Game Report - Detroit vs Calgary 01/07/15

Glossary

SA - Shot Attempt. Any shot that is on goal, missed, or blocked. (Also included are non-shots - see Methods for a definition).
SOG - Shot on Goal.
SU - Setup. Awarded to players who pass the puck to a teammate who then takes a shot. In other words, these players "setup" a shot. SUSA is a Setup Shot Attempt; SUSOG is a Setup Shot on Goal. I'm paying special attention to these because SUSOGs are about 50% more likely to go in than non SUSOGs.
Tr - Transition. A shot in which the first or second setup pass comes from the defensive or neutral zones. TrSA is a shot attempt in transition.

Cy - Cycle. Any shot where both the first and second setup passes come from the offensive zone. CySOG is a shot on goal coming from the cycle.

SC - Scoring Chance. SC SA is a scoring chance shot attempt. SC SUSOG is a scoring chance setup by a teammate that results in a shot on goal.

Breaking Down the 5v5 Shots

All Shot Attempts

This was an incredibly even game across all shot categories. Detroit barely won the Corsi battle. Scoring Chance Shot Attempts were even.

Setup Shots

I'm keeping special tabs on SUSAs (Setup Shot Attempts) because it's been shown that shots that are the result of a pass (i.e. SUSOGs) are about 50% more likely to go in. Again, Detroit and Calgary were incredibly close in this respect. We can also see that 5v5 play wasn't the most exciting. Combined the teams were only able to setup 4 scoring chances (2 each).

Transition and Cycle Shots.

Transition shots are any shots in which either of the two setup passes come from the defensive or neutral zones. For cycle shots, both setup passes come from the offensive zone. This shows us how teams are generating their shots. Both teams generated more attempts from transition play. Sheahan's goal came from transition, and considering Engelland's gaffe on the play this looks like a good way to exploit bad defenseman. Raymond's goal came from a rebound off a transition shot.

The most glaring difference between the teams comes from the cycle. Detroit was able to setup 2 scoring chance shots on goal (SC CySOG), one of which resulted in Zetterberg's goal. Calgary generated 0 such plays. Zero. This, in conjunction with Engelland's error, was where the game was lost for the Flames.

Breaking Down the Goals

Mason Raymond (EV) assisted by M. Backlund and D. Jones.

A transition play that saw Raymond fire the puck at Mrazek from the sideboards. Not the best shot in and of itself, but it stunned Mrazek and gave Raymond the time to pick up the rebound and wrap the puck around the net and in. Great individual effort by Raymond.

Riley Sheahan (EV) assisted by D. Helm.

A transition setup that went from Sheahan to Helm, back to Sheahan in the neutral zone. Sheahan then skates the puck into the offensive zone in an innocuous looking one-on-one between him and Engelland. Engelland lets Sheahan in way too deep, and with one flick of the stick Sheahan is right in front of the net. He roofs the puck over Ramo. A beautiful individual effort by Sheahan, but a good defenseman does not let that happen. (I knew I'd have to rag on Engelland sooner or later, but I wasn't expecting it to be 8 minutes into the first game.)

Henrik Zetterberg (EV) assisted by J. Abdelkader and G. Nyquist.

A scoring chance setup from the cycle (sort of). Zetterberg floats in behind the defense, right in front of the net. Nyquist spots him from the boards and fires a pass his way. It was lucky that the puck found its way to Zetterberg after being tipped by Abdelkader, but Zetterberg cannot be allowed that much free ice directly in front of the net. Monahan needs to cover him.

Justin Abdelkader (PP) assisted by G. Nyquist and H. Zetterberg.

Detroit does exactly what any powerplay aims to do: setup a player in the scoring chance area. Nyquist sets up Abdelkader so beautifully that Abdelkader has the time to hit the post and bury the rebound before any defenders (goalie included) get back into position.

Mikael Backlund (SH) assisted by P. Byron and T. Brodie.

Detroit does exactly what any powerplay aims NOT to do: allow a shorthanded goal. A bad pass by Weiss gets blocked, leading to a 2-on-1 for Calgary. Byron is able to feed the puck to Backlund in the scoring chance area. With Mrazek sliding across, Backlund backhands the puck along the ice and in.

Game Summary

This was an incredibly even game, both teams generating similar shooting and scoring chance numbers. Detroit won the game by taking advantage of Engelland, setting up a scoring chance for Zetterberg, and converting on the powerplay.


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The raw data is available upon request.
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DISCLAIMER: My data differs from other sources. For example in this game I tracked 24 scoring chances (5v5), whereas war-on-ice has 30. I reviewed some of the plays where our data differs, and I'm sticking with my numbers (it's likely we define scoring chances differently). I'll conduct a more thorough comparison and update the results as necessary.