Oilers vs Jets: 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: 25

Opponent: Winnipeg Jets

Score: 6-3 Good Guys!

Zone Exits

This was a weaker game for zone exits, both in percent controlled and in frequency. Klefbom had an unusally poor game. Larsson hardly made an exit pass all game. Russell and sekera struggled. Only Nurse and Benning did well here. (Side note: the pairings were different after the first shift, but my tables were already set and I forgot to change them. Klefbom played mostly with Benning and Larsson with Nurse, though there was some more fluidity than usual.)

Zone Defence

Not a lot of denied zone entries but the Oilers didn’t allow the Jets to carry the puck in too often. Part of this seemed to be tactics by my eye as it seemed as though some of the Jet lines preferred the dump-in as a method of zone entry. Regardless, no major surprises here. The usual suspects did well.

Puck Retrievals

As a team, the Oilers did a bit worse than usual. The Jets did pretty well on the dump-and-chase, though the Oilers still came away with it more often than not. Only Larsson really struggled in this game. At one point I began to wonder if he was injured… he just seemed to be struggling to get back with speed on the puck retrieval compared to his usual self. Might be something to follow going forward.

Defensive Zone Passing

Turnovers were a problem in this game. Sekera and Russell particularly had a terrible time of it and that probably lead to their defence worst shot attempt numbers. Only Benning did really well by turnovers, only giving the puck away in the defensive zone once mid-way through the 3rd. Nurse moved the puck a lot paired with Larsson. Though his zone exit frequency wasn’t amazing, over 50% of the time he got the puck he pushed it up to a forward. Meanwhile, Larsson had the lowest number of touches in the defensive zone on the team.

Raw Total Tracking Stats:

(click to enlarge)

Summary:

I’m thrilled we got the win, but that was some loose defensive play, especially in the 2nd. The Oilers had long stretches where they were chasing in their own end. They did still manage to walk away winning the shot attempt and the scoring chance battle via Natural Stattrick. None-the-less, I thought they played a better game in their last two against Toronto and Arizona. The difference being those games they didn’t get the bounces and this game they did. The Hockey Gords tend to balance things out.

Of the new pairings, I thought Klefbom / Benning looked best. Nurse / Larsson spent a bit of time running around as Larsson seemed less than his usual shut-down self. Sekera and Russell had times they did well but also spent a lot of time chasing and some of it was their own doing, with a large number of give-aways.

Up next, 5 games in 7 days! The Oilers will need to keep pace through this next week.

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