Canucks and Sharks - Game One Scoring Chances

Yeah, the series is over, but I thought it would still be nice to have a complete set for the series, and so I'll be posting Games One and Two over the next couple of days. In Game One, the Sharks led for large portions of the game, which created a bit of an illusion, namely that the Sharks were playing well. In fact, this was probably their worst game of the series five-on-five in terms of carrying the play (the lack of discipline in Game Two obviously hurt them). The Canucks ended up coming back in the third, and got the well-deserved win. Scoring chances and more after the jump.

Scoring Chances

For those who'd like a definition: a scoring chance is defined as a clear play directed toward the opposing net from a dangerous scoring area - loosely defined as the top of the circle in and inside the faceoff dots, though sometimes slightly more generous than that depending on the amount of immediately-preceding puck movement or screens in front of the net. Blocked shots are generally not included but missed shots are. A player is awarded a scoring chance anytime he is on the ice and someone from either team has a chance to score. He is awarded a "chance for" if someone on his team has a chance to score and a "chance against" if the opposing team has a chance to score. Finally, a big thanks to Vic Ferrari for making the whole damn thing possible with his awesome scripts.

The Canucks dominated the first period, and the Sharks owned most of the second. The chances were actually at 9-8 Vancouver before the big Canucks' flurry to end the period (and with five chances on the same sequence, all of Salo, Edler, Kesler, Higgins, and Raymond look better than they deserve, while Boyle, Vlasic, Heatley, Clowe, and Couture all look worse than they deserve), but from that point on things were really ugly for San Jose. Like, really ugly.

Lovers of God

3. Devin Setoguchi - By some miracle he ended up even in scoring chances, and he was also instrumental in creating the Sharks' first goal. Granted, it was a pretty typical forecheck toward the goaltender, but that play did force Luongo to move the puck, and the goalie made a terrible mistake. In addition, Setoguchi was singled out by Glen Healy, which is a surefire way to win my sympathy, especially when the guy didn't do anything wrong on the play!

2. Henrik Sedin - It wasn't his best game, but it wasn't bad either and that play he made on the winner gets him here all by itself. What a dangle.

1. Ryan Kesler -Picked up right where he left off from the Nashville series, except of course for actually putting the puck in the net. Kesler was dominant against Couture's line, but was also very solid against the big guns, going +3 -1 against Joe Thornton at even strength. He and his linemates were also solid in terms of possession with Kesler posting a +12 (Raymond and Higgins were both +16) on a team that went +23.

Lovers of Money

3. Roberto Luongo -This was not a close game, but Luongo's gaffe near the end of the first period made it look a lot closer. When your opponents are having a hard time generating anything, it's imperative that you not give them any freebies. Luongo didn't pass that test.

2. Dan Boyle - He made a very good play walking the line on San Jose's second goal of the game, but that was about it for highlights. Granted, he was playing mostly against Kesler and the Sedins, but this guy needed to be a whole lot better in the defensive zone than he actually was.

1. Dany Heatley - His line was absolutely atrocious all night long and I strongly considered making Ryan Clowe and Logan Couture the other two in this dishonorable mention section, but figured some variety might be nice. Heatley got the nod because of the penalty that led to the winner, even if it was a bit of a soft call. In fact, his luck with the officiating was bad all night long, what with the brutal offside call that denied him a scoring chance. Still, officiating ain't the reason he did so poorly, and it ain't the reason the Sharks lost.