Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Some Stats: Alex Ovechkin isn’t playing much

Alex Ovechkin

Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin sits on the bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011. The Capitals won 3-2 in overtime. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Some Stats is a weekly feature that will run every Thursday on PHT. In Some Stats, we look at some stats.

18:37: Average ice time for Alex Ovechkin. Last year, it was 21:22. In 2007-08, it peaked at 23:07. That’s an astounding drop-off, even when you consider the Caps have a lot more depth than they used to. I wonder how Ovi’s ego feels when he looks up and sees he’s 63rd among NHL forwards in average ice time. Nah, he’s probably totally cool with that.

Minus-9.2: The average shot differential for the Predators (23.5 shots for, 32.7 shots against.) Nashville has outshot its opponent just once in its first 11 games. A classic Preds game occurred Oct. 22 in Calgary, when they were outshot by the Flames 33 to 14 and won the game, 2-0. It’s almost like Nashville tends to sit back with the lead. Entertaining to watch.

13: Points for Tampa Bay’s Marc-Andre Bergeron, tied for the most of any defensemen in the NHL. And here’s the crazy part: Bergeron’s only playing 18:59 per game. OK, maybe it’s not so crazy when you watch him in his own end, but consider the average ice time for the five d-men tied with or behind Bergeron in scoring: Erik Karlsson (13 points, 25:13 per game) Alex Edler (12, 23:28), Dion Phaneuf (11, 26:38), Kris Letang (11, 26:03), and Brian Campbell (11, 26:59).

23.8%: Shooting percentage for Phil Kessel, bearer of one of the best releases in hockey. For example:

Little hint for defensemen: Don’t back up and give Kessel the high slot all to himself. He can score from there. Although to be fair, they probably know that already. Just scared he’ll blow by them if they get too aggressive at the blue line. A great shot with speed is a dangerous combination.

4: The number of times a team has been winning heading into the third period and failed to get a point. I don’t have much to add, other than to say four times isn’t too many. Try to get the lead before the third period starts I guess.