Statistical Oddities…

Our Tuesday weekly column focuses on the strange sublime numbers in the NHL that make you scratch your head and go “WHAT?!”. Today we have rounded up ten more of these strange little stat nuggets for your amusement.

Statistical Oddities brought to you by the Song “Space Oddity”.

• First up. Joe Thornton leading a game in shots on goal for the Sharks. This marks the second game this year that Thornton has fired five shots on goal and yes he is on pace for 232 shots this season…a marked improvement over the 139 from last year.
• Yes the Pittsburgh Penguins lead the league in Penalty Minutes with 139. However what you may not know is the other Eastern Conference finalist last year (Carolina Hurricanes) averages the most penalty minutes per game with 24.4. To think these were teams that drew a ton of penalties. Well Carolina still does.
• Another one of those its early type of things. Buffalo has only scored 4 goals while giving up 3 but did you know that Phoenix has only allowed 7 goals in 5 games. Ilya Bryzgalov has a goals against under 1. Strange but true.
• The Dallas Stars now have the worst PK in the NHL at 56.3%. That explains those 3 overtime losses somewhat now doesn’t it?
• The New York Rangers have 2 shorthanded goals in 6 games already…..already exceeding last year’s total of one.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs have given up 24 goals in 5 games. That is bad enough. They are on pace to give up 394 goals. Did they really improve on defense? Could have TML’d me.
• The Nashville Predators are 0 for the season at home on the Power Play. Yes it is only three games but you would think at some point they had scored one. Nope! The flipside would be LA who has a 36.4% success rate on the PK at Staples.
• Pittsburgh has been getting more power plays lately but Atlanta now averages only 2.67 PP’s per game. What is funny is Columbus is 2nd at 2.75 per (2 for 11 in 4 games). Hey that is one way to keep your success rate respectable. Don’t draw any penalties.
• With the Davy Jones shortie yesterday…the Boston Bruins have allowed 2 SHG’s in their first 5 games. No word on if Claude Julien has figured out a way to stop the bleeding.
• The New York Rangers are tied with Calgary with 24 goals in 6 games (a 4.0 average). The last time the Rangers led the league in goal scoring might have been the Nixon administration. Seriously it has been a long while. Maybe they can score 240 goals this year after all but it is early.

Well that is enough for now. Come back next week for more statistical oddities and it helps if I can spell the word right.