By the numbers: Game 60 vs. Dallas

Scoring Chances

San Jose

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 92.9%

Percent of Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 31.4%

Dallas

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 81.8%

Percent of Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 28.6%

Period-by-Period Summary

-In his first game back in "Big D," Dillon had a rough night, finishing the game with a -6 even strength scoring chance differential, and being on the ice for over half of Dallas' even strength scoring chances

-Despite having the territorial advantage in this game, SJ's fourth line wasn't able to generate too many scoring chances, finishing the night with only one scoring chance generated. On the positive side of things, they didn't give up much in the defensive zone, so I guess that's something.

-Admittedly it's kinda hard to judge San Jose players in this game by their scoring chance production, given that the team went full turtle-shell defense in the third period, but this was one of Shep's better games of recent memory, as he finally managed to finish his night with a positive scoring chance differential again.

-Another positive of Shep's game last night was his scoring chance production, as he finished his night with three scoring chance "points"

-Patty also finished his night with three scoring chance points, though he and his line struggled to keep Dallas' offense at bay

-Speaking of the Thornton line and their defensive woes, it's pretty ridiculous how many scoring chances against they were on the ice for. Yes, some of that can again be attributed to the heavy push Dallas put on in the third period, but given how defensively sound two of the three players on that line are, I'm not sure last night's results should've been expected. I really hate ragging on Karlsson, cause I do think he has a place in the bottom-six on this team, but he really shouldn't be taking up a spot on the top line, especially when you have guys like Hertl and Nieto who have looked good there before.

-Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of this game for me was the ineffectiveness of the Eakin line. Given the injuries the Stars are suffering right now, that line has gone from being the team's third line to being their second line, so I guess you can attribute some of their struggles to an increased role. That being said, that was the role the line played for most--if not all--of last season, so heck if I know.

-The Benn line gave up quite a bit defensively, but they were also on fire offensively, generating over half of Dallas' even strength scoring chances. Erik Cole had himself quite the night, finishing his night with seven even strength scoring chance points, while Benn had nine, six of which came at even strength.

Zone Entries

San Jose

Dallas

-First off, the number of attempted entries in this game was in Dallas' favor 91-56. Again, SJ did very little in the third period.

-One of the effects of SJ's unwillingness to do anything in the third was many of their players not posting spectacular entry numbers, as only Nieto and Burns really put up good all-around numbers.

-Benn and Spezza combined to account for about 27% of Dallas' entry attempts in this game, as those two combined to attempt twenty-five entries in this game.

-Benn and Spezza didn't just attempt a lot of entires though. They also put up insanely good shots/entry numbers, and each only had one failed entry.

-Dallas as a whole did pretty well in the neutral zone, carrying the puck in on 60% of their successful entries, as only Ranford and Mackenzie finished their nights with sub-50 carry-in percentages.

Entry Targeting

San Jose

Dallas

-Hannan wasn't targeted for many Dallas entries, but he did do well with the ones he was targeted for, only allowing one carry-in on five Dallas entry attempts.

-The rest of the defense didn't do quite as well, as Dillon's effort was one of the many poor ones by SJ's defense, with every defensemen not named Scott Hannan finishing their nights with carry-in against percentages over 50%.

-Dallas' defense was a whole different story though. Aside from Daley, every Dallas defenseman finished with a sub-50 carry-in against percentage, and the Stars did quite a good job denying SJ's entry attempts too, denying SJ on almost 20% of their entry attempts.

-A big reason for Dallas' good numbers here was the play of John Klingberg, who's been absolutely phenomenal in his rookie season in the NHL (side note: dude put up 12 points in 10 AHL games to start the season). Klingberg has many ways in which he can help Dallas when he's out on the ice, and his work on forcing dump-ins this season has been one of them. In this game specifically, he only allowed two carry-ins against on eleven SJ entry attempts. He also denied two of those entry attempts. He's pretty good.

Zone Exit

San Jose

Dallas

-One of the things that pops out to me about the numbers here is SJ's turnover% compared to Dallas'. Dallas turned the puck over on about 25% of their touches, while San Jose turned it over on about 36%. The Dallas broadcast mentioned what came to be pretty obvious last night, that San Jose more and more came to just rely on chips off of the boards to clear the zone, rather than actually passing the puck out to teammates or carrying it out. This tactic lost effectiveness as the game went on, and accounts for a large percentage of the turnovers SJ committed in this game.

-These high turnover numbers especially make Irwin, Kennedy, Karlsson, Burns, Couture, and Thornton look bad, as those players turned the puck over on 40% or more of their touches (Desi and Nieto are excluded from that list due to the comparatively small number of times they touched the puck).

-On the positive side of things, both Patty and Pavs put up excellent numbers while exiting the zone, turning the puck over very few times on their zone exit attempts.

-After a very rough zone exits effort in his first game back, Braun rebounded with a pretty good effort in this game, managing five successful breakouts, while only turning the puck over three times.

-Dallas' third line may not have had their most effective game ever last night, but they did continue to do some of the little things right, such as zone exits. Every member of that line put up pretty similar numbers, but Roussel (one of my personal favorite players) especially had an effective game, managing three carry-outs.

-I was pleasantly surprised by how effective Jyrki Jokippakka was at breaking the puck out in this game. For a guy whose reputation seems to be strictly as a solid guy in his own zone, his puck moving last night seemed pretty good.

-He didn't turn the puck over very often, but Alex Goligoski did not have a very effective game on zone exits last night, managing zero carry-outs on fifteen touches. I'm a big fan of Goligoski, but zone exits have not been a strength of his, a trend I was hoping would just be a short term thing while I tracked the Stars' playoff games last spring. I think he's in a good position being paired up with Klingberg, but for a guy regarded as a puck moving defenseman, I've always been kinda surprised by how ineffective he seems to be on breakouts.