Deja Vu for North Shore Red Lines with 8-1 loss against Charros.

The North Shore Red Liners faced a formidable opponent in their first meeting against Charros. They would end up losing 13-1. This time, the Red Liners hoped that experience and improved line combinations would allow them to improve from their previous meeting. In the end, they would lose 8-1 but did put up a stronger fight.

The first period started out strong for the Red Liners. This was similar to the last two games. The first goal scored would be against them but was almost 1/2 way into the first period. The boys and girl in red would be down only 2-0 after the first period which is an improvement from their games earlier in the season. Both goals appeared to originate from typical defensive breakdowns: unable to catch a sprinter on a breakaway and trouble clearing the puck out the defensive zone.

The Red Liners had more offensive changes in the second period. The three left wingers, Motts, Mixy, and Toto each had great chances to score on breakaways. In one notable breakaway, Toto was all alone on his breakaway but was stonewalled by the Charros’ netminder. Friendly jeers were heard from his own teammates. The opponents would notch three more goals in this period. A slapshot from the blue line slipped past the Red Liners’ netminder. A dumped puck into the Liners’ zone got past their defensemen and was picked up by a Charros’ player. He fired a sharp angled puck into the back of the Liners’ net. The last goal of the period was off a scramble in front of the net.

More offensive chances were taken in the third period by the Liners as they tried to avoid a shutout. They would breakthrough with a hard-fought effort in front of the Charros’ net. B-hole at the far post fired a loose puck at the net. The puck rebounded to the near post. Big Daddy tried several backhand shots but was stopped by the sprawled Charros goalie. It would be Motts who swung from behind the net and popped the puck over the goalie. The opponents would get three more goals but the final gasp would be from the Liners. As the second were ticking down, a hurried faceoff results in a traffic jam in front of the net. Multiple sticks were batting at the puck. One did manage to toss the puck into the net but the buzzer would go off while the puck was still in the air.

As the Red Liners finish up their second pass through their opponents, they do seem to be decreasing their goals against but the offense has been anemic recently. While further refinements in defensive lines, minimize solo breakaways, and improving puck clearing why get the goals against score lower, the Liners will have to crank up their own goal scoring to become more competitive this season. The work continues next week as they meet up with ShutUr5Hole at Thursday, Dec 13 at 10:40pm.