night. Interesting how you picked up on vokouns terrible stats but apparently hiller was the crapper goalie last night. The while game and post game the announcers could stop saying how badly hiller was in this one. Watched a big chunk of the game and he was good and great at times but wow some of those gold he let in were just terrible. One off his glove flies in the air and instead if looking for it he looks forward and then it bounces off his back and into the goal. That was terrible.

Antother dud should be BB. Yes the caps got the win but he benches both Alexanders with 1min left in the game and no goalie in net. And then in overtime it took almost 2 mins before ovechkin even got a shift. Let's just say if he doesn't smooth things over with ovechkin, who looked pissed after the game, his days might be numbered in was!

Those are good points. I did not see the Caps/Ducks game but based on the shots being 40-15 it's tough to put it on Hiller. Regardless of how they played Vokoun came out with a win and crappy peripherals while Hiller maintained a better save percentage. That's the perspective I was writing from. Now that you mention it Hiller too can be a dud. Honorable mention.

Boudreau strikes me as a coach who is going crazy between the ears. He took something that was working fine and tried to change everything about it. Sure the Caps lose in the playoffs but I would say that was more a matter of bad bounces and maturity than it did style of play. It's not like his defence-first approach won them a Cup either. Long-term if he continues he's going to turn into another Hitchcock and the players will tune him out. or maybe that is already happening.