By the Numbers: Game 78 vs. Arizona

Scoring Chances

San Jose

Even Strength Scoring Chance Shooting Percentage: 14.3%

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 100.0%

Percentage of Even Strength Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 42.9%

Arizona

Even Strength Scoring Chance Shooting Percentage: 0.0%

Even Strength Scoring Chance Save Percentage: 85.7%

Percentage of Even Strength Fenwick Events that were Scoring Chances: 24.1%

Period-by-Period Summary

-The Sharks generated a ton of scoring chances last night, such that almost 1 out of every 2 Fenwick events they had was a scoring chance. That's a crazy good rate to be clipping along at in a game.

-Nieto and Tierney were absolutely fantastic last night, as both finished their nights with six scoring chance points. With Pavelski basically cemented as the team's top-line right wing for the foreseeable future, the Sharks needed a good third line center, and Tierney is proving to be just that. He and Nieto really seem to be building some chemistry, which is a good sign for the future, as they both should have lots and lots of years left in their careers.

-Looking at Arizona's lineup before the game, you'd hope that San Jose's top two lines would be able to win their matchups against Arizona's top two lines, as they resemble good third lines more than a first and second line. San Jose's top players were up to the task, as Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, and Couture all had at least 3 scoring chance points at evens.

-I don't know if I'm just seeing things, but it kinda seems like Burns has been given the green light to do whatever he wants lately. Dude has been leading the rush pretty frequently in the last few games, and at least in this game, you can't argue with the results, as he earned himself two scoring chance points, and he and Stollery finished their nights with +7 scoring chance differentials at evens.

-Maybe the one negative for the night was the fourth line. Against the Coyotes, you'd really expect awesome numbers from all of your players, but the fourth line sort of floundered, as the best scoring chance differential for a player on that line was a +1. In a game where their team was a +14. I don't think anyone had high expectations for the fourth line going into this game, but man, you really wish that line would be able to handle themselves better against one of the worst teams in the league.

-Possibly the one bright spot for ARI in this game was the performance of Sam Gagner, who managed to produce 4 scoring chance points.

Passing Stats

San Jose

Arizona

-Joe Thornton attempted 30 passes in this game.

-Joe Thornton attempted 30 passes in this game.

-Seriously, that is an obscene amount of passes! Thornton managed 40% the amount of passes that Arizona as a whole team managed! I know I should stop being impressed by Jumbo's passing abilities at this point but like, holy wowzers man, that's a lot of passes!

-Thornton wasn't the only active passer for San Jose though, as four other players attempted a double-digit number of passes.

-The third line may not have generated a ton of plays, but when they did generate plays, they made em' count, as every member of that line managed at least 1 PLSC.

-It's a weird game when Burns' D-partner attempts more shots than him, and this was one of those games, as Stollery had his shooting stick ready for this game, attempting 5 shots on the 6 plays he made in the offensive zone.

-Stone didn't have a very good time in this game (who knew forcing a D-man to play way over his head wouldn't work out well??), especially in the offensive zone, where he only managed 4 plays, 2 of which resulted in turnovers.

-Again, Gagner was probably one of Arizona's top players in the offensive zone last night, as he was the only Coyote to manage a PLSC last night.

Zone Entries

San Jose

Arizona

-This was a really good game for San Jose through the neutral zone, as I'm pretty sure it would be more efficient to name the players that didn't do well on entries, rather than the ones who did do well.

-That being said, Tierney and Marleau were especially great. Tierney generated a lot of entries, and San Jose was able to generate quite a few shot attempts off of those entries. Marleau had a good all-around game, as he carried the puck in on 3 out of his 5 entries, and the Sharks managed a decent amount of shots off of his entries.

-Arcobello, Chipchura, and Doan did pretty well on entries, being some of the few who actually did well at all on entries for the Desert Dogs.

-Most people who follow advanced stats know that David Moss is a very underrated player. The guy is a pretty good possession player, and he plays the bottom-six role with about as much effectiveness as you could want. His entry numbers here show part of what makes him a good possession guy, though I think we can all agree he's probably not made to be a top-six forward, so Arizona should probs find a way to push him down the lineup if he stays with them next season.

Entry Targeting

San Jose

Arizona

-Stollery had an alright first game with the Sharks, allowing 4 carry-ins on 7 entry attempts against.

-Fedun on the other hand, had great numbers in my first chance to track these stats for him, as he only allowed 4 carry-ins against, while also denying 3 entry attempts, as Arizona threw 10 entry attempts his way.

-Braun was worse than both of these guys, by a mile, as he allowed 9 carry-ins against on 13 entry attempts against.

-Burns wasn't targeted for a large amount of entries by any means, but the ones he was targeted for, he handled well, only allowing 2 carry-ins against on 5 entry attempts against.

-Gormley did a decent job at defending his blue line, but basically every other Coyote defenseman struggled, allowing carry-ins on over half of the entries they were targeted for.

Zone Exits

San Jose

Arizona

-Patty was great on zone exits in this game, managing 6 successful breakouts on his 8 touches of the puck in the defensive zone.

-Burns and Braun had a whale of a time trying to exit the zone successfully last night, as those two combined for 15 turnovers.

-Rieder, Erat, Doan, Cunningham, and Chipchura all were pretty darn effective on zone exits last night, as Arizona actually put up some pretty decent zone exit numbers.

-Ekman-Larson wasn't super effective on zone exits, nor was Stone, as that pairing combined to generate 1 successful breakout and 13 turnovers.