The Goat Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Just having a look at your team here fellas and wondering who, aside from Chris Drury, can you count on to win faceoffs, particularly against Brind'Amour? These are two puck posession teams, who are your threats to get the puck off the draw? p.s. Please oh please, don't try to make the argument that faceoffs don't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogie Oglethorpe Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Just having a look at your team here fellas and wondering who, aside from Chris Drury, can you count on to win faceoffs. (Particularly against Brind'Amour) These are two puck posession teams who are your threats to get the puck off the draw? p.s. Please oh please, don't try to make the argument that faceoffs don't matter. Here's a look at the FO% in the East for the season. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/statistics?s...type=3&league=e Once again, seems to be pretty even among Canes and Sabres. Look for Gaustad to win a lot of big draws. He's been Drury's protege this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Of course they matter, and Carolina has an edge because BrindAmour seems to take EVERY big draw ... the percentage is not what amazes me with him, it is the number of draws ... he took 500 more draws than Drury during the season ... the difference in the playoffs is not as great, but still it seems Laviolette will put him out there for a draw and then take him off if he has to ... It is a concern of course because there will be BIG draws in BIG spots, and Carolina will have an edge I think ... but Drury is still better than most and will neutralize that advantage at times, and since the Sabres won less than half their draws all season, I can't get too worked up over it now. Buffalo is 48 % on draws in the playoffs and Carolina is just under 51% ... for the regular season Buff is 49.7 and Carolina is 51.7 ... gotta make up the difference somehow and get posession other ways, forcing turnovers, winning battles for loose pucks, whatever ... or just bury your chances because you are going have fewer of them, that's basically what happened against Ottawa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Just having a look at your team here fellas and wondering who, aside from Chris Drury, can you count on to win faceoffs, particularly against Brind'Amour? These are two puck posession teams, who are your threats to get the puck off the draw? p.s. Please oh please, don't try to make the argument that faceoffs don't matter. I will give you guys the edge in faceoffs. Just wondering, is there any area where you don't give the Canes an edge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Goat Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Here's a look at the FO% in the East for the season. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/statistics?s...type=3&league=e Once again, seems to be pretty even among Canes and Sabres. Look for Gaustad to win a lot of big draws. He's been Drury's protege this season. Thanks for the link and the info. Good god. I know that many think the Sabres have a clear advantage in goal, I disagree, but taking that out of the equation these teams are so evenly matched. Where are the weaknesses? The Sabres powerplay is not great but I am not betting on that being the case in this series. The Goat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogie Oglethorpe Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Thanks for the link and the info. Good god. I know that many think the Sabres have a clear advantage in goal, I disagree, but taking that out of the equation these teams are so evenly matched. Where are the weaknesses? The Sabres powerplay is not great but I am not betting on that being the case in this series. The Goat The power play has been slumping a bit in the offseason especially since Connolly went down. Ottawa kept them in check by taking away everything down low. If you give Briere, Afinegenov or Drury an inch down low they'll make you pay quickly. Canes power play has been hot, but the Sabres managed to silence Ottawa's lethal power play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Goat Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Of course they matter, and Carolina has an edge because BrindAmour seems to take EVERY big draw ... the percentage is not what amazes me with him, it is the number of draws ... he took 500 more draws than Drury during the season ... the difference in the playoffs is not as great, but still it seems Laviolette will put him out there for a draw and then take him off if he has to ... It is a concern of course because there will be BIG draws in BIG spots, and Carolina will have an edge I think ... but Drury is still better than most and will neutralize that advantage at times, and since the Sabres won less than half their draws all season, I can't get too worked up over it now. Buffalo is 48 % on draws in the playoffs and Carolina is just under 51% ... for the regular season Buff is 49.7 and Carolina is 51.7 ... gotta make up the difference somehow and get posession other ways, forcing turnovers, winning battles for loose pucks, whatever ... or just bury your chances because you are going have fewer of them, that's basically what happened against Ottawa. I would be a little worried about it too if I were a Sabres fan. But you hit on the other ways you get posession, if the Sabres can do that it certainly diminishes the importance of the draws. The Goat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Thanks for the link and the info. Good god. I know that many think the Sabres have a clear advantage in goal, I disagree, but taking that out of the equation these teams are so evenly matched. Where are the weaknesses? The Sabres powerplay is not great but I am not betting on that being the case in this series. The Goat http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byteam?c...type=0&sort=447 Buffalo: 21.2 PP% during the regular season, 3rd in the NHL Carolina: 17.9% during the regular season, 17th in the NHL. While the playoffs are different http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byteam?c...postseason_2005 Carolina: 27.8% Buffalo: 15.4% There are a couple of things to keep in mind. 1. Buffalo played 5 games against the 4th best PK in the NHL (Ott 84.7%) 2. Carolina played 5 games against the 16th best PK in the NHL (NJ 81.9%) 3. Carolina played 6 games against the 21st best PK in the NHL (MTL 81.1%) If that's not enough to change your mind, 4. There haven't been enough playoff games for an accurate statistical sample yet. Consider this, if you add together regular season and post season PP's: Buffalo: 20.5% Carolina: 18.7% Seems to me that the Sabres have the better PP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Goat Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 I will give you guys the edge in faceoffs. Just wondering, is there any area where you don't give the Canes an edge? Hopelessly, do I detect a bit of sarcasm in that question? Alright, you want to know what I am worried about? Here goes: Top to bottom team speed: Carolina has some guys that can fly, and aside from Wesley no one is particularly slow -- though Wesley is steady and rarely, if ever, caught out of position. But every Sabre seems lightning fast. Even Teppo looks quick again. Special Teams: Buffalo has a very, very aggressive penalty kill. Jersey did too but, going back to speed again, this is a whole different animal. For a team that has thrived so mightily on its powerplay this is a source of great concern to me. Scoring from the Blue Line: lost in all of this talk about the Sabres balanced scoring is the contribution they are getting from their defence. Tallinder, McKee, Lydman, Campbell and, god bless him, Teppo, are a mobile group that makes smart decisions under a heavy forecheck. Aside from Hedican, Carolina does not generate much offense from the back end. Buffalo does. These are just the ones bothering me right now. Ask me again tomorrow and I'll have some more. The Goat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Goat Posted May 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byteam?c...type=0&sort=447 1. Buffalo played 5 games against the 4th best PK in the NHL (Ott 84.7%) 2. Carolina played 5 games against the 16th best PK in the NHL (NJ 81.9%) 3. Carolina played 6 games against the 21st best PK in the NHL (MTL 81.1%) If that's not enough to change your mind, 4. There haven't been enough playoff games for an accurate statistical sample yet. Consider this, if you add together regular season and post season PP's: Buffalo: 20.5% Carolina: 18.7% Seems to me that the Sabres have the better PP. Is the cup half empty or half full for Carolina? I see the logic in your argument. And I am sure you can see the logic in mine when I say that, eight weeks later, Carolina's pp is just finding its legs without Eric Cole and with Doug Weight. I will just say this, Buffalo faced a potent powerplay in Ottawa and they succeeded. Their penalty kill will be tested again by Carolina. The Goat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Buffalo's PP against Ottawa was terrible. They would skate to the line and face three or four Senators. The Senators checked mightily at the line. That forced Buffalo to dump the puck in. It seemed that the Senator defense or goal always got there first and sent it back out. Now Philly was different. The Sabres were so much faster than Philly that they rarely got held up at the line. They had a chance to set up and make some shots. So I speculate a lot will depend on how Carolina plays them. If they hold the blue line like Ottawa and can beat Buffalo to the puck, then the Sabres will struggle again. If Buffalo can get past the forecheck and into the corners, then their scrappiness along the boards will help. We'll see in 42 hours.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimFandango Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 FYI... special teams between Buffalo and carolina in the four games they have met... Buf has 5 PP goals, Carolina has 1 PP goal... they each have 1 SH goal against each other (and i think Carolina's was on a penalty shot) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Seats Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 In season faceoff percentage Buffalo has three in top 18, while you have to go to 25 to get three Hurricanes. You might have Brind'Amour at #1, but again and again Buffalo has thrived because of its depth of "nameless" players producing big numbers to which noone pays attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASabreFan Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 I love it! Faceoff talk! More than we'll get on WGR. Beyond Brind'Amour and Drury, both teams look pretty average or below average on the draw. Brind'Amour is outstanding, while Drury is very good -- not a huge difference. I don't know the particulars of these guys versus one another, but I can't see Rod dominating. What other Cane is above 50% for the season? Gaustad's been pretty good at around 52 percent. If I was Carolina, I might be worried about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 I love it! Faceoff talk! More than we'll get on WGR. Beyond Brind'Amour and Drury, both teams look pretty average or below average on the draw. Brind'Amour is outstanding, while Drury is very good -- not a huge difference. I don't know the particulars of these guys versus one another, but I can't see