Thursday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Pens
Japers' Rink — [image] [ NHL.com Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] Hey, it's the Penguins. Killer. I could make a crack about Sidney Crosby 's 41-point pace . Or comment on how horrid their power play has been through four games. Or how Marc-Andre Fleury has already seen far more rubber than any other goalie in the League. But these are the Penguins. You know who they really are (hint: who you think they are , of course) and what they can do, especially when they are, um, due. And while it's hard to make much of anything of early numbers (a wise man noted that we don't know anything about anything ), a few early data ...

Where's your crown King Wellwood?
Waiting For Stanley — It's no secret that I have been a Wellwood fan since he first played for the Leafs. It's great to see a story like this where he has been blasted for his lack of fitness, becomes unwanted through waivers, then becomes needed because of a Demitra injury, and then performs as well as he has. That's 3 points in 2 games. That would be the game-winning goal he scored last night. Was that a pretty goal or what? What patience he has with the puck. His talent is undenied. The Canucks have found themselves a power play specialist. Another thing that I like about Wellwood is that he'll chase the puck in the corner knowing he is going to get hit, but rather than turn the puck over, he ...

Canucks kick off 4-game road trip today against Islanders
Waiting For Stanley — ... So how lousy are the Islanders? They are currently 28th in the NHL. Their goals per game is 21st overall. Their goals against is 22nd. Their powerplay efficiency is 26th overall at a 14.6% rate. Their PK is 9th overall at an 84.3% kill rate. The Islanders have more shots per game than the Canucks do, but they ...

Wednesday Roundup/Gamenight: Caps @ Ducks
Japers' Rink — [image] [ AP Preview - WashingtonCaps.com Preview ] The last time the Caps were in Anaheim, Alex Ovechkin potted his first career hat trick in a 3-2 Caps overtime win over J.S. Giguere and the Ducks, and that OTL still stands as one of only two blemishes on Jiggy's unbelievable 3-1-1/1.39/.951 resume against Washington. In fact, take away that night's "shelling" and Jiggy is an even more ridiculous 3-1-0/1.00/.966 against the Caps... of course, take away AO and a lot of goalies' numbers look much better. Besides being the site of one of the Great Eight's many coming out parties, Anaheim was also home to Sergei Fedorov for just over a season - 85 ...

Canucks' D a bit banged up and sick heading into Pittsburgh
Waiting For Stanley — ... average of 3.10. -The Canucks have the edge on the Pens in goals against per game and sit at 4th best in the NHL. Luongo's shutout streak didn't hurt that! -The Canucks are 2nd best in the NHL 5-on-5 (Boston is first) while the Penguins are 8th best. -I thought the Penguins' power play would be better this year, but it sits at 14th, while the Canucks are 18th. -Penalty kill efficiency: advantage Pittsburgh -Shots per game average: advantage Pittsburgh...barely -Shots against per game average: a tie. Crosby ...

Canucks-Flames preview
Waiting For Stanley — I like the attitude of Ryan Johnson. When asked if he will change his game when he comes back 3-5 weeks from now, as he has a broken finger and foot, he said "No." Johnson is a gutsy, character guy. He will be hard to replace. Alexandre Bolduc will try to fill Johnson's role the best he can. “Here, I’m not going to try to do anything crazy, I’m going to play my game, play it safe,” said Bolduc. “Not get noticed in a bad way, keep it simple and go from there. “I think there are lot of guys they could have called up from our team, we’re on a roll right now. Ryan Johnson is a defensive guy and they wanted someone who could fill that role, so I’m just ...

Canucks have to take down the Wild tonight
Waiting For Stanley — ...not only because they can retake possession of first spot in the Northwest Division, but also because he longer this losing streak goes the harder it is on player and team chemistry and morale. I'm not feeling overly confident in the Canucks' abilities to play a tight 60 minutes at this point. I'm also not overly confident in the abilities of Sanford or Schneider. Both have played well, there is no doubt, but they need to steal a game at some point. And to continue the broken record.... the players in front of them need to tighten up defensively. 5 goals scored against the Wings is great, but not when you allow 6 against. -The Wild are coming off a 4-0 win over the ...

