By the numbers: Game 47 vs. New Jersey

Scoring Chances

San Jose

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 80.0%

New Jersey

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 81.8%

Period-by-Period Summary

Going into this game, there was a lot of talk from the Sharks' coaches and players about the need for a good start in this game, following their "bad" start to last game. Despite scoring the first goal in this game, the Sharks definitely did not have a strong start, getting outchanced 10-3 by New Jersey in the first period. The rest of the way, scoring chances at evens were 8-5 in favor of San Jose, but the majority of San Jose's chances in the final two periods came in the third, when score effects had firmly taken place, and New Jersey was more than okay with letting the Sharks have plenty of zone time.

Although some Shark players' differentials are affected by score effects here, it's worth noting that Thornton's line posted good numbers all game long, even before score effects allowed the Sharks to have five even strength scoring chances in the third period. No amount of score effects helped the Sharks fourth line though, as every member of that line finished in the red on scoring chances, producing zero scoring chances for. Wingels left the game early last night, and he left the game with some ugly numbers, finishing his night with a -3 scoring chance differential.

Despite Cammalleri's line having it's struggles, New Jersey overall obviously posted amazing scoring chance numbers last night. A big reason for that is the play of the Devs' top D pairing, as well as their bottom line, as every member of their bottom line finished with a +6 scoring chance differential. Another big reason why New Jersey posted the numbers they did is the rebound opportunities they were able to generate in this game, as their was an additional three scoring chances before Tootoo and Bernier's goals simply due to rebounds. Obviously there's a multitude of reasons why the Sharks lost last night, but their inability to control New Jersey's players in front of the net is a big reason for that.

Zone Entries

San Jose

New Jersey

While the Sharks as a whole did alright on entries, TK was the only Shark to really have an overly impressive game, as he continued his streak of impressive neutral zone performances. Thornton had similar numbers to TK on a much smaller scale, and Couture and Marleau both did well at carrying the puck into the offensive zone, though the team managed zero shot attempts off of those two's entries. Wingels also had a decent game on entries, while Dillon had a pretty good game for a defenseman.

Rivaling the numbers put up by Dillon are the numbers put up by Andy Greene, who carried the puck in on three out of his four entry attempts, as he easily led the Devils' D with his zone entry success. Other than Greene, New Jersey's neutral zone work is highlighted by the work of Marty Havlat (surprise surprise), Jordin Tootoo (actually a surprise) and Patrik Elias, who carried the puck in on all six of his successful zone entries. As a team, New Jersey did pretty well in the neutral zone judging just by their carry-in percentage, but they did fantastic generating offense off of those carry-ins as well, as they managed 0.09 more shot attempts per carry-in than San Jose did.

Entry Targeting

San Jose

New Jersey

Although Burns and Irwin stand out somewhat as having not-great numbers here, the most notable set of numbers comes once again from Justin Braun, who posted his second straight very bad game defending opposition neutral zone efforts. Despite denying one of their entry attempts, Braun allowed New Jersey to carry the puck into the zone on five of their other six entry attempts against him, a number that very well could have been higher if his game hadn't been cut short by injury. If there's one positive to draw from this game, it's that San Jose managed to deny New Jersey on a tenth of their entry attempts, but in a game where they allowed New Jersey to carry the puck in about 6% more often than San Jose usually allows opponents to, that positive doesn't seem too great.

Anybody who's watched Mark Fraser during his career probably isn't too surprised by his numbers here, though I was definitely expecting more from the rest of the Devils' D. Although Larsson managed a sub-50 carry-in against percentage, he was the only Devs' D who managed that, as San Jose was able to carry the puck into the offensive zone on just over 60% of their entry attempts against the Devils' defense, compared to their 11.11% carry-in rate against Devils forwards (a percentage largely driven by the play of Havlat and Sestito).

Zone Exits

San Jose

New Jersey

Although the Sharks' D once again had a hard time exiting the zone, their forwards generally did pretty well, as Pavelski, Marleau, Sheppard, McGinn and several others posted pretty good numbers. Overall, comparing the Sharks' numbers to the Devils', it's hard to say that zone exits were the reason San Jose didn't do very well in this game, as New Jersey just barely outplayed San Jose when it came to their zone exit work.

Much like entry targeting, New Jersey was really led on zone exits by the play of their forwards, as players like Havlat, Sestito and Josefson put up very good numbers, with Zubrus especially excelling, managing four successful breakouts and zero turnovers on his four touches. The work of their forwards really made up for the play of the Devils' D, as their D only managed four successful breakouts combined, all of those coming from New Jersey's top pairing (funny how similar Larsson and Greene's numbers are here, as the only difference between them is one in-zone pass and one turnover).

Notes:

-Jumbo's line was the only Shark line to do well, as the team as a whole got outchanced 10-15 at evens

-The Devils' fourth line managed a 6-0 on scoring chances

-Kennedy highlighted the Sharks with his neutral zone performance

-The Devils had quite a few players with good neutral zone performances, as they managed 0.71 shot attempts per carry-in

-The Devils managed five carry-ins against Braun on seven entry attempts against him, making last night's game his second straight notably bad performance

-The Sharks managed a carry-in rate over 60% agains the Devils' D, but only an 11.11% carry-in rate against the Devs' forwards

-The Sharks' forwards did pretty well on zone exits, but the defensemen once again didn't do great

-Similarly, the Devils' D only managed four successful breakouts (all from their top pairing), while their forwards managed the majority of their successful breakout work