Sharks 4 - Red Wings 3: Game One Scoring Chances

Finally!  After being forced to track the chances for the Sharks - Avs series, I get to watch two teams that know how to play the good old hockey game.  The previous series was a completely one-sided affair, with the Avalanche struggling to get into the offensive zone for extended stretches.  The Sharks will not have it so easy against the Red Wings, the Wings have the two best even strength forwards in the league and a pair of defenseman that can create matchup nightmares for almost any team.

The story of game one was the power play.  It seemed like the Sharks were on the power play regularly, when actually the Red Wings spent more time with a man advantage.  But it was a five-on-three in the third period that did the Wings in.  The Wings were only able to generate one chance in eight minutes of power play time while the Sharks generated nine chances, three of them on the five-on-three.  The Sharks also tallied two short-handed chances, the Wings none.  In total, the Sharks outchanced the Wings 11-1 on special teams.  Even strength play told a different tale.  The Wings led the chances 15-13 at evens, even though they were -4 in the third period. 

Scoring Chances

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.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 30231

At evens, it was all Detroit in the first two periods, as they had a 12-6 lead after two.  But San Jose had more short-handed chanced than Detroit had power play chances.

The Sharks took control in the third thanks to the power play, but they also turned it around at evens.

After taking a two goal lead on the five-on-three and watching Detroit pull back to within one, San Jose dominated play from 11:51 to 5:27 helped by a power play.

Though he was tabbed as the hero, Joe Pavelski along with linemates Devin Setoguchi and Ryane Clowe took the worst of the chances as they were matched against Henrik Zetterberg.  Logan Couture and Manny Malhotra made the most of their time against everyone not named Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg. In fact, Malhotra was 7/0 on the night.

Datsyuk was 10/4 mostly against Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Torrey Mitchell, but Brian Rafalski was brilliant by the underlying stats.  Rafalski posted a +15 Corsi and 7/2 on the chances board despite spending nearly 15 of his 18 even strength minutes on the ice against either Thornton or Pavelski.