Saturday Roundup - Gamenight: Caps @ Leafs
Japers' Rink — ... the team he took to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year behind the bench for them. What does he have in store for the Caps this time around? If yesterday's practice is any indication (h/t TRS on the link), it may very well be sixty minutes of hell. The Leafs come into the game with a crappy record due largely to the fact that they're giving up a ton of goals (funny how things tend to work out that way). They can score, though, and they shoot the puck a ton, which is more than a little bit frightening considering the defense they'll ...

Canucks have to put aside distraction and beat the Hawks tonight
Waiting For Stanley — ... . -while the Canucks are near the League basement in shots per game, the Hawks are 6th best. Am I scaring you yet? It is going to take a well-disciplined game from the Canucks and a steal of a game by Curtis Sanford to stop this Hawks team. A character win over the Hawks would be such a boost to Vancouver, let alone Sanford. T Tags: ...

Trying to stay positive about the Canucks (5 stages)
Waiting For Stanley — I had a great sleep last night and have completely calmed down after the disheartening 6-4 loss to the Blues last night, and I have come to the following conclusions: 1. Sundin is going to be taking a lot of heat in this city and world-wide not only until he gets his game back, but also when the team wins at a more consistent level. It looks as though it's going to take him several games to compete at that level. Patience is required here. He was mostly to blame for 2 of the Blues' goals because of a lousy line change and an unfortunate slashing penalty. Had the Blues defenders' stick not broken, Sundin was playing at a level where he could have either scored or set up ...

Thursday Roundup - The $4.875 Million Question
Japers' Rink — ... , which is nice, as the Caps' have the best differential in the Eastern Conference.... Apparently the world (at least two guys at ESPN) is ...

Numbers Game: “Shoot the Puck!”
IllegalCurve.com — Shoot the puck - One of the oldest adages in the game; coaches preach it, some players follow it (see Alexander Ovechkin, Jeff Carter), while others seem to painfully adverse to it (see Tomas Kaberle).  The 18,000+ “qualified” coaches that attend the NHL games (with obvious notable exceptions in Atlanta, Phoenix, etc.) scream it on every offensive rush.  What do the stats say though?  Do more shots lead to more goals?  It makes sense.  More shots, more rebounds, more offensive pressure, more goals. The numbers confirm it, to a certain degree (check stats below).  ...

Suddenly hot Canucks look to beat Desert Dogs
Nucks Misconduct — ... means they will fall to 9th spot as the Oilers have more wins. So it's going to be a playoff-like game. For a team that has the same amount of wins as us, the Coyotes suck in most of the significant categories:   They rank 20th or worse in the following categories: Goals per game: 25th Goals against per game: 21st 5 on 5: 28th Power Play efficiency: 29th PK efficiency: 21st Shots per game: 27th Shots against per game: 25th Now for the good: ...

Canucks vs Ducks (Uh-oh, not another game against a non-playoff team)
Nucks Misconduct — ... Does Woody have any finish left in him? Keep in mind that Mattias Ohlund only needs 1 more point to break the Canucks' points record by a defenceman. COMPARATIVE STATS -The Canucks have scored more goals per game on average than the Ducks. -The Canucks have allowed fewer goals per game than Anaheim. -Vancouver is also: better 5 on 5, a fair bit worse on the power play, barely worse at killing penalties, get less shots per game,  and, by a slim margin, allow less shots against ...

Playoff Teams vs. Non-Playoff Teams
IllegalCurve.com — As the 2009 NHL Playoffs is set to begin tonight, today’s Numbers Game looks at the statistical comparison between teams that qualified for the playoffs and those that did not. As expected, playoff teams scored, on average, 0.24 more goals/game in the East and 0.46 more goals/game in the West.  Playoff teams also had better goals against averages, higher power play and penalty kill percentages, and took more shots per game. Of note, the Rangers, who finished with the 2nd worst G/g in the East (2.44 G/g) and the worst powerplay in the league (13.9%), were well below both the Playoff team and non-playoff team averages. However, those numbers were ...