Rod dominating. What other Cane is above 50% for the season? Gaustad's been pretty good at around 52 percent. If I was Carolina, I might be worried about him. It doesn't matter now, I just got home from Gillooly-ing Brind'Amour on the knee with an iron pipe. Advantage - Sabres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 I love it! Faceoff talk! More than we'll get on WGR. Beyond Brind'Amour and Drury, both teams look pretty average or below average on the draw. Brind'Amour is outstanding, while Drury is very good -- not a huge difference. I don't know the particulars of these guys versus one another, but I can't see Rod dominating. What other Cane is above 50% for the season? Gaustad's been pretty good at around 52 percent. If I was Carolina, I might be worried about him. My guess is that the Sabres will try to have Gaustad out against Brind'Amour and have Drury going against Staal. I also expect that the Canes will want Brind'Amour going against Drury. As I've posted in an earlier thread. The drama on the faceoffs alone could be worth the price of admission. In the playoffs, Brind'Amour has been on fire on the draw and the 4th liner (from Buffalo) Adams has been very good as well. Carolina's other 2 centers have been horrible (to be kind). Drury's been very good and Gaustad has been good. Danny's been horrible as has Hecht (which surprised me, every time I noticed him take a faceoff he won it; guess I'd better pay closer attention this round ;))). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Is the cup half empty or half full for Carolina? I see the logic in your argument. And I am sure you can see the logic in mine when I say that, eight weeks later, Carolina's pp is just finding its legs without Eric Cole and with Doug Weight. I will just say this, Buffalo faced a potent powerplay in Ottawa and they succeeded. Their penalty kill will be tested again by Carolina. The Goat The point I am trying to make is that the reason it is a PP% is to compensate for ups and downs during the year. While they have been hot lately, and playing much above the level they were all year, the law of averages tells us that eventually that will balance itself out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Losing face-off after face-off can wear a team down, especially losing them in the defensive zone. With so much time off between series, I am sure both teams are looking at lots of tape to figure out weaknesses. Let's hope Lindy has been looking at where Carolina likes to direct the puck on the face-off and makes some adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASabreFan Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Now we learn in today's column by Bob Dicesare of the News that in the four games between the teams this regular season, Chris Drury outperformed Rod the Bod on faceoffs. Rod, in fact, was barely above 50%. Just some more fuel for the fire to counter Goat's initial post. Speaking of that, maybe the question should be: who do the Hurricanes have besides Rod Brind'Amour to take faceoffs against Drury? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Seats Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Speaking of that, maybe the question should be: who do the Hurricanes have besides Rod Brind'Amour to take faceoffs against Drury? :) PA, yeah thats a better way of saying what I was trying to suggest about the Sabres' depth and the fact that Sabres actually fared better statistically in the reg. season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Technically the Canes won a higher precentage of draws in the regular season ... but it's by like 2 percent ... which means over the course of a game with less than 100 faceoffs, they should win 1 or 2 more ... nothing to worry about ... The place it comes into play is the BIG draws ... if the Sabres get caught with Briere out there after an icing against Brind'amour or something ... but overall puckposession is not going to be a huge issue based on faceoffs alone ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Brindamore gives them a slight edge on faceoffs. He won't be able to play over 25 minutes a game like he did against NJ however. Look for Lindy to shorten shifts and go wave after wave rolling 4. Gaustad will have a huge part to play in this series. Look for him to get plenty of ice time, and lots of cycles if his line gets a forecheck going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRH Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 If you look at the stats, the Sabres have three in the top 18 in the East on faceoffs (Drury 56%, Gaustad 52% and surprisingly, Briere 51%). After Brind'Amour, who is at 58%, the 'Canes have Cullen at 52% and then Adams at 49%. Collectively, the top three 'Canes sit at 56.0%, while the top three Sabres are at 53.8%. As for playoff performance, if you check the regular season stats, the Sabres went up against a few more 50%+ faceoff men in the first two rounds (Vermette, Heatley, Handzus, Spezza, Forsberg, Umberger, Fisher, Smolinski) than did the 'Canes (Koivu, Gomez, Madden, Plekanic, Begin -- and Koivu only played a bit more than 2 games in that series). Saying that Carolina has a better postseason faceoff % is like comparing Carolina's PP% to Buffalo's without also noting that the Sabres have faced much better penalty killers thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 2. Carolina played 5 games against the 16th best PK in the NHL (NJ 81.9%) 3. Carolina played 6 games against the 21st best PK in the NHL (MTL 81.1%) Hmm, I might have been on to something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 Looks like Buffalo won the face-offs 54-46%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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