Sharks 4 - Red Wings 3: Game Two Scoring Chances

RudyKelly did a good job of recapping Wings' fans feelings about this game.  It's the damned refs, don't you know and they should all be burned in effigy.  In reality, the reffing has been bad both ways in this series and I've noticed that the tendency to dive is getting stronger.  It's still only at a three out of ten on the Burrows scale, but I'm seeing this happen more often now. If the refs let it get out of control, we'll have a full-fledged Avalanche versus Red Wings series from ten years ago on our hands. 

If the Wings can go the rest of the series relatively penalty-free, fans should revel in a couple of overtime games.

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 30232

After a 9/1 spread on the power play in the first game, the Sharks come back with a 10/4 spread in game two.  Once again the Wings held the slight edge at even strength and it was all for naught.  It's easy to see why the officiating is impacting the Wings - they've had the slightest edge at even strength.  The Corsi for this game was essentially even, and like the previous game, the Sharks chose to match Joe Thornton against Pavel Datsyuk and Joe Pavelski against Henrik Zetterberg.

The Sharks owned the early part of this game as the top two lines took turns getting chances against Detroit's top two lines.  Detroit came out on fire in the third and had that momentum stopped by the penalties.  San Jose cashed in on the power play and then owned the play for most of the third period.

Pavelski's best work came on the power play as he dueled to a draw with Zetterberg.  Ryane Clowe and Devin Setoguchi mirrored Pavelski's numbers.  The big story, obviously, is the amount of time that the Sharks had on the power play and for a second straight game had an extended five-on-three.

One player of interest is Logan Couture.  He's gone 6/3 in the chances department in just over eighteen minutes of even strength ice time.  He's spent a bit more than one-third of his time against Darren Helm and about a third of his time against Pavel Datsyuk. 

Nicklas Lidstrom had an off night as he took the worst of it for the Wings with a Corsi of -12.  At even strength, he spent 14:45 of his 15:45 matched against either Thorton's line or Pavelski's line.  Considering that the Sharks had last change, that's outstanding work by the Wings' coaching staff.   Lidstrom also spent a remarkable 7:19 on the penalty kill - including an extended five-on-three in the third.

Johnathan Ericsson got to play the easy minutes and in doing so posted a Wings-best Corsi of +9.  Ericsson spent 75% of his even strength time against the Sharks' bottom two lines and it paid off.