SB Nation - Roberto Luongo

Price / Halak - The Stats - November 2009

Chris Boyle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:13:39 -0000

What a difference a month makes.

Thirty days ago the Canadiens were in the middle of a goaltending controversy. Jaroslav Halak's agent was NITWITTERING Carey Price's won/loss record, the fanbase had placed the bus in reverse and were attempting to leave a fresh set of treadmarks on Price's back and the Canadiens were plodding through their schedule at .500.

Outside of the Canadiens still flirting with the .500 mark, the attitude regarding the goaltending situation has changed dramatically. Since this article is a retrospective on November, it is heavily weighted towards Price. Halak's one start didn't offer enough of a sample to legitimately track his monthly progress. What began as an even split in October, turned into a clear separation as Price started 11 of 12 games in November, almost rendering the title of this article, and its point, moot for at least the time being. A solid performance by Halak in Ottawa suggest that the busy month of December may tell a different story.

Surprised by the turn this has taken, maybe you shouldn't be. This has been typical of the story that Price has written over the first two and a half seasons of his career. Somehow, instead of the fanbase observing the roller coaster ride from afar, recognizing that as the roller coaster descends, a peak exists for it to climb, they jump on the roller coaster eyes closed screaming for dear life on its mad descents only to extol the virtues of the ride when they disembark.

Should Price struggle in February again, it is likely that the fresh imagery that exists in everybody's minds right now will once again dissipate in a mad panic

Panic in Montreal is generally followed by the rewriting OR ignoring of history. Even with Price's strong November this controversy is not over, it will continue to bubble just below the surface. Should Price struggle in January, the detractors who are silent right now will re-emerge with the same arguments, their memories will once again be wiped clean. While the starting goaltender in Montreal is one of the most heavily scrutinized positions in sports, the easiest may be the backup goaltender in Montreal. The backup's flaws are always concealed under the their baseball caps, their past transgressions completely ignored. This will never change.

At Eyes On The Prize, we continue try to look past the surface level blame and analyze what is really going on. This month we will compare Price's performance in November to October and also look back and try to clarify the factors that contribute to a team based stat like a win / loss record and how it relates to Price and Halak.

One of the main arguments against Price in October was his inability to win games. With Halak sporting a 5-2 record and Price at 2-5, the most simplistic argument was "Price doesn't make the big saves when he needs to" and "Halak wins games". That argument ignored plenty of factors, most importantly that wins are a team based stat.

While perusing the internet I came across an interesting perspective at Brodeur is a Fraud. While trying to debunk the myth of Brodeur's career, he came up with an interesting statistic that he refers to as Win Threshold. It essentially projects out what a goaltender would have had to do to earn a point (.500) by including the teams performance in front of him. In a 3-1 victory, the assumption would be that to earn a point the goaltender would have to allow no more than 3 goals. Inversely, in a 3-1 loss the goaltender would need to have allowed no more than 1 goal.

We can calculate what I'll call the "win threshold" for the goalies on each team by taking (shots against - goals for) / shots against. This gives us the save percentage that would result in the team ending up with an equal number of goals for and goals against over the course of the season. If the goalie's save percentage is above that number, the team is likely to win more than the lose, while anything below the threshold means that the team should end up sub -.500 (or sub -.550 in the shootout era).

This simple statistic beautifully illustrates the career of Chris Osgood AND his playoff run that allowed the media to begin the "Chris Osgood is a Hall of Famer" nonsense.

In 2008-09, Detroit's win threshold was .873, which was the lowest in the league. The Islanders' win threshold was .928, which was not only the highest mark in the league but also the highest of any team since the lockout......Naturally, comparing win totals on goalies playing on the Islanders to goalies playing on the Red Wings is completely senseless.

Using this as a starting point, I compared how this statistic affected goalies on the same team. Was the Canadiens offense responsible for Halak's inflated win total, or was it his superior goaltending? What would Price have had to do to compensate for the woeful offense in front of him? Was it that Halak was receiving an easier ride?

(Let me preface this by stating that this is judging wins and wins alone. If a goaltender was fantastic and had a .960 SV%, but only needed to produce a .895 SV%, it is not devaluing his performance, only stating that his margin for error was very high. I also understand that early saves can keep a team in a period. Teams play to the score and loosen up when they are up big and that some goals are scored late in a game and alter the margin for the threshold. It is obvious that providing replacement value will never replicate the actual performance that history has provided. This theory is being used only to illustrate that wins are a team statistic and that they are heavily influenced by not only what you save, but what offense your team provides).

To put this in perspective, the league average in save percentage is .910.

In order for Price to gain the majority of his wins, he has had to offer above average goaltending.
His margin for error was slim and when he failed to balance on the high wire, he was open to criticism.
A .915 save percentage is currently good to place 20th in the league.

Halak on the other hand was allowed to navigate with a greater margin of error. He only needed to offer a save percentage of .865 to register his 5 victories. Vesa Toskala's save percentage on the season is .863. So any goaltender slightly more competent than Toskala MAY have registered a similar number of victories as Halak.

Both goaltenders would have had to provide Hall of Fame type performances to avoid the majority of their losses.

How would those statistics translate if you offered up average replacement value? If Jimmy Howard and his .910 SV% replaced Price and Halak, the Canadiens would be in deep trouble. The Canadiens would likely be in the hunt for Taylor Hall, not talking about the importance of their December schedule.

Looking at Price's losses below, it is unlikely that an average goaltender makes any impact on his losses, hell, it's unlikely that Roberto Luongo would have made much of a difference.

Price's threshold in his 11 losses is a SV% of 0.944 and a GAA of 1.69. Numbers that would place him above Ryan Miller as the number one goaltender in the league. Six of those starts would have required a .940+ SV% just to procure a shootout. If the team continues to struggle offensively to this capacity, then it is going to require Jose Theodore 2002 MVP type performances to drag them into the playoffs. With Price and Halak entering their RFA season, THAT is a scary and expensive thought.

You would think with Halak's lack of activity in November, that his stat line would remain unchanged, but with only an 8 game sample, one strong start against the Flames resulted in an 11 point improvement on his save percentage and lopping 1/5th of a goal off his goals against average. In October, Price statistically lagged behind in all the major categories, but with a strong month has lessened the paper gap between himself and Halak. I made the argument in October that Price had a higher ceiling, but was prone to wild swings of inconsistency and the 2009 season has proven that out so far.

Through two months, what has been proven, is that the Canadiens goaltending is in good hands. With the transition of turning over half the team, and the numerous injuries to key personnel, the fact the team came through November at .500 is miraculous. At this moment, Halak's consistency offers the perfect compliment to Price, but due to the idiotic actions of his agent (Halak, Halak it a lot?), it is clear that Halak is eyeing a starting assignment, and will not likely find that in Montreal. You may be reading "Price / Sanford: the numbers" by ~~March~~ December. (note: as I am writing this, Sportsnet has reported that Halak has been placed on the trading block).

The fact that I can even mention a 2002 Theodore-like season is based on the strong November showing by Price. Playing behind an injury ravaged defense that produced roughly the same amount of shots as the previous month, from roughly the same areas, Price's numbers improved across the board. Price also managed to avoid a major meltdown like the Vancouver game, as well as producing a couple of 40+ shot gems against the Bruins and Predators.

With Halak pushing Price for the starting job in October, by all accounts Price responded to the challenge with hard work, which resulted in plenty of positive signs over the last month. With hard work Price's confidence level soared and his return to a hybrid style has allowed his athleticism to re-surface, because of this, Price managed to produce some miraculous saves during November. His patience has also been on display, particularly in shootouts and breakaways where once again he is using his huge frame to his advantage and refusing to commit before the shooter. With his gap control improving, he has been extremely hard to beat in 1 on 1 situations. This is a huge improvement on the tentative approach he used in late 2008-09. Add in his aggressive puck handling and his tenacity in battling to track the puck and the hope in Montreal is that Price has begun turning the corner.

Price's save percentage's also improved in almost every category in November, with his biggest improvement coming in shorthanded situations where his save percentage improved by over .200. His woefully low special teams percentage in October masked the fact that he was producing an elite level even strength percentage. With an improvement to mediocre powerplay standards, Price's statistics all experienced a significant jump across the board.

The question remains, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Canadiens penalty kill improve in November because of Price, or did Price's numbers improve because of the penalty kill? Halak did not suffer the same special teams meltdown. Could that have had anything to do with the power of the opposition, or his own play?

With so many new faces and the loss of Markov, it is no surprise that the PK got off to a slow start. With the return of O'Byrne and Gill and the emergence of White and Pyatt, the October implosion by Price should be avoidable moving forward.

Interesting to note if Price had managed to produce an .878 powerplay SV% in October, his overall SV% would have improved from .889 to .920.

Price and Halak continue to get bombarded by shots and the Canadiens have once again regressed into becoming over reliant on goaltending to win hockey games. With the early season injury to the Canadiens best player (Markov in 2010, Koivu in 2002) and the continual 30+ shot barrages, this season is becoming eerily reminiscent of the 2002 season when Theodore needed to provide the difference every night.

With Price's numbers improving in November, the assumption would be that the Canadiens settled down and began to limit shots and scoring opportunities. The Canadiens actually surrendered an extra two shot attempts per game. Price still is averaging over a shot attempt against per minute on the ice, a trend that will either lead to a statistical regression or an MVP award.

In 8 of his 11 starts in November, Price faced 30+ shots, including a team record tying 53 saves against the Predators and a 42 save gem that was seconds short of his 1st shutout of the season. Only once in his 11 games did he have less than 50 shots directed at him. Price continued to excel on shots outside of 20+ feet as he only allowed 7 of 257 shots to beat him. His SV% below 20' feet drastically improved and is pushing towards the league average.

Price offered up plenty of spectacular saves in November, but also had some concentration lapses that resulted in some questionable goals, something that had been absent from his game in October (only 5 of 25 came in as questionable, with zero registering at fault). Although his statistics drastically improved over the month of November, with the Canadiens lack of scoring ability (25th in the NHL) and his unbelievably tough win threshold (see above), his margin for error was slim. This can be witnessed by his 0-4 record in the 4 games I credited a bad goal. In two of the games (Detroit and Atlanta) the margin of victory was one goal, the other two (Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh) were decided by two goals. As he matures, these goals should occur less frequently allowing him to become even more of a game changing player. He isn't yet ready to carry a team, but it seems the Canadiens have given him little to no choice in the matter presently.

Looking at the zones where Price has given up goals, his glove hand continues to be much maligned even though he has only been beaten high glove side 11 times through November (11/53). The reason for the questions lies in the amount of bad goals high glove side. Out of the 12 goals categorized as suspect or bad, 6 have been high glove side, making it much easier to understand AND defend the criticism.

Looking at his November chart also gives the impression that he is very vulnerable low stick side, but looking at the video below shows that a lot of those goals came as the result of cross ice passes in which Price was not able to square up and were the result of him in transition. A small concern for me through two months has been his vulnerability through the 5-hole, an area he has not been able to cover with his stick either in transition or static and squared up.

Goals deemed questionable or bad are marked in bold.

26. Rich Peverley feeds it in front and it deflects off Bryan Little by a moving Price beating him 5-hole. 10 ft.
27. Pass from behind the net to a wide open Peverley in the slot, snaps a shot by Price low-stick side. 14 ft
28. Point shot by Mark Popovic that knuckles by Carey Price beating him high glove side. 59 ft.
29. 5 on 4 PP. Cross crease feed to a wide-open Pavel Kubina who directs it pass Price into an empty net. 5 ft.
30. Kane cross crease pass to a wide open Colby Armstrong who beats Price low stick side. 8 ft.
31. 6 on 5. Point shot. Price makes the initial stop, Patrice Bergeron rebound beats Price low-stick side. 5 ft.
32. 5 on 4 PP. Scramble. Price makes 2 saves but cannot stop Ryan Malone as he beats him five-hole. 11 ft.
33. Price, big rebound and Alex Tanguay alone, chips it over Price beating him high glove side. 14 ft.
34. 2 on 1. Scramble. Wright beats Gorges to the puck and slides it into an empty net. 6 ft.
35. Price highsticked in the throat by Mara falls down leaving an open net. Robert Lang puts it top shelf. 15 ft.
36. Point shot wide deflects into an open net off Bissonnette's skate beating Price low glove side. 12 ft.
37. Price makes initial save, Steve Sullivan all alone finishes off his rebound beating Price 5-hole. 7 ft
38. 5 on 3 PP. Point shot stopped, Sullivan at the side of the net beats Price low stick side. 14 ft.
39. Odd man rush, cross ice feed to the slot. Brandon Sutter chips it over Price, high glove side. 14 ft.
40. 3 one 2, cross ice feed one timed by Jussi Jokinen beats Price low glove side. 32 ft.
41. Eric Fehr snaps a shot from the face-off dot beating Price high-glove side. 25 ft.
42. Morrison takes a pass in front and moves opposite to Price's momentum beating him low glove side. 6 ft.
43. 5 on 4 PP. Brad Stuart point shot handcuffs Price and trickles in. 55 ft.
44. 5 on 3 PP. Brian Rafalski point pass tipped home by Pavel Datsyuk at the side of the net. 12 ft.                         45. Nash behind the net finds Vermette who one-times it past Price beating him high blocker side. 11 ft.
46. 5 on 4 PP. Rick Nash centers it, Stralman cheating off the point beats Price low blocker side. 24 ft.
47. 5 on 4 PP. Antoine Vermette's shot stopped, rebound back to him, beats Price low blocker side. 20 ft.
48. Sidney Crosby snap shot from the top of the faceoff circle beating Price high glove side. 38 ft.
49. Bill Guerin from the corner. Price makes initial save, doesn't hold the post as he beats him 5-hole. 8 ft.
50. Crosby with a beautiful pass to a streaking Sergei Gonchar who beats Price 5-hole all alone. 8 ft.
51. Point shot deflected in front by Brooks Laich beats Price low blocker side. 18 ft.
52. Alex Ovechkin one timer from the top of the faceoff circle beats Price low blocker side. 38 ft.
53. 6 on 4 PP. Price stops a one-timer by Ovechkin, Fehr slides home the rebound beating Price 5-hole. 10 ft.

The November verdict: You have to be encouraged by the performance of Price and Halak through November and the improved penalty kill is a positive sign and a factor in Price's improved numbers. The volume of shots and scoring opportunities remain a major concern. In October I preached patience because of the integration of 10-12 players and the introduction of a new system. With injuries creating a revolving door of players it is likely that this team has still not properly gelled. The Canadiens have fallen into a pattern of struggling to produce offense and relying on Price and Halak to bail them out, and this is a dangerous game to play with developing goaltenders. They have been able to provide some fantastic results through November, but if this continues they will struggle to make the playoffs. To provide room for improvement moving forward, the goaltenders get a B+ for November.

To view the October Price / Halak analysis, click here.

Festivus For The Rest Of Us

Yankee Canuck — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:04:11 -0000

The holiday includes novel practices such as the "Airing of Grievances", in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year.

Wikipedia

I've abused this Seinfeld plot at least once a season for the past four years because sadly, once every season Vancouver looks so adrift and uninterested in playing up to the level of the best teams (to speak nothing of playoff bound teams) that I need Frank Constanza to get involved.

Botchford touches on a lot of the recent spat of weaknesses the team has shown, among them are poor defensive reads and horrific penalty killing. We may as well add in a snake-bitten power play and questionable shot decisions. Or, as Vigneault put it, the lack of timely goals. Or, as Sean said this week, Vancouver is the only team without a loser point in overtime. And how bad does this truth sound -

"I’m a goaltender, I can’t score," Roberto Luongo said.

No he can't. Bottom line - though the record may not reflect it, Vancouver is barely a .500 team and there's a lot in there to be concerned about.

They'll eventually string together a winning streak here and there, but they are setting themselves up to need exactly what they did last year: an unbelievable second half to narrow the gap between them and the elite Western teams. Only now they'll have to do it with less star power, an epic road trip and under the assumption they can stay healthy from here on out, including their best players laying it on the line in the Olympics.

It's tough to go from such a high (overpowering NJ and Philly in back to back games) to such a low like the past two losses, so perhaps this airing of grievances if premature. But after watching Nashville - a team they need to beat in order to get to the playoffs - not just be better on the puck at both ends of the rink but flat out dominant, my Constanza voice started screaming.

So I'm curious, what grievances might you have?

Poll

Air your grievance: which of the following Vancouver truths concerns you the most so far?

Team Canada Watch '09: Goaltending

Chemmy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:52:28 -0000

Yesterday we had a lively 700 comment discussion on the finer points of Jeff Schultz's advanced plus minus statistics. Today we can all argue about shot quality in a rousing discussion of who Team Canada's goalie should be. Of course Canada will bring three of these guys just in case but we'll all agree that one guy is the starter and argue accordingly.

Follow me through the jump before voting!

STRONG CANDIDATES:

Martin Brodeur

#30 / Goalie / New Jersey Devils

Height: 6-2

Weight: 215

Born: May 06, 1972

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Martin Brodeur	26	1562	18	7			55	2.11	706	651	.922	2

This tubby womanizer left his wife for her sister but tied Terry Sawchuck's shutout record.

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Born: Apr 04, 1979

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Roberto Luongo	23	1304	12	10			53	2.44	623	570	.915	2

Roberto Luongo is literally the sole reason why the Vancouver Canucks didn't forfeit their next ten seasons. In addition to posting solid numbers behind a worse defensive team than Brodeur, Luongo won't have to move his equipment out of his locker at GM Place. Think of the time savings!

Marc-Andre Fleury

#29 / Goalie / Pittsburgh Penguins

Height: 6-2

Weight: 180

Born: Nov 28, 1984

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Marc-Andre Fleury	26	1517	17	8			62	2.45	653	591	.905	0

Fleury's numbers don't look outrageous but remember that every single defenseman in Pittsburgh is hurt. For a while Fleury was carrying the Wilkes-Barre d-corps on his back and looking good doing it.

NOT A DAMN CHANCE:

Cam Ward

#30 / Goalie / Carolina Hurricanes

Height: 6-1

Weight: 200

Born: Feb 29, 1984

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Cam Ward	15	829	2	9			41	2.97	406	365	.899	0

Due to his injury and Carolina's horrible season I just can't see Ward making it onto the team. If he played out of his mind he'd still be a longshot and he just hasn't so far.

Steve Mason

#1 / Goalie / Columbus Blue Jackets

Height: 6-4

Weight: 212

Born: May 29, 1988

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Steve Mason	23	1307	9	8			75	3.44	660	585	.886	0

I really like this kid so I'm hoping he's not the next Andrew Raycroft, but Columbus seems to have a ton of young goalies who dominate the league... for one year. No chance at all Steve Mason gets to the Olympics without buying a ticket this year, sorry kid.

WEREN'T INVITED TO CAMP... BUT SHOULD THEY HAVE BEEN?

Chris Mason

#50 / Goalie / St. Louis Blues

Height: 6-0

Weight: 195

Born: Apr 20, 1976

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Chris Mason	21	1254	8	9			51	2.44	619	568	.918	0

Chris Mason is quietly having a great season in St. Louis. His .918 SV% is second to only Brodeur among Canadian goaltenders.

Marty Turco

#35 / Goalie / Dallas Stars

Height: 5-11

Weight: 185

Born: Aug 13, 1975

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Marty Turco	22	1330	9	6			55	2.48	651	596	.916	2

Third in Canadian goaltender save percentage, Turco has a bad rep for not winning in the playoffs despite putting up solid numbers there.

Have at it folks, who do you want in net for Team Canada?

Poll

Who's your choice for Team Canada's goaltender?

Game 30 Preview: Jackets face Panthers in Columbus

Mike MacLean — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:56:59 -0000

More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

Browse more photos »

The Jackets have had some time-three full days in fact-to regoup and, as I've said here many times before, right the ship. The team is coming off of two bad losses to the Leafs and Avalanche, two teams the Jackets need to beat. Tonight the Panthers come to town, and this being an out-of-conference matchup it is important to pick up these points. The Jackets have historically played well against the East, and that needs to continue this evening.

Dorsett makes his return to the lineup tonight-the team has missed his energy and forechecking badly. He brings a spark to the team that was obviously missing while he was out with a concussion. This is Murray's second game of the season, and I look for him to have a strong game. The lines have been adjusted quite significantly outside of the top line, with Umby sliding back to center with Jake and Chimmer. Chimmer has been playing very well lately, and I'm hopeful he can build on that given the chance to play with some skilled linemates.

Mase returns to the net, he simply must focus on the game and avoid letting in bad goals. The defense as a whole needs to continue to impove, and if the team continues to avoid playing the style the coaching staff is preaching, the ugly losses will continue to mount. If a team tries to play a skill game, without having the necessary skill to back it up, that's when you can kiss the season good-bye.

The Panthers have some skilled forwards and a decent defense, not to mention Vokoun is a fantastic goaltender. This will be a tough matchup, but one the Jackets can defeat. As far as I'm concerned, this is a must-win. In fact, you can say that about all of the games remaining this month. If they can go on a decent winning streak, they are right back in it.

Fearless Prediction: Victory?

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Litter Box Cats

Game Page: Panthers vs Blue Jackets Coverage

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Rule of thumb: He who forechecks, wins. The Blue Jackets have struggled against speedy forechecks this season, and they haven't established much of one lately, either. All that's left for the Panthers from three blockbuster trades (Roberto Luongo, Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester) are defensemen Keith Ballard, Jordan Leopold and Bryan Allen.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
Jason Chimera	R.J. Umberger	Jakub Voracek
Andrew Murray	Samuel Pahlsson	Jared Boll
Raffi Torres	Derick Brassard	Derek Dorsett

Fedor Tyutin	Marc Methot
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Anton Stralman

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Mike Blunden, Mathieu Roy, Derek MacKenzie

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Rostislav Klesla

Florida Panthers

Steven Reinprecht	Stephen Weiss	Nathan Horton
Rostislav Olesz	Dominc Moore	Michael Frolik
Shawn Matthias	Jeff Taffe	Radek Dvorak
Victor Oreskovich	Kamil Kreps	Mike Duco

Bryan McCabe	Keith Ballard
Jordan Leopold	Dennis Seidenberg
Bryan Allen	Dmitry Kulikov

Tomas Vokoun

Scott Clemmensen

Canucks at Hurricanes: Game Day Preview - (UPDATE)

Bob Harwood — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:00:16 -0000

The hot Vancouver Canucks, (16-12-0) are in town to take on the slumping Carolina Hurricanes, (5-17-5), for a matinee game on Saturday afternoon at the RBC. The Canucks have played well lately. They have won two in a row and four of their last five, while the Canes have lost five in a row.

The last place Hurricanes have 15 points, eight points behind their closest rival Toronto, and 14 points out of a playoff spot.

((UPDATE)) Of course you had to know that if I put Luongo's info up here, Andrew Raycroft would get the start.

~~The Canucks are led by the only goalie captain in the league, Roberto Luongo~~. Luongo will get the day off and Andrew Raycroft will face Manny Legace, who will be making his seventh start for the Canes.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Andrew Raycroft	8	357	4	2			13	2.18	154	141	.916	1

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	8	465	2	4			25	3.23	227	202	.890	0

Vancouver is led in scoring by Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Sedin	28	14	18	32	9	20	3	1	3	0	59	23.7

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ryan Kesler	28	5	20	25	1	26	2	0	1	0	74	6.8

Carolina is led by Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu, Matt Cullen, and Ray Whitney. Cullen has a four game point streak. Jokinen has been hurt and will be a game time decision.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Jussi Jokinen	27	6	10	16	-2	12	1	0	2	0	46	13.0

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tuomo Ruutu	23	6	10	16	-2	23	2	0	0	0	57	10.5

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Matt Cullen	27	7	8	15	-4	12	1	1	0	0	62	11.3

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ray Whitney	25	6	9	15	-8	6	1	0	0	0	47	12.8

Vancouver just played two straight games on Wednesday and Thursday nights in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Carolina has had a few days off and has not played since their loss to Washington at home Monday night. The team will go on a four game road trip after this game.

For more information about the current lines and defensive pairings, check out the post-practice thread put up on Friday.

Nucks Misconduct has the latest and greatest about the Canucks and apparently they are none too pleased about this early start.

The puck drops at 1:30 Eastern time and the game will be telecast locally by FS Carolinas. We will have the open game thread starting up at 1. Can the Canes get off the slide?

Canucks-Hurricanes Preview: Gee, Nice Start Time...

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:00:16 -0000

Probably the only good thing going for the Hurricanes these days.

View full size photo »

10:29 PM ET Update: WAKE UP YOU FILTHY BUGGERS!

Dan Murphy just tweeted the following: "Aside from Raycroft, no line-up changes expected today. Hansen likely to stay on 2nd line."

**************************************

GAME TIME: 10:30 AM PST

TV: Sportsnet

The Opposition: Canes Country

Like Jason Botchford mentioned in the Province today, it was about a year ago that Roberto Luongo played in a morning game (pacific time) against the Penguins. He wrecked his groin on that fateful day. I don't think that plays a role in Andrew Raycroft getting the start against the Canes. Louie has played in 10 straight games, and has a 6-4-0 record in that span, along with a shiny 2.01 GAA and a .929 save percentage.

Raycroft's last start was not very pretty. On November 10th he started a game against the Blues and allowed 4 goals on 13 shots in the first period and was yanked. The Canucks admitted that they hung Raycroft out to dry in that game. They had also just come off a 5-day layoff and were not sharp. Now, with a healthy roster and less days off, the Canucks are kicking some serious ass on this road trip.

So, what on earth is wrong with the Hurricanes?

They have been without Cam Ward since November 7 due to a leg injury. In the 15 games with Ward in the lineup they had only won 2 games. Up to his injury, Ward and his mates had lost 10 straight games. Even so, his numbers were not terrible, according to ESPN.

Since the Ward injury, the Hurricanes have gone with the goalie tandem of Michael Leighton and Manny Legace. In those 11 games they lost 8. Manny Legace will start against Vancouver. Carolina has had 4 days off.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	8	465	2	4			25	3.23	227	202	.890	0

If you take a look at the Hurricanes' scoring leaders you can see many glaring problems. Tuomo Ruutu is leading the team in scoring with 6 goals and 16 points in 23 games. Rod Brind'Amour is a -19! Eric Staal..where did you go? 3 goals and 9 points in 17 games. He won't stay that lousy forever. Their highest scoring d-man is Joe Corvo with 4 goals and 12 points in 27 games played. He is a -10. Edit: He's also injured.

Will Chad LaRose and/or Jussi Jokinen play?

I wonder how well newly-acquired Jiri Tlusty will fit in.

Let's look at the comparative stats:

-The Hurricanes sit last in the East and the NHL...8 points behind the Leafs! Yikes!

-The Canucks are trying to get into the top 8 in the West and are almost there.

-Goals Per Game Average: Canucks 5th, Canes 30th

-Goals Against Per game Average: Canucks 7th, Canes 30th

-5 on 5: Canucks 5th, Canes 30th

-PowerPlay: Canucks 3rd, Canes 29th

-Penalty Kill: Canes 20th, Canucks 21st

-Shots Per Game: Canes 9th, Canucks 13th

-Shots Against Per Game: Canucks 11th, Canes 16th

-Faceoff %: Canucks 9th, Canes 22nd.

Should be an automatic win, right? Nope. That depends on how lightly the Canucks take these guys. They have to go out there and pretend those guys are wearing Devils jerseys.

Vancouver Canucks 2010 Olympic Preview

Yankee Canuck — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:26:58 -0000

Let's flip a coin. [Tenders Lounge]

View full size photo »

We already one great post at Olympic hopefuls for Vancouver but, as you may have seen, the SB Nation Hockey group has been running a series of previews as well, so Sean and I have to run one more least the higher-ups flog us.

We disagree on some of these too but that's the fun part. Here's our take on the Vancouver Canucks who - for the first time ever? - have the easy commute.

Pack Your Bags & Walk To Work

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Born: Apr 04, 1979

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Roberto Luongo	20	1124	10	9			48	2.56	531	483	.910	1

Roberto Luongo (Canada) - Let's get the big one out of the way. The meltdown that was the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino left a bad taste in Lui's mouth. Everyone knows he's been eying these winter games in his own city like a fat kid froths at a cake from 100 yards off. Let the haters hate on him, but he's a lock and we all know it. But the starter? Probably not. Brodeur is still the pony to bet on and his November numbers were ridiculous (8-2-1, 1.67 GAA, .939 S%). Expect Luongo to pass Fleury and be Canada's #2 man between the pipes.

Daniel Sedin

#22 / Left Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Daniel Sedin	8	1	6	7	3	4	0	0	1	0	30	3.3

Daniel Sedin (Sweden) - I don't think any other team can offer what Vancouver offers Sweden: an entire scoring line. Daniel had four points in eight games in 2006. And unlike in Vancouver, Daniel won't necessarily have to shoulder the offensive load with guys like Alfredsson, Backstrom, Eriksson, Zetterberg and Holstrom around. And I didn't even have to mention that Forsberg character either.

