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: 23
Opponent: Arizona Coyotes
Score: 2-1 Bad Boring Guys
Zone Exits
Just like last game, zone exits were pretty good overall for the defencemen and the frequency was a bit better than Friday night. Despite Arizona clogging the neutral zone, the Oilers got an average (for them) number of controlled zone entries off of their controlled exits (45%). They did a bit better (in low numbers) when the D carried the puck out of the zone, converting 4 of 6 controlled carry-outs to controlled zone entries. When they did make uncontrolled exits, 37% came right back into the Oiler zone without even a zone entry, which is better than Friday night and more along team average. Overall, only Benning really lagged in the zone exit department.
Zone Defence
The red looks bad on the denied zone entries, but really, those are pretty numbers at the best of times. Overall, the Oilers defended the blue line reasonably well. Nurse and Russell struggled the most, with Nurse racking up most of his controlled zone entries against in the first period.
Puck Retrievals
The Oilers did fine here, with only Benning looking poor in low numbers. Twitter was ablaze yesterday with the game winning goal roasting both Eberle and Nurse (both of them at fault in my opinion) but that whole play started when Benning lost position on the dump-in and couldn’t recover the puck. Eberle forced the dump in from the red line and that’s a puck Benning either needs to get to first or pin to the wall to let Nurse dig it out (and Darnell was there ready to do so). Instead, Benning loses body position, can’t recover the puck and that leads to both Darnell and Jordan making mistakes that draw fire. Just going to put this out there… Fayne was pretty good at puck retrievals last year. Would he have made the same mistake?
Defensive Zone Passing
MUCH better in terms of turnovers compared to Friday night. The Oilers turned the puck over in the defensive zone at less than half the frequency as they did in the last Arizona game. Another interesting wrinkle in this game… Sekera deferred the puck to Russell a lot, which is not their typical pattern. Probably just a one-off, but I thought it was interesting. Almost 50% of the time Sekera touched the puck, he passed it over to Russell. Meanwhile Benning also heavily deferred to Nurse.
Raw Total Tracking Stats:
(click to enlarge)
Summary:
Maybe it’s just because I watched the game knowing the result in advance and so didn’t have the same level of live frustration as everyone else, but I thought the Oilers played a good game. They moved the puck well, perhaps better than last game. The Coyotes got the first goal off a fluke bank off Russell, while before that the Oilers were controlling the shot attempts and the scoring chances by my eye. Once they have the lead, Arizona clogs the neutral zone, but the Oilers were still able to get chances and control the shot attempts. The score-adjusted corsi was positive for the Oilers. Natural Stattrick had the scoring chances and the high danger scoring chances well in the Oilers favour (which is what I saw as well). The Oiler defencemen managed the puck in the defensive zone and didn’t turn it over much. They defended the blue line.
This is a game that the Oilers win if they play it again. I think we’re frustrated because it’s Arizona and they’ve owned the Oilers while not being a very good team. It’s also true that the Oilers are sliding and need points if they’re going to make a drive for the playoffs. Only getting 1 out of 4 in a back-to-back with the Coyotes may bite them, especially with 5 games in 7 days coming up soon. That said, they won the score-adjusted corsi in both games. One less fluke bank off Russell and if OT is 0.2 seconds longer on Friday, and the Oilers probably walk away with 4 out of 4 points.
The Oilers D rebounded after a bad turnover night on Friday. If they play this way again, they’ll give this team a chance to win against Toronto. One thing to consider though: I know Benning is well thought of but from what I see, he’s great at defending the blue line, but he struggles in puck movement and in puck retrieval. I think he has some offensive instincts, which masks the puck movement difficulties from the defensive zone, but… are we absolutely sure he’s better right now than Gryba or Fayne? I think he will be better, but I’d consider bringing Fayne back in to pair with Darnell, now that Nurse is moving the puck better. He could use Fayne’s veteran influence (though I know most people are ready to toss Mark Fayne into the North Saskatchewan).
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
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