Game Report - Calgary vs Vancouver 01/10/15

NOTE: SU stands for setup, and it's awarded to a player who sets up a shot attempt. In other words, SUs are Corsi assists. Why collect this data? Because the passing sequence leading up to a shot reveals so much about the shooting play as a whole, offering a rich and descriptive data set. See the Glossary for a complete list of terms and definitions this blog uses.

Game Breakdown - 5v5 Play

First Period

Vancouver vastly outplays Calgary in all shot and scoring chance breakdowns by at least a 2 to 1 margin. The SUSAs are a bit closer (14 to 8). This is to say that while the Canucks fire 26 shot attempts at the Flames' net, they only set up 14 of them. Calgary sets up 8 of their 10 shot attempts, and they convert on their one SC SUSOG (Scoring Chance SetUp Shot On Goal) of the period, which Gaudreau and Jones setup beautifully for Backlund.

Second Period

Vancouver still outshoots Calgary by a wide margin in all categories, although it's not as bad as in the first period (but still pretty bad).

Third Period 

Vancouver is still down 1-0 and they decide to throw everything at the net. Despite 24 shot attempts, only 3 of them are scoring chances, and only one of these is a scoring chance shot on goal (SC SOG). The shoot-from-anywhere-and-crash-the-net strategy doesn't work for the Canucks and they drop a 1-0 game to the Flames.

Player Breakdown

This data provides a picture of the players involved in shooting attempt plays, both as shooters and passers.

SACo is shot attempt contribution, which is the sum of a players shot attempts (SA) and setups (SU - both SU1s and SU2s are counted). This is different than other sites' definition of shot attempt contribution, which awards any players on the ice at the time of the shot. SOGCo (shot on goal contribution) only counts SU1s, because this is the pass that sets up the shot (in theory the SU2 pass has nothing to do with whether the SU1 pass sets up a shot).

SC Co - scoring chance contribution - sums a player's SC SA (scoring chance shot attempts) with his SC SU (scoring chance setups). Note that players are awarded with a SC SU only if their pass directly contributes to the shot being a scoring chance. In other words, a player can set up a shot attempt, that shot attempt can be a scoring chance, but the SU player will not be awarded with a SC SU if his pass doesn't directly lead to the shot being a scoring chance (i.e. the SC is the result of the shooter's efforts alone). Alright - on to the results!

The Calgary Flames

Mikael Backlund. No wonder he scored. He was the biggest offensive contributor on the night for the Flames. No other Flame contributed more shot attempts and shots on goal, and both he and Byron contributed to the most scoring chances at 3 each (all 5v5).

The Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks took a lot of shot attempts, Edler contributing the most at 15 (8 of which he took himself, setting up 7). Despite this, he was only involved in 2 shots on goal, and no scoring chances. Daniel Sedin and Burrows were the biggest contributors to scoring chances.