Battle of Alberta Line Match-ups

15 years ago

So, I’ve been a really busy guy at my day job, and I haven’t been doing the line match-ups for the last few games. In any case, I’m just hoping that “better late than never” applies in the internet world, and posting the match-ups that Craig MacTavish went with in the home-and-home against Calgary.

As per my previous posts in this series, I’m using the one player (italicized) on each line who played the most with his other two linemates as the player I base my calculations on. Given that almost all of the time this player will spend 90 per cent + of his ice-time with his line, I feel that this is a fair compromise between accuracy and an insane workload.

October 17th – Edmonton at Calgary

Edmonton’s Lines:

Cole – Horcoff – Hemsky
Nilsson – Cogliano – Gagner
Moreau – Pisani – Penner
Pouliot – Brodziak

Steve MacIntyre was on the fourth line for just under two minutes, playing only two shifts, so I’ve excluded him from this calculation. It almost goes without saying, but he didn’t see any time against Calgary’s top line.

Visnovsky – Souray
Grebeshkov – Gilbert
Strudwick – Staios

Sheldon Souray only managed a little under eight minutes of even-strength ice-time, so Lubomir Visnovsky played some shifts with other defenceman, averaging a little over two minutes with each.

Calgary’s Lines:

Bertuzzi – Langkow – Iginla
Bourque – Lombardi – Cammalleri
Glencross – Conroy – Moss
Primeau – Boyd

Andre Roy played a little more than Steve MacIntyre, but still played about half as many shifts as Primeau and Boyd. Also, Cammalleri and Bertuzzi switched spots for a couple of shifts.

Sarich/Aucoin – Regehr
Phaneuf – Vandermeer/Giordano

Keenan and Co. did some interesting things with their defence. While Aucoin and Giordano played about half of their ice-time with each other, Regehr double shifted with Aucoin, while Phaneuf did the same with Giordano

Match-Ups

Cole – Horcoff – Hemsky

Langkow Line: 31.1%
Lombardi Line: 29.2%
Conroy Line: 12.3%
Primeau Line: 27.4%

Regehr Tandem: 56.1%
Phaneuf Tandem: 43.9%

Nilsson – Cogliano – Gagner

Langkow Line: 27.8%
Lombardi Line: 42.6%
Conroy Line: 20.9%
Primeau Line: 8.7%

Regehr Tandem: 41.1%
Phaneuf Tandem: 58.9%

Moreau – Pisani – Penner

Langkow Line: 59.0%
Lombardi Line: 15.5%
Conroy Line: 25.4%
Primeau Line: 0%

Regehr Tandem: 45.5%
Phaneuf Tandem: 54.5%

Pouliot – Brodziak

Langkow Line: 23.4%
Lombardi Line: 29.9%
Conroy Line: 15.6%
Primeau Line: 31.2%

Regehr Tandem: 20.9%
Phaneuf Tandem: 79.1%

Visnovsky – Souray

Langkow Line: 36.0%
Lombardi Line: 26.7%
Conroy Line: 20.0%
Primeau Line: 17.3%

Grebeshkov – Gilbert

Langkow Line: 57.6%
Lombardi Line: 23.3%
Conroy Line: 12.8%
Primeau Line: 6.4%

Strudwick – Staios

Langkow Line: 24.5%
Lombardi Line: 30.3%
Conroy Line: 22.6%
Primeau Line: 16.1%

Notes:

The line match-ups were no where near as rigid as they’ve been in some of the previous games. MacTavish obviously wanted to get his third line out against Iginla, and he also let the Kid Line get their feet wet against quality opposition but did shelter them to some degree.
Keenan obviously felt comfortable with either Regehr or Phaneuf out against most everyone, but with Regehr in the 1A role and Phaneuf in the 1B role.
Grebeshkov and Gilbert played a lot against the Iginla line, which really isn’t surprising, given Souray’s limited even strength ice-time.

October 18th – Calgary at Edmonton

Edmonton’s Lines:

Cole – Horcoff – Hemsky
Nilsson –Cogliano – Penner/Pouliot
Moreau – Pisani – Penner/Pouliot
MacIntyre – Brodziak – Stortini

Grebeshkov – Gilbert
Smid – Visnovsky
Strudwick – Staios

Calgary’s Lines:

Cammalleri – Conroy – Iginla
Bourque – Langkow – Bertuzzi
Glencross – Lombardi – Moss
Nystrom – Boyd – Prust

Sarich – Regehr
Phaneuf – Vandermeer
Aucoin – Giordano

Match-Ups

Cole – Horcoff – Hemsky

Conroy Line: 40%
Langkow Line: 42.8%
Lombardi Line: 9.3%
Boyd Line: 7.9%

Regehr Pairing: 43.7%
Phaneuf Pairing: 35.7%
Aucoin Pairing: 20.6%

Nilsson – Cogliano – Penner/Pouliot

Conroy Line: 16.1%
Langkow Line: 33.0%
Lombardi Line: 22.3%
Boyd Line: 28.6%

Regehr Pairing: 25.7%
Phaneuf Pairing: 42.9%
Aucoin Pairing: 31.4%

Moreau – Pisani – Pouliot/Penner

Conroy Line: 53.7%
Langkow Line: 16.8%
Lombardi Line: 16.8%
Boyd Line: 12.6%

Regehr Pairing: 34.4%
Phaneuf Pairing: 34.4%
Aucoin Pairing: 31.1%

MacIntyre – Brodziak – Stortini

Conroy Line: 8.1%
Langkow Line: 21.6%
Lombardi Line: 27%
Boyd Line: 43.2%

Regehr Pairing: 28.1%
Phaneuf Pairing: 37.5%
Aucoin Pairing: 34.4%

Grebeshkov – Gilbert

Conroy Line: 35.6%
Langkow Line: 17.4%
Lombardi Line: 26.5%
Boyd Line: 20.5%

Smid – Visnovsky

Conroy Line: 23.1%
Langkow Line: 37.2%
Lombardi Line: 23.1%
Boyd Line: 16.5%

Strudwick – Staios

Conroy Line: 27.1%
Langkow Line: 39.0%
Lombardi Line: 9.3%
Boyd Line: 24.6%

Notes:

This line-up required quite a bit more sheltering than the one from the night prior. With Gagner not on the wing of the Kid Line, MacTavish kept their ice-time against Cammalleri – Conroy – Iginla to a minimum. Bumping Pouliot up the depth chart also meant that the fourth line had both Stortini and MacIntyre, who were kept away from top-tier competition at all cost. Brodziak saw a few extra shifts as a face-off man.
Given the extra sheltering, it isn’t at all surprising that the Horcoff line spent better than 80 per cent of the night against the Flames top-six forwards, and it’s even less surprising that MacTavish ran Pisani’s line out against the Iginla line whenever possible.
Looking at the defence, it’s quite clear that the by-committee approach will continue for the time being; MacTavish and Co. don’t have a top-tier shutdown defender in the line-up. Strudwick and Staios saw very little time against the Lombardi line; I’d guess that this was done to prevent them from being victimized by the quicker skating forwards (Lombardi and Glencross can both flat out fly, and Moss isn’t a slug by any stretch either).

Battle of Alberta Line Match-ups

October 17th – Edmonton at Calgary

October 18th – Calgary at Edmonton

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