Blackhawks 3 - Sharks 2: Game Three Scoring Chances

Oof. This one was a heart-breaker for the Sharks. They had the better of the play through three periods and then watched Chicago jump all over them in overtime. Todd McClellan came into this one with a new strategy - blend the lines early and often to try to get Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton into some good matchups, but all it seemed to do was get Manny Malhotra shelled. The many faces of Evgeni Nabokov also shone brightly in this one. He was stellar in the first, a skittish juggler in the second, and both in the third. He lost sight of the puck seemingly every other chance for two periods, and couldn't hold on to a rebound to save his life.

In the end though, the Blackhawks overran the Sharks in overtime and Nabokov couldn't hang on.

Scoring Chances for game 30323

For those of you who are new to the concept of tracking scoring chances, 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. Vic Ferrari makes this all possible with his tools to evaluate Corsi, head-to-head ice time and scoring chances.

I'm tracking this series with the Sharks as the home team, so in any unlabeled sequence, the first number is for the Sharks, the second for the Blackhawks.

The Sharks were up 22/11 overall after the third period and 13/10 at even strength. They controlled the play throughout.

The common theme in the Chicago chances is the presence of Manny Malhotra on the ice. And look at Chicago in overtime - the blitz was on.

It was yet another mostly even game at even strength by the final tally, unless you were Malhotra. Once again, our favorite Shark, Logan Couture won his battle 6/4, and was 3/3 against the Bolland line. Joe Pavelski was 6/3 at evens, including 3/0 against Jonathan Toews and 2/2 against Patrick Sharp.

Dave Bolland finally found black on the chances sheet, going 8/5 on the night and an outstanding 7/3 against Joe Thornton.