Canucks and Predators - Game Two Scoring Chances

Excellent! This Nashville team has got a shot here, and I couldn't be happier. It would have been awfully depressing to watch two 1-0 losses in a row, but thankfully, the hockey gods were on Nashville's side in this one as one of the messengers of heaven came down to provide a regulation goal. At least, that's the best reason I can think of for Roberto Luongo - who had been fantastic - to open his legs and get scored on from behind the net. Needless to say, not a scoring chance. Hockey is so weird. The Predators press and press to no avail and then all of a sudden, Ryan Suter shoots the puck from behind the net to get a whistle (this description from his own mouth), and the puck is in the net. So weird. 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.

Perhaps a bit surprising that the Canucks outchanced the Predators overall, but in many ways this was two different games - Nashville cleaned up in regulation, but overtime was a different story. Daniel Sedin was +2 (+3 -1) in regulation, and Henrik was +1 (+3 -2). In overtime they were both +6 (+6 -0), at least partly because the matchups changed: a few more shifts against Cody Franson (+4 -1 in regulation, +0 -7 in overtime) and Shane O`Brien (+6 -2 in regulation, +0 -6 in overtime) will do that. I know they won the game and all, but the Predators really need to stick with matching their top pairing against the Sedins.

One Day They Will Be With Him in Paradise

3. Ryan Kesler - For the first sixty minutes he was unquestionably the best player on the ice for Vancouver, to the point that Barry Trotz started matching his top defensive pairing against him for some shifts in the last three periods. Kesler's results, of course, took a bit of a dive, but this protection helped to free up the Sedins who were making Trotz pay in terms of chances if not in terms of goals. He has also a big contributor on another successful night for the Vancouver penalty kill, which has now outscored the Predators power play 1-0 in the series.

2. Patric Hornqvist - After getting benched for most of the third period in Game One for taking too many penalties, Hornqvist had a great bounce-back game in Game Two. He paid the price to get to the crease, and earned a couple of great scoring chances in the process. He actually ended the night -1 thanks to the short-handed goal against, but I thought he was terrific at even strength, especially considering he was matched largely against Vancouver's shut down pair.

1. Pekka Rinne - Not much doubt about this one. Some of those in overtime were absolutely ridiculous. He actually looked a little bit shakier in Game One than he did in Game Two, but I thought there were many more difficult saves this time around and he made (almost) all of them. The shakiness was the cause sometimes (that rebound to start the second overtime gave Vancouver a glorious chance), but he always managed to recover.

To Be Thrown into Gloomy Pits of Darkness

3. Chris Higgins - This was the worst game of the playoffs for Vancouver's third line. Dominated by both scoring chances and Corsi, there was just nothing good happening while this group was on the ice, and the two players who made up that group for most of the night were Higgins and Maxim Lapierre. Higgins is the better player, and his results were slightly worse (the worst chance differential at -6 and the worst Corsi differential at -12) so I gave him the nod.

2. Cody Franson - I thought he was pretty terrible for a number of reasons. There were the normal ones, like getting outchanced (-4 at evens) and outshot (-6 Corsi at evens), but there were also a couple of specific plays that left me wanting to strangle the guy. The first came with about six minutes to go in the third. There was a loose puck behind the net and Franson just looked plain scared to engage. Mason Raymond then picked up the puck and hemmed the Canucks held the puck in the zone for a brief period of time. No chances resulted, but it was a shocking lack of fortitude. The other came with about eight and a half minutes to go in the second overtime period. The Canucks were playing a one-man forecheck and Franson made a lazy pass that nearly sent Mikael Samuelsson in alone. Fortunately, Samuelsson didn't get the puck but I was screaming at the television as soon as he made that pass.

1. Aaron Rome - The railing against depth defenders continues. Like Franson, Rome didn't have a particularly good game, but unlike Franson, one of Rome's big mistakes ended up in the back of the net. On the winning goal, Nashville had a set play off a neutral zone faceoff where one of the defenders starts on the far side of the ice. Presumably, he's supposed to get the puck and either slam or skate the puck into the zone. Instead, he bobbled it just enough to get Rome to make a terrible pinch, which led to an immediate 3-on-2 for the Predators in which Ryan Kesler was suddenly playing defense. Game over. The funny thing is, it never would have happened if that pass was made and received cleanly. In a very real way, the Predators making a small mistake was what helped them to get the goal. Hockey is so weird.