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Some pretty good defencemen were healthy scratches this week. Scott Cullen looks at Jeff Petry and Jake Gardiner, an emotional win for Montreal, the Islanders remaining unbeaten, Colorados goaltending woes and more in Statistically Speaking. THE DEFENCE RESTS Two of the teams that made high-profile analytics hires this summer, the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, have already made interesting roster decisions, placing analytically-valued defencemen in the press box. In Edmonton, they made D Jeff Petry a healthy scratch for a game in Los Angeles. Last season, when the Oilers were crashing to the bottom of the standings again, it appeared that they had found a competent defensive pairing in Petry and Martin Marincin. (I recall Tyler Dellow, hired by the Oilers as an analytics consultant, writing in praise of that pairing.) Oilers Defence 2013-14 PLAYER Corsi% CorsiRel% Martin Marincin 47.5% +7.0% Jeff Petry 46.8% +3.8% Anton Belov 46.3% +2.6% Andrew Ference 42.9% -3.1% Justin Schultz 42.9% -2.6% Nick Schultz 41.9% -4.7% The duo was competent and appeared to provide some stability at an otherwise problem area for the Oilers. So, what happens to start this season? Marincin is demoted to the AHL and Petry is a healthy scratch in the third game of the year and played 14:49 in his return to the lineup. Petry will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and his name has been making the rounds in trade rumours, with Detroit seeming like a natural fit for a right-handed defenceman (the Red Wings have no right-handed shots on defence) that played at Michigan State and has a father that pitched for the Tigers. Wherever he’s playing, Petry can likely handle a top four role, which makes it all the more surprising that he isn’t being given that opportunity with the Oilers. That Edmonton has recalled Marincin from the AHL does open up the possibility of that pairing being put back together. In Toronto, Jake Gardiner was scratched for the team’s third and fourth games of the season, with notions of accountability being given as the reason for Gardiner’s exile, but this is an issue that has come up time and again during Gardiner’s time with the Maple Leafs. He gets demoted to the press box this year, one day after playing a team-high 23:04 against Pittsburgh, which seems incongruous, but not altogether different than spending a long time in the AHL in 2012-2013, even though he logged more than 21 minutes per game for 75 games with the Maple Leafs the year before. Then, with the 2013 season on the line, Gardiner was a healthy scratch in the NHL down the stretch and for the first game of the Leafs’ playoff series against Boston, only to get inserted into the lineup for the next six games, scoring five points and playing 23:01 per game, second only to Dion Phaneuf. This back-and-forth with Gardiner’s usage, from healthy scratch to 23 minutes a night and back again, doesn’t seem to fit with a player who has been Toronto’s best puck possession defenceman since he arrived in 2011-2012. MAPLE LEAFS DEFENCE 2011-14 PLAYER Corsi% CorsiRel% Jake Gardiner 48.4% +4.4% John-Michael Liles 48.1% +0.7% Luke Schenn 47.0% -3.0% Cody Franson 46.9% +2.9% Dion Phaneuf 44.6% -1.2% Morgan Rielly 44.5% +2.8% Carl Gunnarsson 44.4% -1.6% Mark Fraser 43.6% -0.5% The popular notion this summer was that, with the Maple Leafs paying more attention to analytics, Gardiner would be a fixture on the Leafs’ blueline, as opposed to showing up in endless trade rumours, and when Gardiner was given a five-year, $20.25-million deal, that appeared to support that expectation. Gardiner wasn’t great in the Leafs’ first two losses and then the Leafs won their next two games, which makes it almost surprising that Toronto is prepared to insert him back into the lineup Friday night in place of struggling veteran Stephane Robidas. That Gardiner and Petry, two relatively competent possession defencemen, are candidates to be healthy scratches on teams that have had woeful possession numbers, shows that while there has been progress when it comes to the use of modern analytics in hockey, thats not the entirety of the decision-making process. From Thursdays action... HABS GET BETTER OF BRUINS Emotions were running high, but there were no real fireworks in a 6-4 Montreal Canadiens win over the Boston Bruins. RW Brendan Gallagher, with two goals and one assist, and LW Max Pacioretty, with a goal and two assists, paced the Habs’ attack. He drew more attention in the build-up to the game, and in his eventual penalty box shenanigans late in the contest, but Bruins LW Milan Lucic had a couple of assists and Boston’s best possession stats (17 shot attempts for, 9 against, 65.4%) in the loss. Canadiens rookie RW Jiri Sekac scored his first NHL goal, and first point, in his fifth career game. If he is going to contribute