We all know first goals are big. When you’re a team that doesn’t score much and you’re giving up that first goal a couple of minutes into the game, it’s problematic.
But as Tom Benjamin* reminded us a long time ago, every goal is big. Reading in a couple of places on Twitter tonight about the Islanders’ first-goal records made me wonder about the Sound Tigers’. (Especially after the Islanders came back — three points for Kyle Okposo, and the first in the Show for Travis Hamonic — to win.)
So here they are.
| Goal No. | When BPT scores it… | When BPT allows it… |
| 1 | 16-8-0-1 (.660) | 3-15-3-2 (.239) |
| 2 | 11-8-2-3 (.563) | 8-14-1-0 (.370) |
| 3 | 10-3-1-1 (.733) | 9-19-2-2 (.344) |
| 4 | 8-6-0-1 (.567) | 8-12-1-2 (.413) |
| 5 | 9-7-1-0 (.559) | 6-9-0-1 (.406) |
| 6 | 6-2-1-1 (.700) | 3-11-0-0 (.214) |
| 7 | 7-4-0-0 (.636) | 0-8-1-0 (.056) |
| 8 | 4-4-0-0 (.500) | 1-3-0-0 (.250) |
| 9 | 2-0-0-0 (1.000) | 1-4-0-0 (.200) |
| 10 | 0-1-0-0 (.000) | 1-1-0-0 (.500) |
| 11 | 0-1-0-0 (.000) | —- |
Shootout bonuses not included.
So, clearly the first goal isn’t nearly as important as the seventh, or sometimes the third. And maybe the sixth.
(/tongue from cheek)
…
Edit: Nope, can’t sleep. Bridgeport’s points percentage when allowing the first goal is tied for last in the AHL. (Last, on the tiebreaker.) The bottom five were bunched pretty tightly. Interesting combination: Binghamton (.239), Rochester (.240), Providence (.250), and the Whale(rs) (.260). Six teams are at or above points-.500 when allowing the first goal. The three over: Wilkes-Barre (stunner, .667), San Antonio (.547) and Portland (.520).
And before you get too excited over Bridgeport being last: It’s only 22nd of 30 in points percentage when it scores first, too.
…
I’ve been to Morris, Ill.; had dinner there a time or two. It’s about 20 miles southwest of where my brother used to live, before he came back here a few years ago. I sent him a text about this tonight. He said he’d been in touch with some of his friends out there. They’re “safe but buried,” he said.
And that’s what’s coming our way. Stay dry. Stay warm. Stay safe. Hopefully back to the grind Thursday, assuming there aren’t trees and power lines across the driveway.
*-Whom I’d lost for some time, somehow. Glad to think of his name and find him again.