Habs vs. Boston 4-2 Win October 29, 2011

Plekanec leads team on powerplay and at even-strength


The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins by a score of 4-2 Saturday night. The Habs made the Bruins pay for a lack of discipline by scoring 2 powerplay goals.


 What is this? 
I track each and every play during a game. I input the result into a database, allowing me to track players' successes or failures. I average approximately 1100 points of data per-game (when covering an entire team), or about 70 points of data per-player. Most players average just over 3 events per minute of ice-time. Whether it's an incomplete or complete pass-attempt, a won or lost race to a loose puck, a won or lost puck-battle, etc.; each result is tracked for each player. The results are also tracked by zone (offensive/defensive/neutral) and by situation (even-strength/powerplay/short-handed) and inputted into the database as such. This allows us to track how each player performs in each zone, and in each manpower situation.  Click the FAQ tab above for further information.

Twelve players had overall grades above their season average. Tomas Plekanec had the top grade, followed closely by Davis Desharnais and Hal Gill. Other players with grades above 70 include
Mike Cammalleri, Josh Gorges, Travis Moen, Max Pacioretty, and Yannick Weber.

Petteri Nokelainen had the lowest overall grade, but did win 56% of his faceoffs. Raphael Diaz was the only other player with a grade below 60.

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Eleven players had overall risk/reward ratings above their season average. David Desharnais had the top overall risk/reward rating. Hal Gill rebounded from some low ratings in recent games to earn the second-best overall risk/reward rating. Plekanec was the only other player with an overall ratings above 1.50.

Nokelainen had the lowest overall risk/reward rating, while Diaz had the second-lowest. Both Nokelainen and Diaz had trouble completing passes coming out of the defensive-zone.

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Ten players had EVEN-STRENGTH risk/reward ratings above their season average. David Desharnias had the top ES rating, followed by Hal Gill. Desharnais had impressive numbers in the offensive and defensive-zones, while Gill kept things simple; saving his best work for the defensive-zone.

Matching their overall ratings, Nokelainen and Diaz also produced the lowest EVEN-STRENGTH risk/reward ratings.

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The powerplay produced half the team's offense. As such, only 5 players had EVEN-STRENGTH offensive-zone risk/reward ratings above their season average. David Desharnais and Gionta had the top o-zone ratings. Desharnais won 3 of 4 puck-battles, while Gionta won all 3 o-zone puck-battles he engaged in.

Weber had the lowest EVEN-STRENGTH offensive-zone risk/reward rating. Weber lost his only o-zone puck-battle and had 2 of his shots blocked by opposing forwards. Other players with negative o-zone ratings include Subban, Spacek and Eller. Subban completed only 50% of his o-zone passes, and failed to get 4 of his 5 attempted shots on net.

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An incredible 14 players had EVEN-STRENGTH defensive-zone risk/reward ratings above their season average. Gill had the top d-zone rating, followed closely by Yannick Weber. Weber won 3 of 4 puck-battles and completed 8 of 9 passes. While Gill completed 10 of 14 passes, and 3 of 4 dump-outs. Subban was the only other players with a d-zone rating above 1.00.

Blunden and Kostitsyn had the lowest d-zone risk/reward ratings. Blunden lost his only d-zone puck-battle, while Kostitsyn lost 3 of 4 d-zone puck-battles.

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Six players had EVEN-STRENGTH neutral-zone risk/reward ratings above their season average. Erik Cole had far-and-away the top neutral-zone rating. Cole successfully dumped the puck into the offensive-zone on 4 occasions, while winning 2 n-zone puck-races, and completing 2 of 3 n-zone passes. Other players with high n-zone ratings include Gorges, Eller, Subban, and Pacioretty.

Gionta and Darche were the only 2 players with negative neutral-zone ratings. Gionta was unable to complete either of his neutral-zone pass-attempts, while Darche failed to block 2 n-zone cross-ice passes that traveled under his stick.

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The Canadiens were only short-handed on 2 occasions, so the SH data is limited. Gorges and Gill both had short-handed ratings above their season average, while Plekanec and Gionta had SH ratings in the negative. Plekanec was unable to block passing lanes, while Gionta had trouble clearing the defensive-zone.

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Three players had powerplay ratings above their season average. Plekanec had the top PP rating, followed by Gionta and Cammalleri. Plekanec completed 20 of 23 passes, while Cammalleri completed 16 of 20.  Lars Eller had the lowest PP rating, but had only 16 seconds of powerplay ice-time.