Here Come The Hawks.......

It looks like Hawks goaltender Mac Carruth (photo by Marissa Baecker) isn't impressed that his team is facing the Rockets in round one.
All joking aside, the best of seven series begins Friday in Portland.
I am all about sharing my opinion on this series, which I will later this week. I think fans on either side of this series appreciate some opinion rather than all the factual information that can be obtained from a score-sheet. But for the moment, here are some of the numbers when evaluating/comparing these two teams.

The Hawks had 49 wins this season, 18 more than the Rockets 31 victories. The largest disparity was in goals scored. Portland scored a whopping 328 times, 111 more than the Rockets. Goals allowed were close though. Portland surrendered 229 goals against, only 13 fewer than the Rockets. In the four games in the seasonal series, the Rockets were 0-3-0-1 and were out-scored 15-9.

Here is some other data to munch on:

• Portland had 104 power play goals this season, 32 more than the Rockets.
• Both teams were granted over 300 power play chances this season. The Rockets had 328 chances with the extra man while the Hawks had 29 more power play opportunities.
• The two teams were separated by 30 points in the standings. The Hawks had 102 while the Rockets had 72 points.
• While the Hawks didn't lose a game in the seasonal series, two of the four games were decided by a single goal.
• The Rockets out-shot the Hawks in two of the four games but were out-shot 149-123 overall.
• The Hawks had 14 players with ten or more goals as compared to the nine players on the Rockets that had ten or more goals. The Hawks had six players with 20+ while the Rockets had three.
• The Hawks were 4 for 16 on the power play (25%) in the four games. The Rockets were 2 for 20 (10%) in the seasonal series.
• The seasonal series featured two penalty shots. Brad Ross failed to score on Adam Brown and Charles Wells didn't score against Jordon Cooke.

* Note - I welcome both comments from Rockets and Hawks fans on this series. Sharing views, opinions is what it is all about. You may not agree with me, nor I with you, but having healthy debate doesn't hurt anyone.