12/18 Kings @ Bruins
- Thread starter cshea
- Start date
That's a cheap high sticking call. I know it's a penalty, but Chara's head was hip high and there was a no way Toffoli would have known or expected that.
2-1-1 week against @ MTL, @ PIT, ANA, LA is pretty solid. They need to get the PP straightened out and find a way to put more pucks in the net in all situations but all in all, they're playing well.
Bergeron and Krejci are the biggest culprits. Bergeron has 9 points. In 30 games, he would typically have 22-23 points in previous years. His defense is still fantastic, but his offense is atrocious.
Krejci would typically have 24-25 points, so he's also pretty far behind pace at 19 points, though not nearly as far back as Bergeron. A couple 2 point games and he would be back on schedule, unlike Bergeron.
Hopefully, they will just bunch all their offense into amazing second halves, but I wouldn't take a bet on it.
The utter lack of offense from anyone on the lower lines doesn't help either.
Krejci would typically have 24-25 points, so he's also pretty far behind pace at 19 points, though not nearly as far back as Bergeron. A couple 2 point games and he would be back on schedule, unlike Bergeron.
Hopefully, they will just bunch all their offense into amazing second halves, but I wouldn't take a bet on it.
The utter lack of offense from anyone on the lower lines doesn't help either.
Chris Kelly's 2014-2015 was 80 games at 28 points which is slightly better than the pace Bergeron is on right now. Bergeron is better defensively than he was, but that's not good for your 1st line center.
3.9% shooting percentage for Bergy, a career ~10% shooter. Goals/points will come, he has been a bit unlucky. Still the best possession center in hockey, 62.8% CF (which is absurd). He is getting 3.4 shots per game this year; last season it was 3.5. Nothing seems unusual with his play. Bergy is getting chances, I'm not too concerned about him.
As for Krejci, he got off to a slow start and has a rotating cast of LW. He's had 15 points in his last 23 games. That's not a blistering pace, but I think he is coming around. He's also played a lot with Schaller who, while performing above expectations, isn't really much more than a 4th liner/AAAA type guy and is the worst possession player on the team. Seems like Vatrano is back, so maybe plugging him on Krejci's LW helps the scoring woes.
Finally, the PP sucks which is surppresing everyone's numbers. That needs to be addressed.
Edit: Czarnik has 4 points in his last 7 games so perhaps he is starting to emerge and breathe some offensive life into the bottom 6.
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Yeah, there are lots more games to play, but 9 points in 30 games is a brutal pace to catch up on. Even if he normalizes his shooting percentage to 10% and continues his current shots per game pace (3.43/game which is 22% higher than his pace from the last 3 years), he's only going to get 20-21 goals on the season. That would be his worst since 2010-2012 and those were much deeper teams offensively. He'll need to equal his career-best shooting percentage and continue his raw shots pace to get to 25.
The PP not sucking and some more scoring from other lines would definitely be a big help.
The PP not sucking and some more scoring from other lines would definitely be a big help.
Yeah, the slow start guarantees he's going to end up with a down year points wise. I guess my point is that I think we're seeing the same old Bergy and not a decline in play.
The way I look at it with the team wide goal scoring problems is this- they can't score but have found ways to win are holding down a playoff spot, albeit not by much. The team wide underlying numbers are good to very good across the board. They've "survived" so far without scoring many goals. If they can just get some puck luck and a slightly better shooting percentage the rest of the way, they'll be good.
The way I look at it with the team wide goal scoring problems is this- they can't score but have found ways to win are holding down a playoff spot, albeit not by much. The team wide underlying numbers are good to very good across the board. They've "survived" so far without scoring many goals. If they can just get some puck luck and a slightly better shooting percentage the rest of the way, they'll be good.