Teams playing the second half of a back to back yesterday had a combined record of 1-5-2 with 9 goals for and 25 against. The only win was Tampa, and in the shootout. They all played inferior opponents (via the standings). The NHL needs to change b2bs.
Side note Both buffalo and Edmonton play a ridiculous 5 games in 7 days coming up. Brutal scheduling
I would’ve put money on OP being a Leafs fan before I opened this
Hey, at least you didn’t get shut out…
Hofer had a hell of game
He really did. Doesn’t he have something like 4 shutouts this year?
Yeah, he had a really bad start but it’s been a lot better
Legitimately took the edge off
Only found this out after talking to my leafs fan buddy at the gym. Found a lot of comparables between our past two games. Then stumbled onto the rest...
Oof... we're just going to pretend last night didnt happen okay?
If it happens at 10 pm and nobody sees it, does it really even count?
I’m still riding the high of beating the Avs
We are too.
Same
Or a Senators fan jinxing the Rangers tonight.
Rangers dont need jinxing.
I like when back to back is scheduled with the same team, that way both are equally exhausted.
The Panthers had that with both Dallas and Tampa last year, playing each other two nights in a row.
I feel like it makes the match up definitely more fair
Agree 100%. Home and homes are fun and should be done more often.
If the team is close it’s also fun to go to both games. I did that with the Tampa one with my kid. We had a blast!
I don't 'like it' but I find it fair at least. Playing a team with multiple days rest on the second half of a b2b is a slop fest though. Terrible product
Pretty sure we did it with Philly this season
We did and it was glorious
Sharks are about to rip an east coast road trip of Capitals + Red Wings back to back, 2 days off, Panthers + Lightning back to back, following a Stars Vegas b2b this weekend, feels unbelievably brutal
It’s one of the worst January schedules I’ve seen in a longtime
Jesus. That's tough for a young team like you guys
Oh man, they are going to get eviscerated. At least it’ll be fun to watch Macklin.
Im going in with low expectations and will be pleasantly suprised, as has been the case this entire season. Wouldn't be suprised if we steal 2 wins
Don't steal them from us, we need them. 😭
Well we aren't stealing from the lightning so our options are limited
Why not? Take it from us, it's fun stealing games from the lightning, twice as fun if you steal them in the playoffs.
also played kings and cbj back to back before stars and vegas
Canucks lost game 2 of a back to back yesterday and nobody is inferior to them in the standings
Forgot to mention the outlier, my bad
I don't envy schedule makers as it's gotta be a lot harder than it looks but they really should find a way to have fewer back to backs. Or at least find a way to have teams both on SEGABABA play each other so that it's less of a scheduled loss
Both on what?
SEcond GAme of a BAck to BAck
That’s some Elliot Friedman level of abbreviation lol
And now that you've learned it you're gonna get baader-meinhof'd and see it a bunch because I did not come up with it lol
Bro I am on Reddit a ton and can confidently say this is a new one lolol
This post from the NBA sub a decade ago is using it, it's been used in hockey a little more recently than that but not much
Damn one of the commenters in that thread even had SEGABABA in their username. Crazy, I’ve been on Reddit for over a decade and can’t recall ever seeing the term lol
Pulling up a single post from a decade ago really doesn’t help your case hahahaha
How many do you need?
source 2
source 3
source 4
Edit: you may need to control-f or search on page for the term
None of those are Reddit or hockey. Idk buddy maybe it’s just an nba term
lol great reference
Reads to me like trying to get in on baseball acronyms. We need hockey equivalents of TOOTBLANS and NOBLETIGERs!
We need something for when you can't score on a full or near full 5v3 powerplay
HE SAID SEGABABA
WE'LL DO IT SEGABABA
Or atleast match up b2bs so both teams are doing the same
Okay, NHL players will no longer go to the Olympics.
Oh were there no back to backs last year? Or the year before? Or any other year since the last Olympics?
You wanted fewer (not "none," but "fewer") back-to-backs than we have right now. There are fewer back-to-backs in non-Olympic years.
I agree. Habs were one of the losing teams last night after playing 5 games in 7 days. They played a solid first two periods and then had absolutely no legs in the third. Best player for Montreal was Montembault who was flown out to Washington in advance and looked well rested. It has to be difficult with the Olympics compressing the schedule, but there has to be a better was then this.
NHLPA needs to make the concession that if they want to play in the Olympics, they also need to start the season 2 weeks early in Olympic years to avoid this.
more hockey in a compressed amount of time. i aint complaining
Some of us are trying to maintain our playoff spots
The on ice product was shit. If not for Edmonton, less than a goal per game combined.
McDavid and Drisaital were piss tired at the end too, they can only do so much. Back to backs are brutal.
82 games is already too much hockey imo, the on-ice product benefits from more rest, fewer injuries and consistent time slots
Imagine you're a West coast team on an East coast road trip for 6 days before heading back home, would you rather:
Have no back to backs, then have to fly back home on day 7 and play at home on day 8
Or
Start with a back to back, play again on day 4 then fly home day 5 and rest until your day on game 8?
I think the only b2bs should be either
A) no travel (home team plays two different opponents)
or
B) home / road split (two teams play a game at each others rink)
I think road b2bs make a lot of sense given how close some teams are
Like if I'm on a NY road trip I don't want to waste a whole week just to play the Isles, Rangers, and Devils when they're all in the same city. That's an extreme example obviously but it works for Eastern Canada, California, Florida, etc
That doesn't answer the logistics question posed
Sorry, trying to skim through the comments, I think it's completely up to the players on that. I'm sure some guys would prefer one, both, or neither (no insane week long road trips). To me, that's a discussion between the players and the league
Canes just got done with a stretch of 10 games in 16 days and i imagine that isn't even that rare this year. Get a whole 2 days off before another stretch of 3 games in 4 days starting friday. Lovely season.
