By the numbers: Game 79 vs. Nashville

Scoring Chances

Complete scoring chance summary

Team	Period	Time	Note	Home						Away						State
Home	1	14:10	Pavelski from Thornton, save	7	8	19	31	61	88	6	7	12	27	30	59	5v5
Away	1	11:04	Fisher rebound, save	12	22	31	39	52	57	3	7	12	27	30	64	5v5
Home	1	4:34	Couture from Marleau, save	12	22	31	39	52	57	6	16	24	28	30	59	5v5
Home	1	3:36	Burns from Thornton, save	7	8	19	31	61	88	6	7	12	27	30	59	5v5
Away	1	0:28	Clune from Wilson, miss	7	15	18	31	61	81	4	16	25	30	33	42	5v5
Home	2	17:57	Burns backhand from Pavelski, save (5v4 PP)	8	19	22	31	44	88	6	13	24	30	59		5v4
Away	2	16:13	Hornqvist rebound from Cullen, goal	7	12	31	39	44	57	4	7	27	30	33	42	5v5
Away	2	16:04	Gaustad on 2on1, goalpost	5	10	18	31	44	81	6	16	24	28	30	59	5v5
Home	2	13:13	Burns from Boyle, goalpost (5v4 PP)	8	12	19	22	31	88	6	12	24	30	59		5v4
Away	2	11:02	Hornqvist one-timer from Spaling, goal	12	19	22	31	81	88	4	13	19	27	30	42	5v5
Away	2	9:58	Fisher on 2on1, miss	5	12	31	39	44	57	6	7	12	27	30	59	5v5
Away	2	6:45	Josi backhand, goal	5	12	31	39	44	83	4	7	12	27	30	59	5v5
Home	3	19:15	Couture from Marleau, save	5	12	31	39	44	57	6	12	27	30	57	59	5v5
Away	3	16:48	Wilson from Stalberg, miss	5	9	12	31	44	57	4	13	28	30	33	42	5v5
Away	3	16:38	Wilson from Ekholm, save	5	9	12	31	44	57	4	13	28	30	33	42	5v5
Home	3	14:41	Wingels rebound from Braun, save	12	31	39	44	57	61	4	16	24	28	30	42	5v5
Home	3	12:50	Burns breakaway from Pavelski, save	8	19	22	31	52	88	6	7	12	27	30	59	5v5
Home	3	9:47	Irwin from Nieto, goalpost	15	22	31	52	81	83	3	16	24	28	30	64	5v5
Home	3	9:17	Stuart rebound from Burns, miss	7	8	19	31	61	88	3	16	24	28	30	64	5v5
Home	3	8:23	Wingels from Couture, save	5	12	31	39	44	57	6	12	27	28	30	59	5v5

On-ice scoring chances, for and against

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
5	DEMERS, JASON	15:49	2	5	02:08	0	0	00:42	0	0
7	STUART, BRAD	17:37	3	2	00:00	0	0	01:07	0	0
8	PAVELSKI, JOE	15:38	4	0	02:13	2	0	00:24	0	0
9	HAVLAT, MARTY	09:45	0	2	01:47	0	0	00:11	0	0
10	DESJARDINS, ANDREW	06:41	0	1	00:00	0	0	00:42	0	0
12	MARLEAU, PATRICK	17:11	4	7	01:54	1	0	00:24	0	0
15	SHEPPARD, JAMES	15:18	1	1	00:00	0	0	00:00	0	0
18	BROWN, MIKE	06:38	0	2	00:00	0	0	00:00	0	0
19	THORNTON, JOE	14:44	4	1	02:13	2	0	00:42	0	0
22	BOYLE, DAN	20:09	3	2	02:04	2	0	00:11	0	0
31	NIEMI, ANTTI		9	9		2	0		0	0
39	COUTURE, LOGAN	16:35	4	4	01:47	0	0	00:43	0	0
44	VLASIC, MARC-EDOUARD	17:09	3	6	00:07	1	0	00:42	0	0
52	IRWIN, MATT	18:58	3	1	01:56	0	0	00:11	0	0
57	WINGELS, TOMMY	16:44	4	5	01:47	0	0	00:43	0	0
61	BRAUN, JUSTIN	17:50	4	1	00:00	0	0	01:07	0	0
81	KENNEDY, TYLER	11:17	1	3	00:00	0	0	00:00	0	0
83	NIETO, MATT	14:32	1	1	00:00	0	0	00:11	0	0
88	BURNS, BRENT	15:28	4	1	02:04	2	0	00:00	0	0

Team scoring chance totals

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	3	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	2	5	0	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	6	2	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ovr	11	9	9	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Head-to-head scoring chances

As mentioned in the recap, this game was pretty clearly lost in the second period when the Sharks were outchanced 5-0 by the Predators at even-strength, with three of those chances beating Antti Niemi. Even with their wide territorial edge in the third period when Nashville was content to cede zone time, the Sharks were held to just nine even-strength scoring chances all night.

That’s simply not good enough against a non-playoff team playing the second half of a back-to-back, especially since the Sharks needed these points to stay plausibly alive in the division race. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Jason Demers had an uncharacteristically poor night defensively, with Demers in particular victimized on the Roman Josi goal that made it 3-0.

On the bright side, I thought Brent Burns, although deserving of blame for leaving Patric Hornqvist wide open in the slot on his second goal, had a monster game offensively and these numbers seem to back it up; Burns had four of the Sharks’ eleven overall scoring chances last night.

An interesting note on the Predators side of things: despite him being matched up against the Couture line for much of the night, Nashville outchanced the Sharks 6-1 at evens with Ryan Ellis on the ice. Undersized puck-moving defensemen always seem to be undervalued in the NHL; he’s a good one.

5-on-5 Zone Entries

---

It’s hard to put too much stock in these numbers since the Predators largely collapsed into a defensive shell in the third period, allowing the Sharks to carry the puck in at will. When Dan Boyle is this involved in creating zone entries, it usually means the Sharks were in trouble late in the game since that seems to be the only time the coaching staff gives him the green light to single-handedly rush the puck (and there’s a bit of Dan Boyle going into “do-everything” mode at play here too). Marty Havlat had a dreadful game and was justifiably limited to less than three minutes of ice time in the third period.

5-on-5 Zone Exits

---

When your third- and fourth-line centers have this much trouble getting out of their own zone, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when the bottom six as a whole struggles to generate offense or even just offensive-zone time. Andrew Desjardins in particular had a rough night in the Sharks’ end, turning the puck over on five of his six defensive-zone touches. Four of James Sheppard’s eleven defensive-zone touches ended up on Predators sticks. On a more positive note, Tommy Wingels had a great game in this area, carrying or passing the puck into the neutral zone successfully seven times on his eleven touches. Whenever they’re reunited as a line, Marleau, Couture and Wingels transition from defense to offense really effectively courtesy Wingels finding one of his linemates coming out of the defensive zone and Marleau or Couture doing the work to gain the offensive blueline with control, something they’re both among the best in the league at.

For more on what scoring chances, zone entries and zone exits are, how they’re tracked, and why they matter, read this post.