Oilers vs Blues: 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: 34

Opponent: St. Louis Blues

Score: 3-2 (OT) Good Guys!

Zone Exits

This was a solid zone exit game. Only Russell fell a bit below the mark, but in fairness to him, he moved the puck reasonably well to the forwards within the zone this game. Gryba, after a slow start to this game, had an uncharacteristically large number of controlled zone exits.

Zone Defence

A good game preventing controlled zone entries for the team. Gryba led the way and this has been a solid part of his game this year so far. Russell had an unusually solid game in this regard tonight. He was much more aggressive in the neutral zone than he typically is. Meanwhile, Sekera allowed more controlled zone entries than he usually does. This is the one part of Davidson’s game I think is still rounding into form. He’s not quite as aggressive on the line yet as he was last year, but he’s seems to be getting better by eye with every passing game.

Puck Retrievals

Klefbom struggled on puck retrievals this game, which isn’t like him. He brought down the team average, who otherwise did quite well.

Defensive Zone Passing

The Oilers did well moving the puck up in this game. Look at the % Zone Exits and % To Forward columns. The blue there indicates above average numbers in both those categories compared to the Oilers average for the reason. The % Turnover was also just a bit lower than average. Ultimately, the Oilers performed fewer D-to-D passes this game than they usually do. As far as turnovers go, Sekera and Davidson led the way, with Davidson particularly having a couple bad ones off attempted zone exits. Once again, I think he’s still rounding into form but getting better.

Raw Total Tracking Stats

(click to enlarge)

Summary:

This was a solid game for the Oiler defence by my eye. Good puck movement, relatively few defensive zone turnovers and solid zone defence. The zone exits were particularly important because anything short of a solid exit ended up coming back the other way. 63% of uncontrolled exits went right back into the Oiler zone without so much as a reasonable Oiler zone entry. Only 26% of controlled zone exits turned into controlled zone entries, which is a bit lower than average for the Oilers so far. The Blues play a structured neutral zone game, so the Oilers had to make their breakouts count.

I should probably give a gold star to Gryba, who had a solid game after I doubted him being subbed in for Benning. Russell, also, did an uncharacteristically good job at preventing controlled zone entries. I hope he can keep that up!

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