[Ed. note: We’d like to welcome a new contributor to our site in yotaman07 (affectionately known as yotaman07 in our comments). He’s going to be adding to our coverage of the more in-depth statistics from this frustrating Stars season. Welcome, yota!]
The Stars traveled to Florida on Thursday for the much heralded rematch against the Panthers. Those same Panthers that yours truly told you that we should be rooting for before that game.
Yeah, I wasn’t really thinking that one through. I was mainly focused on wanting to watch Boston self-destruct when they miss the post-season for the first time since the 2006-07 season and since Claude Julien has been their coach. The way the Stars season is unfolding, I can’t help but want to watch, enjoy, and revel in others misery, just hoping it helps relieve some of my own pain.
Misery loves company, but I digress……The Stars beat the Panthers in overtime, but how well did they play according to the numbers?
First, let’s look at things at the team level.
Looking at shot attempts, the Stars absolutely dominated the entire game. The final shot tally was 32-24, in favor of the Stars. More shots equals winning the possession battle. Winning the possession battle means winning the game, right? Tonight, yes. Other recent nights in Stars history, no, which is just one of the many strange things going on with this year’s team.
Looking at the chart further, the Stars went into the first intermission up 2-1. They came out of the break on a power play. Unsuccessful. At this point, the Stars are still outplaying the Panthers and get another power play, which is unsuccessful as well. You can see what happened next – the Stars flat-lined, and the Panthers go up 3-2.
It looked like up in a game, on the road, against the Panthers and not being able to capitalize on 2 power plays broke the Stars will for the remainder of the second. In the third, you can see the Stars turn it back on, but I also think you’re seeing the NHL version of “prevent” defense being played also.
Just for fun, I’m going to throw in the scoring chances chart.
The Panthers didn’t generate one single scoring chance in the third period. The prevent defense struggle is real!
Now, let’s have a gander at the numbers on an individual level.
The Panthers only had two players that were positive possession players. Shane O’ Brien and Alex Petrovic. The Aaron Ekblad – Brian Campbell pairing had a rough night to the tune of a combined minus-31 Corsi Differential.
The Stars, as you might have guessed had a pretty solid night with only Vernon Fiddler falling below the minus line. Brett Ritchie and Antoine Roussel both finished even. Top three possession monsters for the evening were Jason Spezza with a plus-19, and John Klingberg and Alex Goligoski tied with a plus-18.
If I had not watched this game and only looked at the #FancyStats, I would have probably told you the Stars won easily, but we all know that wasn’t the case. The Stars did what the Stars have done this year. They clearly outplayed a team, struggled to have that killer instinct, and had to rely on a solid effort by Jhonas Enroth in relief, extra time on the clock, and a shoot-out winner by one of my favorite Stars. Stick tap to Dmitry Kulikov for dropping the gloves and handling it.
Is that what your eyes saw?
All numbers and graphs pulled from http://war-on-ice.com/game5.html?seasongcode=2014201520960