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

Five team stats you may find interesting

Pittsburgh Penguins v New York Rangers

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 23: (L-R) Conor Sheary #43, Sidney Crosby #87 and Kris Letang #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate a goal by Crosby at 12:57 of the second period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Plus-27 -- That’s the Penguins’ goal differential in the third period, the best goal differential of any team in any period. Pittsburgh has scored 46 times in the third frame, while allowing just 19 goals against. Other notables: Minnesota is plus-18 in the second period and Columbus is plus-15 in the first. