With the Hounds down 2 -1 in the series, tonight is kind of do or die as you have read recently. Rarely does a team come back from a 3-1 deficit in the playoffs to win the series; that is a statisical fact.
IHere are my thoughts.
Coach Dean in my humble opinion (as a fan and in no way in his league as a professional coach) needs to scramble his lines. Chris Lazary has outcoached him in certain areas and is not giving the top line of BMB, Hayes, and Frasca much room out there. As a great coach John has got us here but…..the process and systems should generally be trusted but a good coach recognizes when things need to change. For example; for about a decade the puck possession theory was the rage….now we see dump and chase back into the fold. Coach Dean you need to mix up your lines which will force Lazary to mix his up and hopefully that will upset the status quo. The Hounds are getting shots but not many are Grade A..aside from a few breakaways the other night that would put Saginaw on their heels.
Tonight it is up to the team doctor whether Jack Beck suits up. Let’s call it what it is….not “upper body”…..it’s “concussion protocol”. If he gets the go ahead which is 50/50 that will give the Hounds a boost….but they will still need to do things different.
Another thing is that I don’t know why coaches waste their time outs by not using them; the Hounds could have used theirs Monday at a critical stage but it was not enagaged. Why ?
Pulling the goalie with 4+ minutes to play is rediculous in my opinion. I get it; the team needs a goal but anything can happen in 2 minutes. A good goal, a fluke, and then the finger nail biting game tying goal with seconds left. But giving your opponent 4 minutes to shoot at an empty net doesn’t make sense. Why not pull him at the beginning of the 3rd? I have seen this done quite a bit with the Hounds and all it does is deflate them even more. It’s easier to regroup from a 3-1 loss than a 4 or 5-1 loss in my opinion.
If the Hounds don’t get out to a lead tonight and suddenly trail 2-0….I would love to see four forwards playing with one D. Put Allard on the point because at least with his speed he can breakup an odd man rush….but you need the scoring prowess of every guy on the ice if you are struggling to score. Kids like Kudryavstev need to keep shooting from all angles….look what Mangone did the other night. Just shoot shoot shoot and crash the net. The Hounds have to give the Spirit a reality check hard.
One last thing; Kartke has one of the most accurate shots and the Hounds need to be feeding him for one timers. He started the season on a tear scoring like crazy (especially on the PP) back in Sept/Oct. Kids usually get better but his numbers have slowed down since then. In 7 playoff games this offensive D-Man has only 9 shots on goal.
Here is the tale of the tape. I think if it were not for the steroid trading frenzy that Saginaw had to go on (as hosts of the Memorial Cup…..the Hounds would be winning the series. Kyle Raftis manages the team like a business and he knows that next year the Hounds will compete but Dave Drinkall managed this season for his reputation and that of a championship winner. Next year Saginaw will be nowhere to be seen but……they may have a Memorial Cup ring. It is hard to say whos’ style you like best but if the Hounds don’t play a substantially different game tonight it’s lights out……just like the storm here on St Joes is doing to the local infrastructure.
Schenkle will redeem himself tonight although he played good on Monday but there are a couple of goals he would like to have back. Hopefully his redemption is enough for the Hounds to score a few goals and pick up the W
Good luck to the boys tonight.