Weekend Preview; Flyers & Clan at Home

League Record So Far; 31 – 11 – 2, 64pts, 2nd Place

This weekend will see games 2 and 3 of a long home stand at the Vindico Arena for the good guys, as they look to continue building points and momentum to close out the regular season.

They are set to face Flyers, who picked up a much needed win against Panthers, that set them on the path to hold the final playoff spot, then the Clan, who are also playing to finish in the playoff spots.

Saturday Night vs Flyers

Form

Flyers are coming in hot, with a bit of decent rest after going back to back in the W column in their last couple of games. This should be a pace, fun affair as they won’t played again until their own home stand starts next weekend.

In their L5GP, they have gone 3 – 1 – 1, with two games needing extra, pretty much the same as their hosts in that same period. They have managed to re-enter the playoff conversation, as other teams around them have dropped points and the games in hand are getting closer to being even.

Series So Far

The series so far has gone the way of the good guys, commanding a 4:1 lead into their final regular season match up. During this series, 32 goals have been scored with Devils taking the majority at 19:13.

Also, the last 3 games between these teams have been settled by a single goal, showing the improvement of the Flyers once their squad settled. Over the course of those games, an average of 6.4 goals has been scored, with no signs of this slowing down.

Previous Season Series

22/23 Season Series vs Flyers via Hockeysteve8719 on X

Last season, the Devils most convincing series win came against Flyer by completing a full sweep. There was also more GS on them with less conceded, so with a game to go, anything can happen, but there is definite improvement from Coolen’s Flyers.

Lamps and Apples

The Goals Scored column (GS) looks very favourable in many ways for both teams. Flyers are currently 5th in the league with 144, where as their hosts are 2nd with 173. Goal average for Devils is just shy of 4, with Flyers just over 3 per game.

For Goals Against (GA), Devils are again in 2nd with 116 but Flyers languish in 9th with 183 conceded.

Sanford currently sits in 3rd overall for goals scored (25) with Lajeunesse in 6th with 23. Overall for points, both players sit in joint fourth with 48.

For the apples, Cox (37) and Crawford (44) lead the league in this department.

Discipline

This will be a key area to avoid but to also capitalise on when an opportunity arises. Devils are one of the least disciplined teams with 12.64 PIMS/Game, whilst Flyers are one of the best, sitting for an average 8.66 PIMS/Game so far this season.

How this contrasts where it matters, is chalk and cheese again. Devils are in 2nd for power play % with 28.24. Flyers are mid pack with a respectable 20.14%. The PK, they are separated by 2 places, third and fifth respectively with Devils at 78.91% (improving week on week) and Flyers at 77.33%.

Two players in this fixture are in the top 10 for PIMS, being Devils’ Brandt (63) and Crawford (62). Staying out of the box is pivotal to maintain any momentum in a game, which is crucial for both teams this weekend.

Sunday Night vs Clan

The second game of the weekend and half way point to their home stand sees the visit of the Clan, where previous games have had a little spice between them.

Their last games happened in December in all competitions, where Clan shocked their hosts by dumping them out of the Challenge Cup in the quarter finals.

Currently however, the struggling side from Braehead are massively losing ground to rivals around them and face a long trip to South Wales against a team they are yet to beat in regular season.

Similar to the games against Flyers, Devils have scored 19 goals vs Clan, whilst conceding just 5. This is actually atypical to their overall record, as Clan are just behind their hosts in GS (152) overall.

However, to form, they are the leagues worst team defensively, conceding 191 times in regular season, with a GAA of 4.24 per game.

This is also reflective of their PK record which is rock bottom at 74.31%, woeful compared to their power play, just behind Devils at 27.78% currently.

This means they can pose a threat offensively but massively let themselves down with discipline and containing the puck. Being more likely to get scored on, this does throw up some concerns when a team has stacked lines playing comfortably at home.

Clan also have a strange statistic to their regular season performance so far, with just over 42% of their games requiring extras after regulation.

A whopping 19 times out of 45 they have gone to OT or a shootout, 11 of them in the loss column, rivalled by Flyers. So, there is a 58% chance when Clan go OT, they will lose.

They are however 2nd overall for OTWs (8) behind Blaze who have a stunning 12 OTWs this season. Quite remarkable which shows these teams have no off switch and will play until the final whistle or shot.

22/23 Season Series vs Clan via Hockeysteve8719 on x

Compared to last season, Devils are on course to round this off in similar fashion, as they have already won the series. Last time, it ended 5:1 to the good guys, but far less goals scored.

Would the next couple of games provide a repeat of performances either way or could it be a sweep for the home team?

Ones to Watch

Devils; Joey Martin – Currently in terrific form and on a great points per game pace (1.1) with 17 goals and 5 assists so far since his return from injury.

Flyers; Troy Lajeunesse – Joint 4th overall in points, he has been the go-too guy with a flourishing partnership in Kyle Osterberg. With 48 points, he will be looking to hit 50, putting up 9 in his last 4GP.

Clan; Gary Haden – 2nd in the points standings, Haden has been the life force offensively for his struggling team in a massive way. With 54 points, he leads all these teams currently, improving on his performance last year already (47). He also has 10 points in his L5GP. Heater for sure.

ICYMI

Recently I have joined a fellow EIHL fan in co-hosting a podcast, called EIHL Face-Off, going over fixtures, breaking down form, who is hot or not, goalies and much more.

If you would like to have a listen, click this link https://x.com/EIHLFaceOff/status/1768051062718472595?s=20 as well to like, follow and share amongst friends.