And more importantly why?
My two cents: They are playing tighter and tighter as the game goes along. They get a lead and start playing not to lose, which of course swings the momentum the other way. They are playing... scared might be too much, but definitely tentative.
What do you think?
First guy who says they should just go out and beat somebody up gets the boot. Be realistic.
Comments
With this being my first game of the season tonight, I was really impressed with how hard they came out and played early. As the game went on, you could see a let down. I know they aren't going to keep the same intensity for 60 minutes physically, but they lost it mentally as well tonight.
Curadeau toke 2 very selfish penalties. I know he is talented, but his attitude was alot different from what I remember. Leo struggled tonight mightily. Bouley's penalty was one of the worst I have seen taken in a long time. There isn't a good time to take that, expecially that late in the game IMHO.
They did look extremely tenative tonight with the lead. They will be a very tough team to be once they can put together 60 minutes mentally and physically.
They don't put teams away like they did last season. I truthfully think it has to do with the fact we are playing with so many rookies on Defense. Boulay, Holliday, Warner, Mironovic....these guys panic at the end of games and haven't learned yet how to finish off the other team. Plus Guy is a year older and hasn't been able to find that next gear like he has the past years where he would play every shift late in the game....and Bert must be hurt...he moves so slow this year.
I am a huge Colin Chaulk fan...but is he winning the faceoffs this year like he has been so dominate of in the past?
Blake....how many times have the Komets blown a third period lead this season? Is it in double digits yet? If we win half the games we have blown...we are in first place.
I forgot...Dumb Dumb Penalties....wow.
I say lack of dicipline. Since November 1st the Komets have allowed 72 goals, the lowest in the league. However of those 72 goals, 33 of them have come in the 3rd period of games, and one in overtime.
Since November 1st the Komets have given up 45.83% of thier goals in the 3rd period.
Of those 33 goals, 11 of them have been Power Play goals (33%).
Of the 11 Power Play goals given up, 5 have been in the last five minuets of the game.
This has resulted in the Komets blowing six 3rd period leads since November 1st out of the 23 games played during that span.
I say that Sims needs to clean up the lazy play in the 3rd period and things will turn around. That may mean changing up the lines or just bringing in new players. That is for him to decide. Of course more offence would not hurt either since Curadeau is not staying with the team at this time.
Sounds like Shawn wants my job. LOL.
Hit, Ks are 14-1-2 when leading after two, but here's the stats you are looking for. They are 1-4-0 when tied after two, including 0-3 at home. They are 2-2-2 when tied after two at home. Leading after 2, 8-1-0 on the road.
Great post Shawn. Alot of numbers, so it toke me an hour to read, but very informative!!!
I didn't see last night's game, but caught some of it on the radio. Over the last few weeks, at least from where I'm sitting, it seems:
1. There is a failure to occupy space in front of the net on both ends of the ice resulting in too many screens on our defensive end, and no rebound control on the offensive end.
2. Too many high quality chances wasted on shots wide of the net.
3. Maybe a little loss of focus and proper positioning by the goaltender.
If we could just go into the 3rd period with a 5 - 6 goal lead i think everything would be ok or shorten the game clock by 90 seconds then if that doesn't work they should just go out and beat somebody up. Boy, i just don't like losing.
What did we have, one shot on our 6 on 3, wow.
This season has me a little confused, maybe everything is working out the way it should, get the young guys some ice time, nothing matters until the playoffs anyway.
Just so you know John Searle completely blew the call of too many men against Kazoo in the 3rd. period. Detulleo #8 was allowed out on the clock. #16 did not come out until the stoppage of play. #19 was waiting to reset the penalty clock. Bootland sent someone off the bench which caused the too many men. It was not done at the scorers table. He knew that for sure. He (Searle) even told Al Sims they had 5 guys on the ice. I have no idea why he didn't call the penalty.
Not to mention that K-Zoo had 7 men on the ice during their late game Power Play goal that tied the game.
Last year's Komets tended to go to sleep for a bit in the first period. This year's team seems to want to do it in the third. Even great teams have their lulls, but doing it in the third period is downright dangerous, as we've all seen too many times. Still, I thought their effort was much better last night. It's just very difficult to shut down a two-man advantage.
The biggest problem, I think, is simply a lack of confidence, but I also feel that roster changes have caused a major change in the team's chemistry. Last year, they were able to keep things much lighter. This year, everyone seems so serious, and that weighs on a person.
Well there is two things first a forward who is a holy terror in front of the net in which Mitch Woods was last season. A physical defense that stood up at the blueline made you pay a price in front of the net, and won the battles in the corners. The lost of Kevin Hanson from last year was huge I am not sure how many people realize the role that guy played on this hockey team. Even Henley not being here created a huge hole. We basically replaced those guys with rookie defensemen. The other thing missing is a 3rd line who contributes to scoring...Matt Reynolds is another player we have not replace. All and all this is a average hockey team with what we have now can there be moves made to improve the club I am not sure it all depends what is available on the waiver wire or from ECHL teams that have folded because I don't see any trades that can make us all that better unless we are willing to give up quality
I think that Wendy is right on target.
For some unknown reason, the confidence is not there and it appears that players are afraid of making a mistake.....since that fear of making a mistake is there, that actually leads to mistakes being made! I know, a real mean cycle!
I still believe that if they can regain the confidence and have some fun on the ice, then they will be fine.
The Komets really have a lot of talent and toughness but are struggling to balance the two ~ combine that with giving up sizeable leads and taking foolish penalties in the 3rd period and it will always be hard to win playing that style of Hockey !
I think we miss Henley too. The guy was hurt all last season with a bum knee. In the cup finals though he really played well! The defense the year is very young and that is showing. Also we tend to play around too much on the power play...too many passes. When we have an opening get the darn shot ON NET and have someone in front to pick up a rebound. We need the forwards to back check more also, we did that fairly well against kzoo,but fierce back checking really helps the defense and the defense is the area we need to improve on.