PLAYOFFS - HCB 3/7

Takeaways as OLL go 2-1 up in the series:

•  ...well that was absolute robbery! ED and I were discussing how playing Italian teams in particular for away game seems to have a peculiar draining effect on our hockey, whether against Pustertal in previous postseasons or Bolzano this time around. This happens in a way which doesn't for the Austrian teams, at least not as consistently. It may just be the time of year/style of playoff hockey, but as someone who sat through the England v Italy Euros final, I can say that Italians do turn on some kind of dogged Roman spirit in these situations. 
• A difference in this run compared to our previous Italian (mis)adventures is the thievery we are getting away with. Bolzano must be sick to their stomachs about losing both their home games thus far, but especially this one. They dominated and we looked entirely ineffectual for essentially 58/60 minutes (the last minute of P2 saw three good chances). One scarcely-believable minute in P3 offset all the Foxes' hard work, much to Olimpija's ecstasy.
• Finally, we made Harvey look mortal. Letting 3 goals in 38s from 12:39-12:01 in P3 was a kind of dreamlike experience for Olimpija fans (those who didn't time an awful toilet break, at least - my condolences to JT, for instance, who told me he left his TV at 2-0 and came back at 2-3 😆😭). 

Olimpija for 38s in P3: 

https://imageresizer.com/meme-generator/edit/Super-Saiyan

• The first was a simply gorgeous PPG, created by an exquisite pass from Halbert diagonally to a drifting Mahkovec, who launched a one-timer into a net that finally showed some emptiness amidst Harvey's supreme coverage.
• 24s later, Drozg controls the puck in the OZ and Gregorc slides the puck over to an encroaching MacWilliam, whose shot deflects beautifully/horrifyingly (depending on your fandom) over Harvey's shoulder and in. MacW was being referred to as Leon Draisaitl in the locker room speech video after, presumably for scoring the high-up goal. The deflection was pretty important in that, though!
• 14s later, Meyer strikes down the middle - cue even greater disbelief from the commentator and fans!
• Both away games we have gone 2-0 down and both we have won 2-3 (one OT, one regulation). It doesn't seem sustainable, yet we keep doing it!

• HCB's goals showed some concerning defensive coverage lapses from us. 
• Their first was just a gaping hole left down the 'royal road', with players standing everywhere but the most dangerous area of the ice. I am no expert, but I don't think you need to be one to say 'yeah, probably don't do that again'. It was good movement from HCB, but we can't be so easily manipulated into opening up like that.
• Their second was a lightning-fast transition behind us that led to another Bradley goal, 1-on-0. Horak is able to make those death-defying saves that magically keep us in games; Tokarski, while very solid, does not seem to match that ability. It made me think, if Tokarski has played NHL games in his career, surely Horak should have, too. Opportunities are not always equal!
• I don't mean to slag off Tokarski, though, as he did a good job tonight. For example, he squeezed his arms in very well with 1:12 to go in P3 and HCB at 6-on-5 to stop a shot, like a Sumo wrestler doing an ottsuke move to deny a hazuoshi (if you leave your armpits open in sumo, you are getting pushed out - much like leaving them open as a goalie will allow pucks in (sorry, I really want to get more sumo into OHB lol)). There was one heart-in-your-mouth moment with 16s left, though, where they found a wide open back post, but the HCB player couldn't corral the puck and marshal it in. ED and I agreed that we were in 99% stress mode:

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/151944550/99-Level-of-Stress Game is Detroit:Become Human, a brilliant game from Quantic Dream, who are sadly now employed by NetEase to make a sloppy multiplayer game. Go back to single player greatness!

• We firmly lost the penalty minute battle (8-14), although it was not fully our fault. One moment in particular is instructive, alongside the generally moving goalposts for what was considered a penalty (ED saw that Zrnić and Piragić (EDIT -I made a mistake originally and said Zgonc, the linesman) were refereeing earlier and immediately predicted some shenanigans. As usual, he was correct!):
• Alex Petan was slashed. He was, understandably, unhappy about this and dropped the gloves to fight the offending player, who also dropped his gloves. Somehow, instead of ending up as just nullifying the original slash, it was Bolzano who received a powerplay. I couldn't believe my eyes - ED told me the commentator said "they must be joking!" in Slovene. I checked on the ICE website and Petan was given two minors for roughing, even though barely anything happened in the fight. Extremely perplexing and decisions like that cannot happen when the games matter most. I hope those refs get demoted or sent elsewhere because I do not want them officiating our games again.
• For us to be 2-1 up in the series despite continued calamitous refereeing decisions like the above is a testament to the resilience of this team. 
• We have to keep trying our best to avoid their flaky discipline, though. TJ slashing a player off the puck in his nether region, punching another in the face and chucking the puck out for a delay of game all in one shift was not conducive to that goal. I hate us playing dirty, as, yes, I do see these guys as role models for young men (in a world where they really need positive ones). I won't have an especial go at TJ again, but this is a bad look - especially when we were getting severely outplayed. We ended up winning, but if you want to be as dirty as the Florida Panthers, you need to be as dominant as them, too. Otherwise, it's just the worst of both worlds - poor hockey and poor character.

• Overall, given how the game went, we have to be extremely happy to come away with a win. Hopefully the day off today lets the players reset so we can play more of our usual style of hockey at home on Tuesday. 
• Finally, happy birthday to Technical Manager Andrej Vidmar, who is a sprightly 70! I have heard wonderful things about him and am proud that we have someone in the team with such history and who, as CC said, "bleeds green and white".

P.S. Please enjoy ED's post-game messages: