BLACK WINGS LINZ 4 - 2 OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA
Long away day sees the Dragons look tired and get well beaten in Steinbach
Lineup changes
Kolin draws his first start of the season.
Lavoie is out, Mahkovec moves up to 1st line.
No 13th forward, so presumably Vodlan and Kumanović are out too?
Stars of the game
* Luka Kolin - several sharp saves, kept getting screened on the goals. Coach Karhula said post-game that he "played solid" and "he did what he could", which I think was slightly harsh. He played well, but the onslaught was too much for our team defence.
** Robert Sabolič (2G) - took his goals well. We need to feed him the puck more often. Slightly more mixed a performance than you'd expect from the stat sheet, giving up a penalty to nullify a powerplay and missing an early key chance entirely.
*** Marcel Mahkovec (1A) - did well on the top line, which is no mean feat. Great work on the boards to assist on Sabolič's first goal.
Game flow
P1
11:30 PEN ON BWL - trip on Sodja. Yes, it's yet another one on Sodja, the absolute penalty magnet. I'm going to have to look back through and see how many he's drawn now, because I'm certain it's far more than any other player!
21s later... PEN ON OLL - Sabolič trips someone at the boards. Unfortunate and veering into the territory of irresponsibility, as we need to use these PPs. 4 on 4.
8 Good physicality from both Crnović and Ćosić on the 3rd pair. Nice to see after we played a bit 'soft' in the last couple of games.
6 Tough sledding offensively at the moment; we're looking quite laboured. It was a long drive, in fairness!
Linz goalie comes way out and we can't take advantage.
5 Beautiful work by Linz, more good chances.
2 Sabolič squanders a good chance in front.
0-0
P2
19:25 Bičevskis' pass gets intercepted and Linz get a 1 on 0 breakaway that Kolin saves.
19:20 Bad bounce in the D zone gives Linz a big chance right in front of goal, thankfully not taken.
18:46 GOAL LINZ - defender's point shot is well screened, Kolin never sees it and it goes 5 hole.
2nd Line and pair -1
17 Cool moment as the puck rides the top of the glass and bounces back in to play.
16:20 GOAL LINZ - puck gets lost behind Kolin, Červeny scoops it out but it goes straight to a Linz player and it is fired back in.
2nd line and pair -2
12 We are getting schooled a bit here.
11 4th line is the only one looking threatening at the moment.
9 Finally some O-zone possession. 2-3 shots before we give up a chance the other way.
4:13 Excellent glove save from Kolin, one of a few this evening.
3:57 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Sabolič. Bičevskis wins a defensive zone faceoff, then the top line wofrks together. Mahkovec does very well on the boards, winning possession and getting it to Bičevskis, who takes it from behind the net and hits the post. Sabolič is there for the rebound, with a deft forehand-backhand-roof it move. 8+96 on the assists, 55 with the goal.
Line 1 Pair 1 +1
2:46 Kolin nearly caught out of his net, but Linz can't connect.
2:13 GOAL LINZ - point shot sees the puck get part-blocked, but it rolls and it's tapped in at the back post. Kolin screened again, by 4 players this time.
Line 3 = -1
Pair 2 = -3
3-1
P3
16:46 GOAL LINZ - Ege takes the pass away on a 2 on 1 rush and 74 of Linz walks right up and beats Kolin over his glove. 2nd pair have now conceded all 4 goals tonight.
Line 1 = +0
Pair 2 = -4
13 - I miss Ville Leskinen. Can we bring him back? (Nope, he's finally signed in the Slovakian league and has 4 goals in 5 games :( )
12 - The second line looks weaker without Tomaževič as centre. Červeny started off well, but he isn't linking play like Blaž was.
9:11 - Pavlin has a dangerous screened shot (Mahkovec on the screen).
7 BWL have taken their foot off the gas here; we still aren't really creating anything.
4:52 Big BWL chance - brilliant glove save by Kolin as he moves in the opposite direction.
1:45 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Sabolič deflects a Pavlin shot in.
Line 1 = +1
3rd pair = +1
1 - Finally creating some chances in the last minute. We go empty net but it makes no difference.
ENDS 4-2
Final thoughts
I am starting to track +/- for the team now, and it was interesting viewing today. Now, it's a simple stat that doesn't capture the complexities of the play, but it is useful to see how the game happens. Here's how it looked tonight.
1st Line = +1
2nd Line = -2
3rd Line = -1
4th Line = +0
1st Pair = +1
2nd Pair -4 (Atwal was on with Ege for one of the goals, so Gregorc is only -3 - Ege is the full -4!)
3rd Pair = +1
What does this tell you? Well, Kolin is good, but he's not Horak (yet). Linz's attacks were well-organised, and they were picking apart our defensive holes. Both Atwal and Ege are not playing as advertised in the pre-season, looking pretty average at best rather than big upgrades as they seemed then. Clearly the level of competition has upgraded, but we need more from these two in games like this. Ege in particular being on a -4 is concerning, even if it is not so simple as saying the goals were his fault (they weren't). It's something for the coaching staff to consider before we play Vienna on Tuesday, that's for sure.
The stream usefully had an English interview with Coach Karhula, so here are some more quotes:
"We didn't really play for the win tonight. We were right in it to win it but came up short"/
"We didn't really get the offense going. This was a good lesson in how to prepare ourselves"
He didn't blame missing players when asked by the interviewer. "The home team was strong, they were ready".
"Time to bounce back next game. Linz had a strong full 60 minutes".
That last quote is telling, as we very rarely play a good full 60. We usually have two periods of not playing that well and one period of playing very well!
Anyway, on to the home game on Tuesday. Let's play better defence and have more connected play in the neutral zone so we do not have to rely on the goalies playing out of their minds to stay competitive. That's unsustainable, despite our talent at the position.
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