Takeaways from Opening Weekend
What we learned from the first meaningful games under Coach Lang
The Engineers dropped their first two games to Miami this past weekend. What started as a pretty exciting weekend with RPI going up 3-1 slowly petered out as Miami responded with 9 unanswered goals. Here were our big takeaways:
RPI Won the Possession Battle
One of the main reasons that this wasn’t a terrible weekend for the Engineers (despite blowing a 3-1 lead in one and losing the other 5-0) was the way in which they lost these games. They weren’t getting hemmed into their own zone, chasing the game, and taking penalties all weekend. Instead, they actually won the even strength possession battle (Corsi For %) both nights.
That only happened in 10 of RPI’s 35 games last season. And only 32 times in the past three seasons (107 games).
It’s a big reason these games felt quite a bit different to watch. RPI won puck battles, dominated faceoffs, and spent much more time in the offensive zone. Sure, it didn’t win them these games (and it might not be enough to win them many games this season!), but it sure is a good foundation to build off.
But They Had No Answer for Miami’s Top Line
Miami scored only one out of their ten goals without either Delic, Morozov, or Giampa on the ice. Those three were simply dominant. There wasn’t a combination of players that Lang could throw out on the ice consistently capable of shutting them down.
And that was the ballgame – Miami had a line that could capitalize big on mistakes, and RPI didn’t.
The VanDamme-Sobieski Pairing
One of the standouts on the weekend for RPI was the top defensive pairing of Gunnar VanDamme and Kaz Sobieski. They were fun to watch all weekend - solid defensively, while also being more than capable of causing chaos in the offensive zone. Sobieski picked up his first couple of points and looked right at home quarterbacking a powerplay. VanDamme didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he had several opportunities, including one where he nearly weaved through Miami’s entire team.
For two offensive-minded defensemen, they worked together well in their own zone. They’ll certainly be tested again next weekend against two strong teams, but for now, all signs point to them being a great tandem for the Engineers moving forward.
Goaltending
Bruveris and Krachuk split the goaltending time on the weekend with Bruveris giving up 4 goals on Friday (the 5th being an empty netter) and Krachuk giving up 5 on Saturday. Here’s how that compared to the expected goals both nights.
Looking at single-game xG is often not super useful because it’s such a small sample size, but the main takeaway is that Miami scored several more goals than you’d expect from their shots/chances. And on Saturday, RPI probably deserved at least a goal or two from all the chances they generated.
This weekend could very well have been a fluke but, in general, giving up 5 goals more than expected over a weekend series is not something that can continue if RPI wants to win games.