Henrik Sedin

#33 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 190

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Sedin	26	14	14	28	5	18	3	1	3	0	57	24.6

Henrik Sedin (Sweden) - Yeah, see above. Same deal with points from 2006. Creepy.

Mikael Samuelsson

#26 / Right Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 213

Born: Dec 23, 1976

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Mikael Samuelsson (Sweden) - What does Sammy offer? Prior Olympic experience? You betcha: in 2006 he added four points in eight games for team Sweden. Stanley Cup experience? Check. Can sort of tell the Sedins apart? The jury's probably out on that one.

Sami Salo

#6 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 215

Born: Sep 02, 1974

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Sami Salo	19	0	2	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	30	0.0

Sami Salo (Finland) - Great grandma's fragile chinaset Batman...the last thing poor Sami needs is MORE icetime. Finland's blueline isn't too deep as far as the NHL goes (only Timonen, Pitkanen and Koistinen spring to mind) and they can always elect to raid the European elite leagues or the KHL for replacements (Ossi Vaananen!!!). Salo has played in 10 Olympic games and has scored one goal and added three helpers.

Christian Ehrhoff

#5 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 06, 1982

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Christian Ehrhoff	28	6	11	17	9	10	3	0	0	0	59	10.2

Christian Ehrhoff (Germany) - Blastoff is one of the few shining stars for Team Germany. This will actually be his third appearance in international play: he was the second youngest player back in 2002 and had two points in five games back in 2006. He'll join Schuber and Seidenberg on the blueline and get a truck load of work since Germany is, well, awful (they haven't finished higher than sixth in damn near 20 years).

Nearly A Lock

Ryan Kesler

#17 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Aug 31, 1984

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ryan Kesler	28	5	21	26	2	28	2	0	1	0	72	6.9

Ryan Kesler (USA) - Sean disagrees with me and I can certainly see why. However he wasn't a lock when the roster was first looked at this summer. He needed to go into camp, gel with the linemates and prove his worth. He's had a strong season so far and, though guys like Kane and Parise have past him on the scoresheet, Kesler has more points than both Brown and Backes so chances are he'll make it. He better too since he already went ahead and guaranteed a medal.

Work To Do

Pavol Demitra

#38 / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-0

Weight: 200

Born: Nov 29, 1974

Pavol Demitra (Slovakia) - I'm sure Demo would like nothing more than to join Hossa, Gaborik and Chara representing Slovakia, but obviously he has to be able to play first. It's probable he could be replaced by someone like Nagy or Satan if he can't make it. And, even then, I'm curious how Vancouver would feel letting him go play for the Olympics when he has yet to skate for the team. Demo clearly has the most work to do of all the current roster players.

Alexander Edler

#23 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 220

Born: Apr 21, 1986

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Alexander Edler	28	3	19	22	2	12	1	0	0	0	51	5.9

Alexander Edler (Sweden) - Edler's slow start coupled with a deep Swedish blueline (Lidstrom, Ericsson, Ohlund, Kronwall and maybe Hedman) probably nixes him from consideration.

Introducing Your New-found Road Warriors: The Vancouver Canucks

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:03:57 -0000

Wow. That is nearly all I can say about this Canucks team. They defied the odds against a well-rested Flyers squad tonight and soundly beat them 3-0 in their own harsh building, leaving Philly with a chorus of boo's as they left the ice. I thought the Canucks looked somewhat sluggish after the first period, but they seemed to gain momentum as the game went on. That was not exactly indicative of a team who was playing the 2nd game in as many nights on the road. Vancouver killed more penalties than the Flyers did, and in the end scored NO powerplay goals but bettered the Flyers 5 on 5 to take this one.

The Flyers are a struggling team that isn't getting any breaks. Hell, how many times did they hit the post or not convert on one-timers in this game? Too many to count. In the end, the Canucks got the game-winning goal from an unlikely source: Willie Mitchell. "Kind of get scared when he wanders off near the other team's net," Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo said with a laugh. "You never know what could happen."

No shit. Luongo was solid in net but the Canucks limited the quality scoring chances against. Where they faltered, Lou was there to stone a helpless Flyers team.

Final shots: Flyers 38 Canucks 29.

Jannik Hansen was promoted to the second line, while Mikael Samuelsson was demoted to the 3rd line to start the game but did not produce. That is unfortunate.

In consecutive nights, the Canucks made the highly touted (or, currently hot goalie) look human. Brian Boucher allowed 3 goals for the first time since October 25th.

The Canucks' top line of Burrows and the Twins combined for 1 goal and 3 assists. So, it really is good having Dank back in the lineup. Burrows is lighting it up since his return no doubt.

Don't look now! The Canucks have won 5 of their last 7 games, including 3 straight wins on the road. I believe they are now 6-8 over all on the road. It just keeps getting better and better. Look at the Western Conference standings. Woo!

