By the numbers: Game 71 vs. Toronto

Scoring Chances

San Jose

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 85.7%

Percent of Even Strength Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 37.2%

Toronto

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 81.3%

Percent of Even Strength Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 25.9%

Period-by-Period Summary

-The new-look Couture did pretty darn well in this game, but it came at the cost of a Tierney line that did pretty darn bad

-Overall though, the Sharks dominated this game as they should have, outchancing Toronto 14-2 overall, and 10-2 at evens in the first period alone. From there, the game became more even (though that's not saying much), but SJ's effort in the first, when the game was actually still somewhat competitive, was awesome.

A big part of SJ's big first period was Jumbo, who had three scoring chances (he was attempting shots!!!) in just the first six minutes of the game, en route to finishing his night with nine scoring chance points, which is pretty amazing, and kinda overshadows the excellent games that guys like Nieto had.

-On the Toronto side of things, just another game where their top line got their lunches fed to them, which, according to Jamie Baker's analysis last night, was basically just because Phil Kessel doesn't try hard, which sounds like totally sound logic that I can get on board with 100%. That line's struggles probably has nothing to do with Tyler Bozak playing in much too large a role for his skillset.

-Seriously though, JVR and Kessel finished their nights with four scoring chance points, while Bozak finished his with zero. One game sample size and all, but that basically perfectly shows one of the bigger issues with that line.

Passing Stats

San Jose

Toronto

-Just to get an idea of how much time these two teams spent in the offensive zone, the Sharks made 198 plays in the offensive zone last night during 5v5 play, while Toronto only made 94. That disparity is comical, especially when you consider that Thornton alone attempted over a third of the amount of passes that Toronto as an entire team attempted.

-As I mentioned before, the Couture line was great in this game, and that line was very active in the offensive zone, with every member of that line making at least 18 plays in the offensive zone during 5v5 play.

-Thornton was the Sharks' most active player in the offensive zone (surprise, surprise) with 24 plays, while Kessel was Toronto's most active player with 13 plays (just imagine how many plays he would've had if he tried hard!! !11!! 1! !!)

-The whole top line for the Sharks was awesome in this game, but I was especially impressed by Karlsson, as he usually just unloads pucks on the net, but in this game he attempted a bunch of passes as well, while still attempting a lot of shots. This was the kind of game I want to see from him if he's going to get top line minutes (mind you, I'm not 100% sure he can replicate these results consistently against like, actual NHL-calibre teams).

-I hesitate to even type this out, for fear of landing myself on Joffrey Lupul's favorites on twitter, but he really was not good last night. Dude only finished a -1 in SC differential, which is decent compared to the rest of his team, but the guy only made 1 play in the offensive zone last night. I freely admit that most of Lupul's value comes from his great play in the offensive zone (when he's fully healthy), so when he only manages one play in the offensive zone, that should definitely raise some eyebrows.

Zone Entries

San Jose

Toronto

-Hertl put up awesome entry numbers, while the rest of the team did relatively average

-To be completely honest, I'm kinda underwhelmed by the amount of shots San Jose got per entry in this game, but when you compare SJ's number to Toronto's number, you stop being disappointed with the Sharks, and you start pitying the Maple Leafs.

-Seriously, the amount of shot attempts Toronto got in this game is just sad, and one can only help but wonder how different the numbers would've been if the Leafs had been able to dress Kadri in this game, as he seems like he's one of their better neutral zone guys

-Again, shot attempts/entry numbers are terrible for him, but Booth did pretty good in this game, generating 12 entries, and carrying it in on 7 of those entries. Booth's a guy I was bummed to see not get traded at the deadline, cause I was really hoping he'd get a chance to show what he's got with a contending team, but I guess that'll have to wait until next season.

Entry Targeting

San Jose

Toronto

-Aside from Mueller, all of SJ's D did pretty good in this game, though I'm sure part of that stems from the very low amount of entries Toronto even attempted against San Jose's defensemen

-Phaneuf did pretty well in this game at denying San Jose's entry attempts, only allowing 2 carry-ins against on 8 SJ entry attempts against him

-MacWilliam and Erixon didn't have a great time defending their blue line though, as SJ managed almost half of their carry-ins while targeting those two Toronto defensemen

-Honestly, one of the most notable parts of these numbers for me was the fact that SJ and Toronto have the same exact team numbers here. I thought it was just an error at first, but after going back through my numbers, it's 100% legit. Spooooooookyyyyyy.

Zone Exits

San Jose

Toronto

-Tierney didn't have a great time exiting his zone last night, as it seemed quite often that he just tossed the puck out of the zone, right to Toronto players, rather than making productive plays with the puck

-His two linemates were fantastic on zone exits though, as Hertl and Marleau both put up awesome numbers here, as they both managed 5 successful breakouts, while only turning the puck over twice each

-Dillon and Mueller have both been huge fans of in-zone passes this season, and I think this game is perfectly representative of that, as only one of that pair's touches wasn't an in-zone pass, and that touch resulted in a turnover. Obviously it's good that those two aren't turning it over a ton, but jeez, you'd hope they'd manage a breakout now and then.

-David Booth utilized his excellent skating quite well in his defensive zone last night, managing 5 carry-outs on his 10 defensive zone puck touches

-Another big surprise, as Kessel was actually one of Toronto's better zone exit players. Though that can't be right because he doesn't try hard. I really just don't get how anyone can hate on Kessel. He's obviously a good player in so many aspects of the game, and he makes faces like this, so he's really just making the world a better place in so many ways.