Oilers vs Blackhawks: Tracking Stats

The following stats were tracked during manually during the game. The raw totals for the tracking stats and the glossary are at the end.

At some point I’ll write up a detailed description of each category and my specific rules for each. You can find more information on Zone Exits here. I’m working on writing up the other stats and will a link to them once they’re up. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments or on Twitter (@wheatnoil).

I’ve highlighted some of the better (blue) and worse (red) performances in each category. All time on ice stats are from www.naturalstattrick.com . I’ve provided some commentary after each section and at the end. Feel free to fire me a question or comment if you have one about the numbers.

Game: 20

Opponent: Chicago Blackhawks

Score: 5-0 Good guys!!!

Zone Exits

I’m trying out a new colour scheme with the zone exits. Look at all that blue! The Oiler D moved the puck well in this one. Russell is the low spot but he really didn’t do poorly. One less missed pass and that’s a 50% night for him. Meanwhile, Klefbom moved the puck well and often. Benning didn’t get a lot of zone exits at all. Nurse, somewhat uncharacteristically, actually had all five of his controlled zone exits be passes and had not one carry-out.

Zone Defence

The Blackhawks so I find Chicago a good test for this stuff. The Oilers did okay, though allowed more controlled entries than they’ve typically done this season. Benning and Russell were the most exposed while Larsson defended the blue line well. Klefbom was attacked at the line often and he mostly held his own.

Puck Retrievals

As usual, I don’t usually read much into these numbers. The total numbers are usually so low that a single event swings the percentages. I include them game by game for completeness, but I don’t think they truly tell a story until you combine a few games together.

Defensive Zone Passing

You’ll notice Benning with very few touches of the puck… a consistent theme for him. When he did get the puck, he usually passes it up to a forward within the zone as opposed to an actual zone exit, which is also a them for him. He had a bad turnover night though. Meanwhile, Klefbom and Sekera touched the puck a lot, which is pretty typical for them. Larsson deferred to Klefbom in puck movement, as did Russell to Sekera. I find Nurse and Benning don’t use each other as much in their breakouts as the other pairings. Russell rarely turned the puck over, which was notable in a game when the Oiler D had more defensive zone turnovers than usual. Chicago was pressing hard to force them to cough the puck up. As a pairing, Sekera and Russell turned the puck over the last, which may be why they looked the best by eye. Meanwhile, Nurse and Benning turned it over far too often.

Raw Total Tracking Stats:

(click to enlarge)

Summary:

The Oilers did well moving the puck up this game. 54% of their controlled zone exits turned into controlled zone entries, which is among the higher numbers in the games I’ve been keeping track of this so far. Only one (4%) came back the other way. Meanwhile 76% of their uncontrolled exits came back against them without so much as a zone entry into the Chicago zone. As mentioned, Chicago also forced a lot of defensive zone turnovers. However, while in the defensive zone, the Oilers managed to keep the pucks to the outside, as shown by @Oilersnerdalert.

Definitions:

Zone Exit

Controlled Zone Exit: Getting the puck out of the zone maintaining possession

Carry: Skating the puck out of the zone, the defenceman keeps possession himself

Pass: Passing the puck out of the zone, the team maintains possession

Uncontrolled Zone Exit: Getting the puck out of the zone but losing possession to the other team

Dump: No clear target when getting the puck out

Missed Pass: Appears to have a clear target but pass is not complete

Zone Defence

Times Targeted: Number of times a defenceman was specifically targeted by the opposing player on a zone entry against

Denied Entry: Defenceman prevents the opposing team from entering the zone, forcing them to regroup or causing them to lose possession in the neutral zone

Controlled Entry Against: Opposing team is able to enter the zone with possession of the puck (maintained for at least one second)

Dump In Against: Opposing team is gets the puck into the zone but without possession of the puck

Untargeted: Controlled and Uncontrolled Entries against where either a defenceman was not the primary player targeted on entry OR an odd man rush not directly caused by one of the defencemen

Defensive Zone Passing

Total Touches: Number of the times the defenceman clearly has the puck on his stick in the defensive zone

To D-Partner: Successful defensive zone pass to another defenceman within the defensive zone

To Forward: Successful defensive zone pass to a forward within the defensive zone

Turnover: Other team gains possession of the puck after the defenceman clearly had possession of it

Puck Retrieval

Total: Number of times the defenceman is the closest to the puck off of an uncontrolled entry to the zone

Successful: Defenceman retrieves the puck and successfully either gets it out of the zone or passes it a teammate, retaining possession

Failed: Defenceman either turns the puck over after retrieving it or the other team gets possession off the uncontrolled entry