Our goal as always is to provide you with ten of the odder stats that you will find straight off various hockey sites. These stats are not to protect the innocent. There is one I almost have to include right off the bat because it is downright insane but if you are a Ducks fan….it is something you are not proud of. Let’s get into the ten for this week.
Our Ten Statistical Oddities Of The Week!
- Five power play goals from the Leafs? Seriously five??? I know they had 11 chances but still. They had more 5 on 3’s than most teams in a month seriously. Truly a crazy night in Anaheim that really you felt sorry for Jonas Hiller. No goalie should ever have to go thru that. Count all the 2 man advantages right here.
- Marian Gaborik went 11 games without being injured for the Rangers and on the 12th he hurt his knee apparently. We apologize to all Ranger fans but oddly enough Martin Havlat is more injury prone (most man games lost post lockout). Havlat just came back from a groin injury (yes you gueesed it).
- Our goal of getting every team above 10% on the Power Play is getting closer to fruition. However the Predators are at 8.3% and Columbus was under the whole year just about. There always has to be one right? It takes injuries and a lot of bad luck to be that awful on the Power Play. For the record the last team to be in the bottom 5 on the Power Play and win the Stanley Cup was the 2003 New Jersey Devils.
- The Minnesota Wild have 55 chances on the man advantage in just 11 games. That puts them on pace for nearly 400 on the season. I am guessing they think they are the Edmonton Oilers of 1985 or just last year’s Carolina Hurricanes. The last time a team did that was Carolina with 420 in the 2007-08 season.
- Tomas Vokoun is giving up an average of 40.7 shots per game in the games he starts and 39.6 overall. The last time any goalie gave up more than 40 shots a game was well…it was a long time ago. Actually it has never happened for goalies playing more than 48 games in a season. Not even Luongo or Fuhr or Moog folks.
- On the ninth game, Vincent Lecavalier scored. Congrats to Vinnie. Its about time. Looking back its rare to see 40 goal scorers take this long to get their first of the season. The fact that it took 30 shots may have honestly been more surprising for this sniper.
- Ryan O’Reilly for Calder? Maybe. He has 10 points in 11 games and a +10 but the weird thing is when is the last time you heard of a rookie lead the league in +/-? I will be waiting for Hades on that one I know. In a rare bit of brilliance, Ryan also has no penalty minutes in those ten games. Now that is some rare stuff.
- Cristobal Huet is facing 22 shots a game I kid you not. Yet he has an .885 save percentage. Further proof, that maybe he cannot really see the puck after all. Chicago is playing even tighter defense than Phoenix who employs a more defensive system. A surprise to say the least. Funny that Huet is 10th in GAA too.
- The Anaheim Ducks are giving up over 35 shots a game. Could it be because of their lack of discipline? Possibly. They lead the league with 16 power play goals allowed. For a team with some pretty good defensive players and two way players…that is disgusting. Especially last night’s display and their 1-5 home record.
- Lastly, this one. 15 teams have a PP success rate greater than 20%. That is half the league. Hell what is next half the league’s starting goalies have a save percentage of .900 or greater? That would be asking too much or would it? By the way 20 of them do. Scary thought this year…they must be facing a ton of rubber and that they are. Shots are considerably up.
Well until next week we bid adieu…..have fun with those numbers everyone!!!!
