I’m behind on my game breakdowns and so I’ll break format to sum things up as efficiently as possible.
Belleville 1 Manitoba 4
Boxscore
Shots: 24-29
PP: 0-2
PK: 3-4
Scoring chances: 3
The Goals
1. Manitoba – Flanagan stripped of the puck and Taylor is beaten five-hole
2. Manitoba PP – Taylor beat on a clean wrist-shot from the high slot
3. Manitoba – Taylor gives up a fat rebound that gets bounced in behind him
4. Manitoba – Gagne is lazy on the backcheck and the third man on the rush beats Taylor
5. SH McCormick deflects in O’Brien’s pass on a 2-on-1
Danny Taylor returned to form (in a bad way) and the BSens didn’t put up much of a fight in their loss to the Moose (season low for scoring chances). The lines were ridiculous, with Chris Kelly the first line center (again!), Tyler Randell dressed for no particular reason, and two ECHL call-ups were on the blueline (as they were for the next two games). This was the kind of game that inspires Tweets like this.
Not many notable plays: O’Brien misses the empty-net on a wrap-around (first); Gagne can’t complete a pass on a 2-on-1 (first).
Belleville 2 Syracuse 5
Boxscore
Shots: 24-36
PP: 1-4
PK: 6-6
Scoring chances: 7
The Goals
1. Syracuse – on a delayed penalty call the puck is tipped in
2. Syracuse – Hogberg beat low with a wrist shot unopposed in the slot
3. Syracuse – Paul turns it over, Burgdoerfer can’t handle the loose puck despite no pressure and no one takes the open man
4. PP Burgdoerfer splits the D and scores on a weak backhand through the five-hole
5. Syracuse – tipped in front during a 4-on-4
6. Burgdoerfer’s shot from the point goes in (looked like it was tipped)
7. Syracuse – BSens pull the goalie early and Gagne is stripped of the puck
Marcus Hogberg got another start and while he made some mistakes he made 31 saves and the team in front of him was defensively awful (I had him making 13 key saves–13!). Kelly was gone at this point, but there was still confusion with the lines as Reinhart and Blunden played far more than they should and DiDomenico and Perron were buried on the fourth line.
Notable plays: BSens lose a 1-on-3 in front of their net, but the Crunch miss the net (first); Paul misses the net all alone in front (first); puck squeaks through Hogberg but he bats it out of the way before it can be put in (first); Flanagan turned into a pylon, but Hogberg bails him out (first); McCormick gives up a 2-on-1 (first); Crunch pull their goalie with 3 seconds left for an offensive faceoff (first); BSens no shot on a 2-on-1 (O’Brien with the pass; second); Paul misses the net in the slot (second); Werek was hurt by a shot from his own team (hit his knee; stays in the game; second); McCormick takes a penalty one-second into a powerplay (third); Hogberg saves a goal late (this was video reviewed; third).
Belleville 3 Rochester 4 (OT)
Boxscore
Shots: 24-40
PP: 2-5 (includes 4-on-3 and 5-on-3)
PK: 5-7
Scoring chances: 8
The Goals
1. Syracuse – bangs in their own rebound
2. PP Paul bangs in Harpur’s rebound
3. PP Gagne with lot’s of room goes shelf
4. Rochester PP – shot from the point goes through a crowd and Taylor
5. O’Brien on a breakaway (backhand)
6. Syracuse – Rodewald puck-watching on the rush and his man bangs in a fat rebound
7. Syracuse PP – rebound gets batted in
A better game out of Taylor (36 saves), although he wasn’t thrown to the wolves the same way Hogberg was in the previous game. The team in front of him was pretty bad defensively, but a little better offensively (some of that can be attributed to slightly more intelligible lines, albeit Randell was once more in the line-up for no reason).
Notable plays: Harpur falls awkwardly into the boards and is hurt (first); Syracuse scores (first), but it’s waived off due to a high stick; Blunden tries to go one-on-one and comedy results (third).
The team is now on a four-game losing streak in which they’ve been badly outshot in three of the four games. On the plus side Filip Chlapik is back with the team which is a boon to their offensive potential.
I have thoughts about the month of January and Chris Kelly to share and I still owe you all my PK breakdown–it’s all coming in the near future.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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