Alright, so it's a week late, but here's the latest edition of the Five Game Report Card. This report covers the October 30th game against the Blues through the November 9th game against the Senators. The next report, covering games 16-20, should hopefully come out this weekend or early next week.
This five game series was not a good one for the Thrashers: they gave up 18 goals while only scoring 13. You won't win many games being outscored by a goal-per-game average over the long haul. In fact, the Thrashers' 1-2-2 mark could well be considered lucky based on some of the statistics we'll see after the jump.
Over This Five Game Period
- Record: 1-2-2 (0.400 P%)
- Goals Scored/Allowed: 13/18 (0.722)
- PP%/PK%: 35%/60%
- Goal Leaders: Bergfors, Modin, Peverley, Antropov (with 2 each)
- Assist Leaders: Byfuglien (4), Ladd (3)
- Point Leaders: Byfuglien (5), Ladd, Bergfors, Peverley, Antropov (4 each)
- +/- Leaders/Trailers: Eager (+2), Slater (+1), Bogosian, Ladd (-5 each), Kane (-6), Antropov (-7)
- Team +/-: Minus-41
- Shot Leaders: Kane (20), Byfuglien (17), Peverley (15)
- Blocked Shot Leaders: Oduya (11), Hainsey (10), Burmistrov (9)
- Hit Leaders: Byfuglien (17), Slater (12), Eager, Boulton 98)
- Faceoff Leaders: Slater (34-for-58, 58.6%), Peverley (53-for-92, 57.6%)
Despite the 2-2-1 record over this period, there are problems. The Thrashers won (or stayed close) in these games thanks to strong special teams, but they are giving up far too many goals against and are playing very poorly at 5-on-5. The team's -33 was shockingly bad and the 5-on-5 GF/GA ratio - perhaps the best predictor of a team's place in the standings over the long haul - was 0.69, good for just 27th in the NHL. Ouch.
Well, the good news? I saw something important there. The bad news? With the further deterioration of the team's plus-minus came less points. Our 5-on-5 GF/GA is still not good. In fact, it was TERRIBLE: 0.429. Again, if we were EVEN with the teams we were playing, that would equal 1.000. We are getting doubled (and then some) at even-strength. You cannot expect to get far with numbers that bad. Special teams will not carry you that far.
The Thrashers need to get better at even-strength if they are going to win games. Much, much better.
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