offensively, Sekac will need to get more pucks on net. He has three shots on goal in five games. His other underlying numbers are okay, though. He’s just above break-even in possession (50.4% of even-strength shot attempts) despite starting 35.7% of his shifts in the offensive zone. More: Bruins G Tuukka Rask allowed five goals on 23 shots and has recorded 20 saves once in five starts this season…Canadiens C David Desharnais, D Alexei Emelin and RW P.A. Parenteau each had two assists for Montreal… Bruins LW Chris Kelly and C David Krejci each added a couple helpers for Boston… Bruins RW Loui Eriksson contributed a goal and an assist… Bruins D Torey Krug registered 10 shot attempts (4 SOG). ISLANDERS UNBEATEN Not only did the New York Islanders secure a 4-3 shootout win over the visiting San Jose Sharks, but they were full measure for it, outshooting San Jose 45-23. Islanders D Nick Leddy had a goal and an assist and, along with fellow blueline newcomer Johnny Boychuk, had a strong possession game. Leddy (30 shot attempts for, 13 against, 69.8%) and Boychuk (29 for, 12 against, 70.7%) have been impact performers in short order. Islanders RW Kyle Okposo notched a goal and an assist, as well as 13 shot attempts (7 SOG). His centre, John Tavares, added a pair of assists, giving him nine points in four games to start the year. Sharks D Brent Burns had a goal and an assist, while C Joe Thornton had a couple of assists. More: Sharks G Alex Stalock stopped 42 of 45 shots… Sharks D Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a team-leading eight shot attempts (4 SOG)… Sharks fourth-liners LW Tye McGinn (1 shot attempt for, 16 against, 5.9%) and C Chris Tierney (1 for, 15 against, 6.3%) were hemmed into their own end all night. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT A balanced attack, with six different goal-scorers, led Washington to a comfortable 6-2 win over New Jersey. Devils rookie D Damon Severson scored both goals for New Jersey and was an all-around force, with nine shot attempts (8 SOG) as well as strong possession stats (28 for, 11 against, 71.8%) in a losing effort. Capitals RW Troy Brouwer and defencemen Mike Green, Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik all had a couple of assists. More: Devils G Cory Schneider was pulled after allowing five goals on 26 shots…Capitals rookie C Andre Burakovsky scored a goal, giving him two goals and three assists in the first four games of his NHL career. SHOOTOUT IN MANHATTAN The New York Rangers took a 2-1 shootout win against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes. Hurricanes rookie LW Chris Terry scored his third goal in four games. Given that he has four shots on goal through four games, that pace may be difficult to maintain. Rangers C Derick Brassard tied the game, scoring his third goal in five games. Hurricanes D Ryan Murphy had 11 shot attempts (6 SOG). C Dominic Moore led the Rangers with eight shot attempts (5 SOG). More: Hurricanes G Anton Khudobin stopped 33 of 34 shots; Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 of 30 LATE HEROICS After scoring a hat trick in the Dallas’ last game, Stars C Tyler Seguin scored with three seconds remaining to give the Stars a 3-2 win in Pittsburgh. Stars D Alex Goligoski recorded a team-high 8 shot attempts and C Jason Spezza added a couple of assists. Penguins LW Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist, with a game-high six shots on goal and seven hits. More: Stars D Brenden Dillon had strong possession numbers (19 shot attempts for, 10 against, 65.5%), despite facing Pittsburgh’s scoring lines, in part because he started 91.7% of his even-strength shifts in the offensive zone…Penguins D Kris Letang (32 for, 16 against, 66.7%) had Pittsburgh’s best possession stats. AVALANCHE FALLING Senators C David Legwand had a goal and an assist as the Ottawa Senators took a 5-3 decision from the Colorado Avalanche. With G Semyon Varlamov injured, the Avs also lost Reto Berra 2:46 into the game, forcing them to press Calvin Picard into action. Pickard, a second-round pick in 2010, was making his NHL debut after posting a 913 SV% in 94 career AHL games, and allowed four goals on 27 shots. Senators D Erik Karlsson had an assist to go with a game-high 12 shot attempts (6 SOG). Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and led the Avalanche with nine shot attempts (7 SOG). More: Avalanche D Erik Johnson (6 shot attempts for, 21 against, 22.2%) had a rough night possession-wise, while Senators rookie RW Curtiz Lazar (one assist; 14 for, 3 against, 82.4%) responded well after a game in the press box. QUICK SAVES KINGS As the St. Louis Blues try to make the jump to elite status in the Western Conference, and therefore the NHL, one of the teams that serves as a measuring stick is the Los Angeles Kings. So, the Blues went into Los Angeles Thursday night, outshot the Kings 43-18 and still ended up with just one point, losing 1-0 in a shootout. Kings G Jonathan Quick stopped all 43 shots he faced, and Blues G Brian Elliott turned aside all 18 he faced, until Jeff Carter got one in the first round of the shootout. The Blues, trying to generate offence, shifted RW Vladimir Tarasenko to a line with LW Alex Steen and C Paul Stastny, and that trio generated better than 80% of the even-strength shot attempts when they were on the ice; they just couldn’t find the back of the net. More: Blues D Kevin Shattenkirk had a game-high eight shot attempts (5 SOG) for the Blues. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Cheap Carolina Panthers Gear . Thats 14 consecutive losses to the two-time defending champs, and most of them were over before they even began. Result notwithstanding, Sundays game had a very different feel to it. Authentic Carolina Panthers Jerseys .28 for a combined time of 1:14.70, also an Olympic record. Lee won the gold medal, defending her title from the Vancouver Games. http://www.cheappanthers.com/. Just ask last seasons Supporters Shield winners, the New York Red Bulls, who were resoundingly defeated last weekend by a rampant Vancouver Whitecaps in a match which produced two contenders for MLS Goal of the Week from Sebastian Fernandez and Pedro Morales. Stitched Carolina Panthers Jerseys . Paul George and Darren Collison each scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers (9-3), who won their third straight. Carolina Panthers Jerseys China . Simona Halep of Romania claimed the fifth title of her career by beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the womens final. After trading sets, Gasquet trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke back to 4-4 in a game that went to seven deuces with Kukushkin constantly failing on his forehand shots.Andy Carroll had a quiet transfer deadline day. He trained, prepared himself for his first home start of the season and got rid of some overdue baggage, finally shaving off his overgrown beard. It was three years to the day since he was the most expensive British signing in history. January 31st, 2011 changed the Gateshead lad forever. Playing and scoring goals for his boyhood club, Newcastle United, Carroll was enjoying the dream life - on the pitch. Off it was a constant battle. That Andy Carroll came with some serious baggage. Multiple assault charges finally saw him granted bail on the condition of him moving to a permanent residence, rather than a hotel. Newcastle teammate Kevin Nolan took him in and put a curfew on Carroll to help him stay out of trouble. "I said he could stay, I cleared it with the Mrs, of course, first, Nolan later reflected. She was down in Liverpool a lot of the time so we were like roommates. He was a pretty good cook. Pasta with tomatoes, chicken; things like that." On the field, Nolan wanted nothing changed and loved making runs from midfield to get on the end of a knockdown by the big striker. Back at the family home, issues around Carroll continued when his car was set on fire in the driveway and graffiti was written all over the garage door. The Nolan family stuck by him as the midfielder revealed to the Guardian, back in 2010: "Andy has got to be indoors for 10.30pm and he has got to be in bed by 11pm. Wed already got the kids on curfews, so its no trouble to enforce.What I have learnt about Andy, though, is that hes always asleep at the wrong time, like when I get him up early to do the school run with me. He gets up at 10 to eight and we leave at five past. We then have our breakfast at the training ground. I dont know if he likes it but thats the way it is." Carroll would later see the assault charges dropped and as he moved out of the Nolan household, he did with much less baggage. Nolan told the Daily Mirror in 2012: "When you look back on it now, it was bizarre him staying with us, but it worked. In our family, thats what we do for our friends. Ive been brought up like that by my mum and dad. "I know Andy was very grateful for what we did for him, thats why were so close. He has his family there for him but sometimes you need other people as well." Carrolls 35 million pound move to Liverpool in 2011 was called a dream move by Nolan, who was obviously delighted for his mate, but the dream soon turned out to be a nightmare for Carroll. It was not a move that came too soon for him. It was simply a move that should never have come at all. Liverpool captured the Englishman on the day they let Fernando Torres leave. The 35 million pound figure they paid was never what Carroll was worth. It was simply a number Newcastle, on the final day of the transfer window, would allow their goal scorer to leave for. Incredibly, Liverpool took the bait and Carrolls life changed forever. Sure, there were some good moments, such as scoring the winner at Wembley over Everton in the FA Cup semifinal, but there were