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

My 3 Stars:

1. Roberto Luongo

2. Henrik Sedin

3. Kevin Bieksa

OK, Canucks fans...are you stoked yet? I have a few questions for you:

- would you leave the current forward lines intact as they are? Does Hansen get another chance on line 2?

- how do you rate Shane O'Brien's play over the last 2 games? Has he earned another game in a Canucks uni over Mathieu Schneider?

- Raycroft is probably going to play against the Canes on Saturday. How much faith do you have in him and the teams' ability to play in front of him?

My answers:

- YES I AM STOKED. I would leave the current forward lines as is. Shane OB has looked just fine to me. I would leave him in the lineup and old man Schneider can sit. He has earned it. No minor penalties for him?? Nice!

- I have already said that if the Canucks beat the Flyers that they would lose to Carolina on Saturday. I will stand by that. Faith-less aren't I?

Goodbye John Stevens? Flyers shutout again, 3-0

Travis Hughes — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:01:09 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Browse more photos »

[TSN Recap] - [Boxscore] - [Vancouver Reaction]

Final - 12.3.2009	1	2	3	Total
Vancouver Canucks	0	2	1	3
Philadelphia Flyers	0	0	0	0

Complete Coverage >

The Philadelphia Flyers haven't scored a goal in eight periods. They're getting chances, but the fact of the matter is they simply can't put the puck in the net. Why not? Quite honestly, it doesn't matter. They aren't getting it done. They knew they needed to win this game tonight. They had four full days to prepare for it. Losing, especially via a shutout, is absolutely unacceptable. There's no other way to put it.

Yeah, they're having a closed door meeting at the Wachovia Center right now as this is written, according to 610 WIP. But is it too little, too late? They're running out of options. The top lines aren't doing anything. Arron Asham was the best player on the ice tonight and that says a lot. He played a pretty good game, but when your best players aren't your best players and your role players are consistently the ones putting in the most quality shifts, you aren't going to win.

And eventually, it's going to get your coach fired. Is that the fair move? Up for debate. But you can't fire the players, especially when just about all of them are under performing. As we wrote the other day, when things are consistently going wrong, the coach is the scapegoat. It doesn't matter who is actually to blame.

It doesn't matter that Jeff Carter looks absolutely lost on the ice. It doesn't matter that the defense can't make one good outlet pass. It doesn't matter that Mike Richards is trying to do too much with the puck, often ruining plays by over-thinking. It doesn't matter that the power play can't seem to do anything right, making fans groan instead of cheer when a man advantage is announced at the Wachovia Center.

The Flyers did have 38 shots tonight and Roberto Luongo did have to put in a good game. But that's pretty misleading. Many of the shots were simple to stop. Philadelphia failed miserably at getting in front of the net and disrupting Luongo, and he had an unobstructed view of the puck for just about the entire night.

In the end, a lifeless offense and a lifeless team made a hockey game seem like a funeral. And for the Philadelphia tenure of one coach, that metaphor could quickly become the truth if his team can't snap out of this funk.

After the jump, questions with answers and the comment of the night.

Questions With Answers

Can the Flyers get to Luongo and the Canucks early? Nope.
Can the special teams get back on track? Nope.
How many hot dogs are consumed? Dollar dog night again... A lot. 16,000 something about halfway through the game. Don't care about the total number, honestly.
How many jokes get made at the expense of Jim Jackson's bald upper lip? It was loud in the room I watched the game in, so I didn't hear much of the commentary. If someone else wants to answer this in the comments, go right ahead.

Comment Of The Night

i think the flyers need more cow bell

>> phish'n

Thursday Morning Fly By: "We've gotta bleeping do it tonight"

Travis Hughes — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:02:30 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Scenes like this have led to chances for Brian Boucher to shine. He has, and he'll get another chance tonight against the Canucks.

Browse more photos »

Your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers news...

Last night's NHL scores... BOS 4, TBL 1 - VAN 5, NJD 2 - FLA 6, COL 5 (SO) - MIN 5, NSH 4 (OT)
Previews of tonight's game with the Vancouver Canucks from the Inquirer, Daily News, 'Nucks Misconduct, CTV, and NHL.com.
Brian Boucher gets the start tonight over the struggling Ray Emery. No sign on who we could see in net for Vancouver. They played in New Jersey last night, with Roberto Luongo outdueling Martin Brodeur.
Busy day yesterday: JVR was named NHL rookie of the month, Oskars Bartulis signed a three-year contract extension, and Jim Jackson shaved his mustache.
Meet Chris Pronger, the NHL's best defensive defenseman. Shocker, eh? [From The Rink]
A lengthy Q&A with Ian Laperriere about the hole in his face. [Gormley]
Are the Flyers at a crossroads? [The Orange Army]
Breaking down a plethora of new statistics. [From The Rink]
Comcast has completed their purchase of NBC Universal, and the Philadelphia-based media company could use the NBC brand to overhaul Versus into a channel that could rival ESPN. [NY Times]