This snapshot has the BSens at the 34-game mark (once again the schedule made a 10-game segment awkward to do & the post was delayed due to illness–they’ve since lost to Utica and Laval). We’ll start with a snapshot of the standings:
The BSens winning percentage started to crawl forward (7th in their conference). In this set of games they went 6-3-0 (4-2-0 in the division). Special teams: PP 16.4% (+1.8), PK 78.3% (-0.4)–the horrible NHL PK is being replicated at the AHL-level; GF 25, GA 22, which in terms of per-game is 2.77 (-0.48) and 2.44 (-1.06); the BSens are the second lowest scoring team in their conference, but not by much.
Game by Game
Cleveland 1-2 (Saulnier/Daoust still injured; Sebrango, Smejkal returned; Larsson NHL; Merilainen back to ECHL)
Wilkes-Barre 1-5 (Crookshank/Smejkal to NHL)
Toronto 4-3 (Heatherington to Spengler)
Laval 4-1 (M. Boucher back to ECHL; Heatherington Spengler)
Toronto 3-2 (no change)
Manitoba 2-1 (Heatherington/Saulnier back)
Manitoba 4-0 (Smejkal/Crookshank back; Fizer to ECHL; Lukosevicius released)
Toronto 0-8 (Sogaard NHL; Merilainen recalled from the ECHL; Jarventie, McPhee injury)
Toronto 6-2 (Imama suspended; McPhee returns)
Individual Performances
I’ve marked those significantly above/below their career averages (cf, where appropriate); @=veteran, *=rookie, #AHL-contract, %=PTO, italics=drafted player. The NHL tallies are year-to-date rather than segment-related.
Forwards
Sokolov 12-5-6-11 (12-4-2-6/34-11-12-23)
Jarventie 10-5-5-10 (6-3-4-7/22-9-11-20)
@Currie 11-4-2-6 (11-1-2-3/29-6-6-12)
@Highmore 12-2-4-6 (3-0-1-1/24-4-10-14)
*Ostapchuk 12-4-1-5 (12-3-0-3/34-9-3-12)
@Pilon 11-1-4-5 (12-5-6-11/31-9-12-21)
#McPhee 8-2-2-4 (5-1-0-1/20-4-2-6)
*T. Boucher 10-1-3-4 (injured)
Reinhardt 12-2-1-3 (6-0-3-3/28-4-7-11)
#Saulnier 4-1-1-2 (injured/13-2-2-4)
*Smejkal 5-2-0-2 (10-2-4-6/22-5-6-11) NHL: 7-0-1-1 TOI 10:13
Crookshank 5-1-1-2 (12-7-6-13/27-10-11-21) NHL: 7-1-1-2 TOI 8:50
%Betts 7-1-1-2 (11-0-3-3/19-1-4-5)
@Imama 11-0-1-1 (10-1-4-5/28-1-6-7)
*#Fizer 1-0-0-0 (3-0-1-1/12-0-0-1)
%M. Boucher 5-0-0-0 (12-2-6-8/17-2-6-8) no longer on roster
%Lukosevicius 7-0-0-0 (11-2-1-3/19-2-1-3) no longer on roster
(Daoust 4-0-2-2) injured
The upswing for McPhee doesn’t mean very much, I’m simply noting it because it’s not something I thought he could do. As for Reinhardt, this isn’t concerning unless it continues, as historically he’s always had offensive droughts. Highmore is more troubling and I’m not clear what the issue is. It’s nice to see Sokolov rounding into form after a career worst start.
Defense
@Larsson 9-2-5-7 (9-0-2-2/27-4-7-11)
Guenette 12-1-4-5 (12-2-7-9/34-4-18-22)
*Kleven 12-0-5-5 (6-1-1-2/22-1-8-9)
Thomson 12-0-2-2 (12-2-3-5/34-3-7-10)
*Matinpalo 12-0-2-2 (12-1-2-3/29-1-5-6)
Sebrango 9-0-1-1 (injured)
@Heatherington 7-0-0-0 (12-1-2-3/28-2-2-4)
#MacKinnon 2-0-0-0 (9-0-2-2/17-0-3-3)
What Larsson is doing is unsustainable–he’s had a long pro career and putting up points has never been part of it. Thomson is suffering because he’s been pulled from the PP. Otherwise we’re simply seeing Guenette return to more expected production and that Sebrango hasn’t found a new gear to change his fate.
Goaltenders
Sogaard 3-1-0 .920 2.48
*Merilainen 1-0-0 .904 3.15 [ECHL 9-4-0 .926 2.97]
Mandolese 4-2-0 .893 3.47
#Sinclair [ECHL 8-8-0 .900 4.18]
The song remains the same–Mandolese goes through hot and cold streaks while Merilainen slowly continues to grow. How much having Justin Peters promoted to the NHL impacts things remains uncertain.
This post is late–unfortunately I was ill last week so I didn’t get this out on time. In general, given the talent limitations of the club I think the performance is about as expected.
This article was written by Peter Levi
eyeonthesens 