some tough moments too and when Kenny Dalglish was replaced by Brendan Rodgers as manager, it was only a matter of time that Carroll would be moved on. Nineteen months after signing at Anfield, Carroll was reunited with Nolan, this time down south at West Ham, agreeing to a season-long loan. "He has learned so much. There is a different lad standing in that dressing room now. There is a man who can look after himself and do the right things on a daily basis," Nolan said. Carroll did enough last season to convince the Hammers to pay Liverpool 15 million pounds and hand the striker a new six year contract. Except, once again, Carroll came with baggage, this time in the case of a heel injury that he picked up on the final day of last season against Reading. The injury proved to be far worse than original thought and with Carroll out for months; West Ham struggled badly, causing mmany to panic, including the clubs co-owner David Sullivan.dddddddddddd. "Had we known he would be out for this long, we would not have signed him," Sullivan told the BBCs Football Focus in December. "We are not a rich enough club to deal with that. You know any player can get injured, but we cant buy a player knowing he is going to be out for half the season. When we signed him we were assured by the medical staff that the very, very latest he would be back was September 1st. That would have meant he would only miss two league games." Sullivan has every right to look after his investments but it seemed a bizarre thing to say publicly. Even if he privately believed it, it is not as if the money spent on Carroll could have gone on another player who would have instantly changed the clubs fortunes. You only have to look at the long list of strikers bought for a lot of money, in the Premier League, to know many do not work out. Injury or no injury, that label is yet to be attached to the now 25-year-old Carroll. The jury still remains out on what he can actually become. On Saturday he started his second game of the season, at home to Swansea, and in the first half showed exactly why West Ham wanted to spend that amount of money on him. Carroll was magnificent, finding pockets of space to hold up the ball and supply wide men, choosing his battles in between Chico Flores and Dwight Tiendalli, to regularly win aerial duels, and then winning two significant headers that set up the games two goals, in a 2-0 West Ham win. The beneficiary? Nolan of course. Like Carroll, the 2013-14 season had been a season to forget so far for the Hammers captain but he had no injury to blame for his torrid campaign. Nolan scored 10 goals from midfield last season and had been expected to score regularly again this season but, heading into Saturday, the 31-year-old had as many league red cards as goals this season (2). After the second red card, against Fulham in December, manager Sam Allardyce had seen enough, fining him two weeks wages (100 thousand pounds), saying: "Our captain was irresponsible. Not just today but for the future because he is suspended. Hes let everyone down and himself. I just dont quite understand where hes lost his cool and why its happened." Nolan sat out seven games through suspension but on Saturday he was reunited with his mate, playing just behind Carroll, giving West Ham fans what they hope to be a glimpse at the partnership that can keep their team in the Premier League this season. Except, once again more baggage comes with Carroll. In the second half on Saturday he was sent off for extending a wild arm to Chico Floress head. Allardyce called it an injustice and plans to appeal against it but if that is unsuccessful Carroll will again sit out for three more games. Once Carroll returns he will have gone nine months without playing a full 90 minutes. He will have three months to not only play a pivotal role in saving West Hams season but also attempt to get on Roy Hodgsons England plane to Brazil. At the moment he appears to be completely off Hodgsons radar but in just 45 minutes on Saturday he showed why he should be more than just considered if he can play regularly. Carroll offers something completely different to the England manager, who has enough quick forwards looking to get in behind a defensive line. Carroll showed against Sweden in Euro 2012 that he can be a real handful for international defenders if the quality of the deliveries into the box is high. West Ham became the final Premier League team to score a headed goal this season on Saturday and if they can improve their crosses and get Carroll heavily involved down the stretch then do not rule out the forward making an unlikely late, successful attempt at the 23rd and final player seat on the plane to Brazil. Time is certainly running out but if Carroll can remove the personal baggage, he may well be packing his own baggage to the World Cup. 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