Sure, it’s a small sample, but with Winter Classic games in Buffalo, Chicago, Boston and tomorrow’s contest in Pittsburgh, there’s enough of a sample to throw around at least a few statistics. Heck, this is already the second game for Sidney Crosby and five other Penguins (which was a source of derision for many hockey fans).
John Kreiser of NHL.com is a regular source of some great stats-based posts, so it’s no surprise that he delivered some interesting numbers regarding the upcoming 2011 Winter Classic and the other three.
Read the full article for every number, but before I go to specific excerpts, here are three simple stats that jump out: Crosby’s point streaking coming into the game (zero, since the Islanders just ended his 25-gamer), the fact that six Penguins players might play in their second WC game (Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Tyler Kennedy, Brooks Orpik and possibly Jordan Staal) and the number of fans expected to be in attendance (approximately 68,000).
First, let’s start with numbers from the Crosby-Alex Ovechkin rivalry.12 -- Wins by the Penguins in the 20 games in which Crosby and Ovechkin have faced each other since both entered the NHL in 2005. Pittsburgh is 12-6-2; Washington is 8-8-4, including a 3-2 shootout loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 23.
35 -- Points scored by Crosby against Washington, four more than Ovechkin has had against Pittsburgh. Crosby has 35 points in 20 games against Ovechkin and the Caps; Ovi has 31 points in 21 games against Crosby and the Penguins (Crosby missed one game in 2007-08 with an ankle injury). Ovechkin does have the advantage in goals, 17-13.Now, here are some “all-time records” for the WC games. One thing that didn’t make the cut: Ty Conklin owns the highest number of saves in a single game with 36 when he backstopped the Penguins to a 2-1 shootout win over Buffalo.
1 -- Winter Classic that has been decided in regulation. Detroit beat Chicago 6-4 in 2009 at Wrigley Field in the only one of the first three Winter Classics that was decided in 60 minutes.
2 -- Goals scored by Detroit’s Jiri Hudler against Chicago in the 2009 Classic. Hudler is still the only player to get more than one goal in a Winter Classic game. Hudler was also plus-3 in that game, the best rating by any player in the Winter Classic.
3 -- Points by Hudler, teammates Brian Rafalski and Marian Hossa, and Chicago’s Martin Havlat in the 2009 Classic, tying them for the most by any player. Rafalski and Havlat each had a goal and a pair of assists, while Hossa got all of his points as assists.So those are some of the most interesting stats pertinent to the event. One other interesting number: 76. That’s the amount of cameras that will be focused on the Winter Classic from NBC, CBC, Versus, HBO and NHL Network according to this NHL.com article. Very cool.