PUSTERTAL 4 - 5 OLIMPIJA (OT)
KERBASHIAN KEEPS US UP IN OT (sorry)
WINSTREAK UNDER "ANDRES TAVZELY" CONTINUES
Lineup changes
Červeny returns from a long injury layoff and is joined by the more mysteriously disappeared Lavoie. Kerbashian gets moved down to the 3rd line to centre these two, presumably because they all played together when Červeny was last active. I don't particularly like this 'demotion' for Kale, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Tomaževič, on a team-low -15 +/-, gets bumped up to centre Sabolič and Simšič on the top line.
Stars of the game
* The new 3rd line: Rudolf Červeny (G), Kale Kerbashian (GWG), Alexandre Lavoie (A). They scored a beautiful goal together and are quite the formidable group. Kale showcased beautiful movement and finishing on the OT goal, ensuring that, unlike too many times in the Karhula era, we got what we deserved. As I've been saying, give your best players the puck and good things happen!
** Lukaš Horák - he's pretty firmly cemented here, I'll admit. 4 goals given up, but two were PPGs (one tipped, one a perfect top corner shot), one was screened and another was tipped. Not much he could do about any of those. 36/40 (my count) in these circumstances was a great showing and I doff my cap to Mr Horak once more. I hope he victory-belly-flopped straight into some delicious Italian cuisine after this game, he certainly deserved it!
*** New-era winstreak - the Italian commentary team hilariously had Andrej Tavželj as 'Andres Tavzely'. They might not have got his name right, but they should remember his (correct) name - he's on a 3 game winstreak! Yet more dubious refereeing that pushed the game into OT didn't stop us from collecting another win. I like our momentum and I hope we can continue climbing the standings tonight against Vienna.
Stats
Another game, another shot chart showing the dangers of centrality. Is this an edgy politics podcast?! Both teams did a sound job of generating chances in the danger zones, accompanied by quite a few more speculative efforts nearer the blue lines.
Shots-saves at even strength:
P1- 10-9 (OLL GGG, HCP G)
P2- 9-12 (HCP G)
P3 - 7-7 (OLL PPG, HCP 2xPPG)
OT 1:0 ;)
Pretty even throughout, although it is notable that HCP needed PPGs to catch back up with us. In particular, Mašič's entanglement with a HCP player that led to the equalising goal was poor from the referees. They had started to send both players to the box, which seemed fair, but at the last second decided to only put Bine in their and let the HCP player go free. I found that very frustrating, as there wasn't an explanation or a replay of what happened. A little tyke from HCP had a rant on the Olimpija Instagram post-game, saying we got all the decisions, but clearly this is not the case. It's a good reminder, though, for me and us not to be overly doom-and-gloom with the refereeing. We did seem to get away with a few slashes, for example.
One amusing incidence which does inform us about part of the refereeing issues is that, as pointed out by friend of the blog ŽG, the refs awarded Mehle's goal to Sodja. Sodja hadn't even touched the puck! If they can't get that right, how can we expect them to officiate the game in a vaguely correct manner?! ^^
PP 1/3 - 33% is a nice number to be ticking away at. Anything over 25% is looking good.
PK 2/4 - 50% is not good enough, even if HCP were well-drilled. Adding up to 83% shows we need an extra 17% from somewhere to hit our 100% aim for the PP+PK.
Game flow
P1
1432 Bonino nearly banks one in, but it's well stopped by the goalie. He seems to always want to be behind the net, wrapping around and shoveling pucks in. I wonder if that's what he has been told to do, or if that's just what he's comfortable with?
HCP are much more effective in attack in these opening 10 mins.
It's nice to see the injured Žiga Pavlin as our assistant coach. He looks great up there on the bench!
814 GOAL HCP
A very impressive tip from Pustertal, no chance for Horak. Too much space and time were afforded to HCP, both at the point and in the net-front.
1-0
721 Červeny with a good hit in the neutral zone / blue line area. Make it hard for them to enter the defensive zone! Make them know they have to take punishment to initiate an attack! Well done and welcome back, Rudolf!
