Parallels between our two home games so far

I noticed a couple of things that the two home games we've played so far have in common.

One thing is that we have had long stretches of both games where we can't get the heck out of our own end and STAY out. Even if we clear the puck or start a rush, we aren't keeping it long enough to actually set ourselves up at the other end and create chances for ourselves. Somehow, when we're going through one of these spells, the opponent has wound up with the biscuit within seconds, and has come back and gotten themselves set up in our zone.

The other issue is that we have gone long stretches in both games without taking a shot on goal. Not surprisingly, this issue has run concurrently with the times when we can't seem to control the puck long enough to be a threat to the opponent.

On Wednesday, John Paddock told the Phan Club that this is one of the youngest teams he's ever coached. So I suspect that as our kids learn from experience, we will see these problems crop up less and less often. At least, I hope that's the case. Otherwise it will be open season on our goalies, at least in the short term until our team straightens this issue out.

Anyway, one of my favorite sayings for a long time has been, "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." So even though we have a young team NOW, they are gaining experience with every shift on the ice. Even if that means getting stripped of the puck or beaten to a loose puck by a veteran rival, it's a concrete experience for our guys to learn from. These are the things we have to witness as fans while our young guys actually go through the process of developing. I can deal with seeing our guys grow out of their inexperience with games like our first two, as long as they keep learning from what went right and wrong for them on every shift.

Bear down tonight and kick some Senator butt, Phantoms. I know we have the talent on this team to rack up some Ws this weekend.