By the numbers: Game 73 vs. Ottawa

Scoring Chances

San Jose

Even Strength Scoring Chance Shooting Percentage: 6.7%

Percent of EVS Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 41.7%

Ottawa

Even Strength Scoring Chance Shooting Percentage: 28.6%

Percent of EVS Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 34.1%

Period-by-Period Summary

-Funny progression to this game, as the first period was a relatively low-event period, with Ottawa outchancing San Jose 4-2 before San Jose blew things pretty open in the second, outchancing Ottawa 11-5. Much like last time these two teams met though, San Jose fell apart in the third period, surrednering seven scoring chances against in the final frame.

-Overall though, San Jose did end up outchancing Ottawa, and one of the biggest reasons the score was as lopsided as it was is the discrepancy in Scoring Chance Shooting Percentages for the two teams, as San Jose only managed a 6.67%, while Ottawa managed a 28.6%.

-Despite outchancing Ottawa in this game, Goodrow was the only Shark player in this game to put up a somewhat notable scoring chance differential, as every other Shark was either even, or at +/- 1.

-Who knows what TMac does with the lines going forward, but Hertl and Wingels have been doing decent lately (as has Nieto, though he didn't have much of an impact on this game), and it'd be interesting to see a young line of Nieto-Hertl-Wingels, though I fear for Chris Tierney's spot in the lineup if Hertl goes back to playing C.

-Pretty good night for Pavelski, as he lead the team with 5 scoring chance points

-[insert obligatory comment about Burns looking good and generating scoring chances whenever he joins the rush (ie. plays like a forward)]

-Good night for Turris as well, despite somehow messing up an easy empty net goal, as he managed four scoring chance points

-Karlsson made his pressence known in the offensive zone in this game, managing two even strength scoring chance assists, and three scoring chance points overall

Passing Stats

San Jose

Ottawa

-One of the weirdest parts of the game last night was that Melker Karlsson was limited to zero shot attempts. For a guy who's purpose on the top line has primarily been to pump pucks at the net, zero shot attempts in a game has been pretty rare for him.

-Still, the first line was very active in the offensive zone, with Karlsson being the least active of he, Thornton, and Pavelski, while still managing 14 plays. Thornton was pretty good last night, completing 15 passes, and having two passes of his lead directly to scoring chances.

-Wingels wasn't super active in the offensive zone, but when he was, he produced results, having two of his six pass attempts lead directly to scoring chances. I don't know how sustainable it is for him, but Wingels has been producing quite a few scoring chances with his passing in the games I've tracked these stats for (he ranks second on the Sharks with 8 PLSC, behind Thornton who has 10).

-Tierney didn't turn the puck over too much, put this was yet another game where he just didn't seem like he was on the same page with his linemates (the instance that comes to mind was him trying to pass to Marleau while Patty was streaking through the slot, but it didn't seem like Marleau was prepared for the pass). I don't know how to fix that issue, but Tierney's really been dishing out some really awesome passes into great scoring areas lately that just aren't connecting. If he can get to the point where he and his linemates are reading eachother better, don't be surprised if his excellent passing game finally starts to produce some serious results.

-Though they didn't have a huge impact on scoring chances, the numbers here show just how effective Ottawa's third line was last night, as that line combined to make 40 plays in the offensive zone last night, accounting for about 42% of Ottawa's plays in the O-zone.

-Turris and Karlsson both had very effective nights for Ottawa, as both of them finished their nights with 2 PLSC

Zone Entries

San Jose

Ottawa

-Thornton and Burns were both good on entries last night, something something they should play together as a forward line again

-I think this game is an excellent example of the impact carry-ins have on offense. Despite only 40% of their entries being carry-ins, San Jose managed 65.5% of their shot attempts off of carry-ins. Ottawa carried the puck in on 53% of their entries, and generated 83.8% of their shot attempts off of those entries. It's been well-established that carry-ins generally lead to more offensive production, and results like these are what make me really wonder how much better the Sharks would be in a system that encourages carry-ins, rather than dump-and-chase.

-Turris was fantastic on entries, carrying the puck in on all but one of his seven successful entry attempts

-Pageau also put on a show in the neutral zone last night, managing seven carry-ins, while Ottawa averaged over a shot a shot attempt per every one of his carry-ins. Very impressive numbers for him.

-Karlsson wasn't quite as good in the neutral zone as I expected him to be, as he only managed two carry-ins while attempting eight entry attempts.

Entry Targeting

San Jose

Ottawa

-Burns had another strong game defending his blue line, only allowing carry-ins against on 6 of the 15 entries attempted against him, while denying two.

-Braun and Irwin were on the other side of the coin, as they combined to allow 18 carry-ins against on 25 entry attempts against, good for a 72% carry-in against percentage

-Obviously entry targeting numbers aren't everything (see: Hannan, Scott), but numbers like these are why I don't buy it when people say Methot's return is what has enabled Karlsson to be so good.

-Same for people saying Borowiecki has been a solid bottom pairing defenseman, as he allowed 5 carry-ins against on only 6 entry attempts against.

-The rest of OTT's defense was fantastic at preventing SJ carry-ins though, as Ceci, Gryba, Karlsson, and Wiercoch combined to allow only 10 carry-ins against on 34 entry attempts against, good for a 29.4 carry-in against perecentage

Zone Exits

San Jose

Ottawa

-As we saw in our review of the Sharks's first-half zone exit numbers, the more in-zone passes a player performs, the less likely they are to turn the puck over. Burns' numbers here mirror that pretty well, as for once he attempted quite a few in-zone passes, and his numbers come out looking really good, in part due to his in-zone passes.

-Mueller was also pretty good in this game, managing 3 successful pass-outs.

-Tierney and Hertl put up pretty good numbers,while some of their linemates like Marleau, Nieto, and Wingels struggled to some extent

-No big surprise, I suppose, but Turris put up awesome numbers here too, managing 5 successful breakouts and 0 turnovers on his 7 D-zone puck touches

-Karlsson managed 3 breakouts in this game, but I felt like he had more in him than that, as I feel he never quite flexed his zone exit muscles in the Sens' matchups against the Sharks this season.

-Hoffman put up awesome zone exit numbers, managing carry-outs on almost half of his touches