Nugent had a 4-1-5 game last night and good for him. A hat trick in less than ten minutes is very rare. In looking at the box score this morning however I noticed that he only had a +2 rating and found he had been on the ice for three of the four even strength Elmira goals also. Once again I harp on team defense and there was obviously very little of that last night. We are giving up 4+ goals per game way too often lately.
Even if the team gets a few offensive horses back for the playoffs-Megan and MacFarland-it's hard to conceive of this group going beyond one round with its penchant for major defensive lapses.
The defensive scheme is atrocious. It's passive and a good skating, offensive team will take advantage of it. When a forward goes untouched in the slot area and gets a scoring opportunity, the red light often goes on. The worst part of Simon's system is how it allows for defensemen to pinch at will and forwards aren't covering for these "defensemen" often times. O'Keefe is a train wreck regarding this. He's always moving up on plays and his offensive production resulting from these rushes doesn't justify the defensive risks he takes. How Simon allows this to go on with the playoffs just around the corner is beyond me. It's not a formula for success at this time of the season. Numerous odd man rushes against are never a positive.
This team is 14-17 at home this year. If there are any students of Kelly Cup history, it would be interesting to hear if there has ever been a Kelly Cup Champ which finished at or below .500 at home during the regular season.
Topic Locked
Posted - 03/22/2014 : 08:45:43 AM