547 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Crnović from the point! Assisted by Bonino.
Crni walks the blue line and shoots centrally - Mahkovec draws attention in front of the net and his trailing defender screens the goalie.
1-1
216 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Žiga Mehle, assisted by Ege.
This somehow goes down as Sodja's goal, even though he doesn't touch the puck. Ege shoots from the point (blue line area) and Mehle deflects it in.
1-2
119 GOAL OLIMPIJA - Červeny in his first game back from injury! Assisted by Lavoie and Gregorc.
We establish possession very well with a dump-in and retrieve. Lavoie circles the back of the net, bringing it up to the centre of the blue line for a shot, screened by Kerbashian.. Červeny shovels in the rebound! What an end to P1!
1-3
2s left - Mahkovec and Kapel manage a decent tip chance right before the end of the period. Suddenly, we are firing on all cylinders!
P2
1711 PEN OLL - Simšič for 'holding the stick'? He was the one who fell over!
Červeny, Bonino, Gregorc and Mašič are on the PK. Good clears and changes.
1509 GOAL HCP
Like so often, just as we've killed off the penalty, we concede. The puck gets thrown back to the net from a the top of the left circle and it goes in. Horak gets screened.
2-3
1155 Sodja screams past defenders for a high danger chance with a wonderful wide stick handle.
1119 Mašič threads the needle to find Červeny at the back post, how does that no go in?! I was up and celebrating!
1024 PEN OLL - Crnović trip. Crni is becoming Atwal-esque in his penalty-taking! He's on one per game the past few!
920 Horak is a little too eager to drop and play the puck - be careful there, lad! HCP nearly snaffle it!
854 Bonino and Simšič have a very favourable 2 on 1, but no goal to be found.
744 PEN HCP - too many men.
PP1 is Bonino, Kerbashian, Mašič, Sabolič, Simšič. We lose the faceoff and it's 40 seconds gone before we set up. 1 shot.
2-3
P3
1928 PEN OLL - Bonino high stick.
1815 PPG HCP - long range shot tipped in front again. Crnović is there but can't make enough space or lift a stick in time. I miss Pavlin!
3-3
800 PEN HCP - they call it a trip, but it was knee-to-knee contact on Kerbashian. I hated seeing that after his earlier injury troubles this season.
725 PPG OLIMPIJA - We make them pay - Sabolič to Simšič in the high slot, fired home over the glove.
3-4
715 Mahkovec breaks free for a 1 on 0 chance but it's saved.
601 PEN HCP AND OLL - TURNED INTO PEN OLL - Mašič for holding. Both Bine and a HCP get caught up and fall over in the defensive zone. Both get sent to the penalty box area, before Bine gets pushed in and the HCP player gets pulled out and goes back scot-free. I found this infuriating, as it seemed like they both deserved it. No communication from the refs and no replays to analyse - presumably a tactical move from the home broadcast team.
459 PPG HCP - our worst fears are realised and they score from the unjust PP. We can't clear or change, they drag out their possession and find the back post with perfect top corner placement. As my Dad will confirm, I was absolutely fuming at this stage. Horak possibly committed to the butterfly too early, leaving the top of the net open, but it's a tough situation to be in.
4-4
2:10 PEN HCP for interference. They essentially run our goalie. Another soft response, but never mind - let's win the game, at least!
120 A net-front scramble can't find an Olimpija stick to connect with the puck.
OT
426 GOAL OLIMPIJA - No messing around, we win it in OT on the first shot! Gorgeous play by Sabolič and Kerbashian. They cycle beautifully, with Kale's intelligent gamesense landing him in acres of space to score 5-hole and look up cheekily at the wall of Pustertal ultras. :)) KK saves the day!
ENDS 4-5 AOT
Final thoughts
After waiting so long for a win, we have three on the bounce now. We're finding ways to win, rather than our previous modus operandi of finding ways to lose. Unfortunate refereeing is not something I want to harp on about constantly, so apologies, but it does bear mentioning. Anyway, let's keep it going tonight against Vienna. Forza Zmaji!
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