Hey hey hey. How else do you expect us to beat Dallas? Every team has b2bs. Fair is fair.
It’s a condensed schedule because of the Olympics. I think both the players and league need to take a hard look at starting the season almost a month earlier only during Olympic years to avoid this level of condensed schedule as it’s affecting every team and may lead to some guys missing out on participating in the Olympics due to the wear and tear of this season.
Even more brutal, Edmonton *is tied for 4th most back-to-backs of any team this season with 13 (26 games) and every single one includes travel. They have a couple with one game on the road and one at home, but they never have a back-to-back entirely at home. It's insane.
13 is actually lower end of the middle pack. Habs have the most at 16 alongside four other teams. 13 is tied for 9th least amount.
Oh weird, the start-of-season graph I saw must have been internet slop then.
In other words, it's not a huge difference maker in anyone's success.
Need to nerf mcdrai I guess.
The kraken also have 13 back-to-backs, but not all with travel. They play 21 games in 39 days including four back-to-backs during the current stretch. They also did four games in six days recently.
kraken have 17 games this month. so many b2b and then every other day. lotta pain!
At least there's a 6 game home stand in there. Brutal
we're actually on a hot streak since shedding marchment, so we'll happily ride this wave. and we're playing for the cyptid cup tonight! lol
https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/devils-and-kraken-announced-that-they-re-playing-tonight-s-game-for-the-cryptid-cup look at this magnificent thing
I don't mind b2b but I just wish teams faced another team on a b2b as much as possible
I saw a stat from a reddit user that the Win rate for teams on the second half of a b2b is 42% and he didn't even account for the rare times they played another b2b team.
Agreed. It needs to be b2b teams only play other b2b teams if we're gonna keep doing it and it should have to be somewhere near the first team for the team that has to travel.
somone should do the math on the farthest distance traveled for the 2nd game. kraken did philly to vancouver already
Leafs in particular clearly left nothing in the tank to beat Colorado in OT, you got a sense of “ah fuck come on” from anyone who received a pass last night lmao
Not to take anything from a Mammoth team that’s been solid this year, their youth and energy would present an issue any time they’d play us but man was it magnified by the fact that nobody on Toronto wanted to be there
Exact same spot for Detroit against Carolina the night before. The comparison from those two teams led to me digging a little deeper
Yeah, we got our ass whooped by the blues
The Sharks are getting screwed this month on back to backs. They have 4 back to backs in a row.
I do appreciate that, if you have to have a b2b, let both teams be in the same boat. Or, at least, prioritize being b2b at home.
Then again, did it help the sharks against Vegas? No.
IIRC, despite being the worst team last year, I believe the Sharks were the best team in the NHL in the 2nd game of back to backs
This year there's a couple extra b2b because of the 3 week break for the Olympics.
People complained about how long the season went and also about players not at the Olympics. Now we have a shortened calendar season and Olympics so this is what we get
It's almost like there's something unique about this season, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
It's also worth noting that Edmonton has travel between all their back-to-backs. How many teams managed to get back-to-backs with no travel? I feel that might be another big factor on the b2b record.
Can we get a stat going in the league of b2b with travel vs b2b without travel?
What do you propose they do? There are only two ways to fix it. Either shorten the schedule (which they absolutely will not do) or extend the season (which they absolutely will not do).
Less games. Or I had another solution posted in this thread
Well get ready for more. League is going to 84 games after this year
It's the Olympics
back to backs have always been part of the NHL grind, but numbers like that really highlight how much they skew competitive balance, especially in today’s faster, more system heavy game where fatigue kills structure. travel, late finishes, and goalie usage all compound it, so even inferior opponents get a massive built in edge, which cheapens the product and the standings a bit. the league has reduced B2Bs over the years, but stretches like 5 games in 7 days for teams like Buffalo and Edmonton still feel excessive and unnecessary given modern analytics, player safety concerns, and the NHL’s emphasis on parity.
There is absolutely no reason for back to back games.
There is when you consider mandatory days off/travel days, there's not an infinite amount of time to play all 82
arena availability is a big one too
Plus arena availability. Most if not all NHL arenas also host concerts and NBA games and stuff
Only 10 arenas share both an NHL and NBA team.
The regular season is 192 days long. 82 game season needs 163 days. Without the Olympics break, it's completely doable. Dump the preseason games. Travel days? Every team has their own airplane. Most of the flights are 3 hours or less.
Just think in 4 years, teams will be playing 84 on top of the Olympics
It's just purely scheduling. If you switched the ~15 b2b that teams play over the season, you're adding like 3 weeks.
Not true at all. Plenty of 2 or 3 day breaks in the schedule. The regular season is 192 days long. 82 games need 163 days. Between Olympic and Christmas break, they still could do no back to back games.
The Sharks are currently in the middle of a stretch of four back to backs in a row :')
https://preview.redd.it/iukixzrz4edg1.jpeg?width=1273&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=058610d1aa8b19ded0c8f1b2beeb3a711bfdfb11
Bizzaro scheduling. At least two days off in between sets of games.
It's so bad this season because of the Olympics.
Even after accounting for the Olympics some of the scheduling is weird. Tampa had 1 game in 6 days last week followed by 3 games in 4 days
Same with toronto who have 17 or 18 games in the month of january.
Usually its cause of the other teams when thats the case.
Make the schedules for all the teams and get back to us.
I think in normal years, you're right. Unfortunately with the Olympics this year it does make sense. It's still ridiculous however
Do the math. Even with the Olympics it does not make sense.