The Colorado Avalanche beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6–3 on Friday. The teams will meet again on Saturday 5.11. at 8 p.m. Broadcasting on channels starts at 7:45 p.m. Tampere’s NHL addiction is followed online in this article.
That first power play goal finally came in the evening in Tampere, but on a general level, the blue jackets’ power play mainly caused migraine symptoms. Patrik Laine and returning from illness to be the goalkeeper playing today Joonas Korpisalo there were some good things in the game Columbus represented on Friday, but playing with superiority really wasn’t one of them.
After a difficult start, Columbus rose from a 0–3 loss position and won, for example, the dangerous goal posts in the second and third periods, according to the Natural Stat Trick website, with a crushing 14–3! Columbus won the shots after the first period 32–20 – the victory was truly on the plate, even though the beginning of the match was pitch black.
But no.
Columbus’ dreams of winning came to naught due to weak superiority play. It was able to play in both the second and the third period with superiority once for no less than four minutes, but things choked once more. Apart from a few individual blanks, there wasn’t much left to tell the grandchildren about superiority: one goal in seven attempts is a bad performance.
Still, more confusing than the final result was the way Columbus played for superiority.
Dexterity and rhythm missing
The fact that Patrik Laine, known for his heavy shot, occasionally plays as a so-called playmaker on the right side is not a new thing, but it was confusing once again. Laine’s – and others’ – sailing around resulted in the upset of the Blue Jackets’ superiority game on Friday.
I don’t quite understand why Laine is played on the right side.
It was also special that the head coach was not Brad Larsen agreed after the match to open the reasons for the settlement. Most likely, the purpose is simply to confuse the opponents by changing positions in the dominant composition. This argument is difficult to swallow without biting for many reasons, not least through the results on offer.
This is despite the fact that it was from the right side that Laine initiated Columbus’ overpowering hit on Friday.
Laine is often thought of as a pure goalscorer, which is not correct. Laine can also make a play, but in a possession game his place is not as a playmaker. The negative multiplier effects of this solution are already greater than the benefits – dexterity and rhythm for people other than Laine are in the wrong direction in this model, if you think about shooting directly from the pass.
Otherwise, the fact that Laine hits the puck with the puck practically the most is special.
Veteran docker Jakub Vorace too the biggest strength is in passing. After the fall of 2014, only five players in the NHL have more assists than Voracek. For Johnny Gaudreau recorded 75 assists last season, third most of any player in the league.
When we also take into account Laine’s special skills in terms of shooting and scoring, the roles were completely wrong on Friday.
Of course, opponents know about Laine’s launch threat on the left, but in the same way it is known Aleksandr Ovechkin created a threat in Washington – and Ovechkin has not been disciplined to this day. Is Zach WerenskinVoracek and Gaudreau’s task is to build a superior game so that Laine can constantly bomb directly from the pass.
Now Columbus will move Laine to the right and give up his single biggest strength in the power play, although Laine also played on the left side from time to time on Friday.
Without a working superiority game, there is no hope
The topic is really important, because playing with superiority is of great importance in today’s NHL, especially for a team like Columbus. It has to be able to build a weapon for itself out of superiority, with which it can solve tight goal games. This is precisely where Laine, as a special man in the possession game, has a really important role – and Laine will not break through as a playmaker.
Larsen has to put an end to Laine’s wandering around and order her back to her office.
In general, Laine’s reputation as a special man of superiority has been based for a long time more on old displays than on hard hitting ability in the present moment. In four seasons in Winnipeg, Laine scored 9, 20, 15 and 8 power play goals, 4, 5 in Columbus and zero so far this season.
Of course, in Columbus, Lainee has not been surrounded by the machinery that she operates as a part of in Winnipeg. Even though Laine is capable of scoring goals from further away, it is confusing that Laine has only had one dangerous scoring chance in a power play in three seasons in Columbus. In Winnipeg, the same number was 34 over four seasons.
In the current season, Lainee has created with superiority a personal goal expectation of only 1.64 hits. The ranking in the NHL at the fifteen-minute limit is 107.
The good thing is that in the five games he has played, Laine has shot at a higher rate than ever in his NHL career. However, where the shots come from matters a lot. The more often Laine punishes from the left side of her own office, the more often the red light comes on.
Although the panic in Columbus is growing due to continuous losing, the game should be calmed down in this aspect as well. Laine, as a goal-scoring shoemaker, should stay in his shoes and wait patiently for scoring opportunities created by others. Now Laine brings the puck up, plays, passes and tries to shoot. There is too much on the plate, and with overwhelming force, the matter turned into an endless mess on Friday.
Columbus doesn’t play itself five-on-five for the playoffs, so the league’s worst possession game so far has to become a big strength for the group, and preferably quickly. In order to make a complete turnaround, Columbus needs Lainei specifically to be a goal scorer, not a playmaker.
The puck in the hands of the pitchers and Laine back to his office.
What thoughts did the story evoke? You can discuss the topic on 6.11. until 11 p.m.
Below are the statistics of Friday’s first meeting. Colorado and Columbus meet again on Saturday at 20:00, live broadcast on channels at 19:45. from