Game Six Scoring Chances: The Jackets Strike Back...But Lose

[Ed. Note -- This post was written by and should be attributed to Josh Lile]

The 2011 Stars season ended with a chance to go to the playoffs with a win. The Stars lost. If they had been able to pick up one measley extra win they would have made the playoffs. Early season points are just as valuable as late season points, and if the Stars could have scratched out an extra ugly point here or there then last season ends much differently.

Last night, despite not playing patricularly well, the Stars picked up two beautifully ugly points. Some of the trends of the game aren't particularly positive, but the season is still young enough that these issues can still be fixed.

The tale of the tape isn't pretty. The jump this morning works like an unmarked enveloped or the black plastic cover over the dirty magazines at a questionable gas station. It hides content you would otherwise want to shield young children from seeing. So, if you're one of the brave souls that can handle the grotesque and/or disturbing then follow the jump to see how I recorded the scoring chances for last night's game.

I appologize in advance for the brevity this morning. I had planned a normal post, but, as it will do, life got in the way. I've had a giant work project thrust my way so any real in depth analysis will have to wait. Immediately below you will find the total scoring chance chart. As per usual you will find the individual player totals. However, this morning you will find general analysis after the two charts instead of individual analysis between the two charts. We'll be back up and running at full strength for the next game. Appologies, again.

Game six analysis in three minutes:

* The game felt one-sided, and the scoring chance data once again doesn't lie. The Jackets outchanced the Stars 21-9 overall, including 14-8 at even strength. On special teams the Stars gave up six chances to the Jackets powerplay while only generating one on their own powerplay. Not good.

* The Adam Pardy/Alex Goligoski pairing had a pretty poor night. At even strength the duo was a -5 in chances on the night. The checking line of Dvorak/Fiddler/Burish was a -3 chances on the night while playing predominantly against the Antoine Vermette line.

* The Ribeiro unit broke even. They've been a heavy negative on the scoring chance ledger on the season, but last night they broke even for what seems like the first time this season.

* A day after I wrote that the Stars' top line is really Jamie Benn's line Gulutzan bumped up their ice time. The third line fell behind the top two lines for the first time this season, and that time was given to the Benn line. Benn got 16:28 of even strength ice time which was about a minute more than second place Steve Ott.

* Finally, I am going to be putting together a Google Doc of all scoring chance data I collect about the Stars for my own use. Would anyone have any interest in being able to view the database? If there is interest I'll make it available. If there isn't then ignore this final note.