Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Scorpions 5, Sundogs 3

A great win for the Scorpions, and a much-needed one at that. Given how Arizona has been playing in its past few games, Randy Murphy has to be very happy with his team's showing on the road. Now if the Scorpions could only show this kind of intensity at home...

Observations:
  • Once again, it's great to see the Scorpions get scoring from all three lines. Not only does it take the pressure off the top two lines, but it also gives that shutdown line some confidence, and nothing beats getting timely goals from your checking line. Just a note: Sam Bowles has points in four games this season, three of which have been Scorpions victories
  • A much better performance from the Scorpions on the defensive side of the puck. There is still room for improvement, and the defense as a unit seems to lack that aggressiveness that you see in teams like OKC and Bossier, but it's a step in the right direction. Also, as Adam said, credit to Tyler Fuller for playing what has to be his best defensive game in a Scorpions uniform
  • Along those same lines, a simply fantastic game for Andrew Martin, and hopefully one he can feed off of in the near future. Those back-to-back saves on the 2-on-1 with Gascon and Kolanos were unbelieveable. He seemed to be seeing the puck better through traffic as well, and his rebound control looked far better as well
  • What a slick goal from Craig Macdonald. That quick inside-outside move is becoming his bread-and-butter, and a great finish to roof that puck from in close. That combination of power-forward strength, playmaker hands and finisher shot is quickly turning "Middle Mac" into an impact player for the Scorpions

Elsewhere:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there Alex, could you lay the lines out that Murph is playing so that I have a better idea who is playing with who. It has changed up quite a bit this season. thanks

Alex Mansfield said...

Not a problem...

Forward lines as follows:

Mazzei/Robertson/Delforte
Leonard/Stephens/C. Macdonald
Trimm/Bowles/Herrington
M. MacDonald, Courchene and Smale have taken turns up front as well

Defensive pairings (these change around quite a bit):

MacInnis/Blanchette
Smith/Row
Fuller/Smale

Powerplay 1:
Mazzei/Robertson/Delforte
MacInnis/Stephens

Powerplay 2 (sometimes):
Leonard/Herrington/Macdonald
Trimm/Courchene

Bowles has also been seeing some time on the PP, as have Smale and Smith on the back end.

As for PK, it's usually a combination of Bowles, Herrington, Robertson and Delforte up front.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope we can start getting some wins AT HOME !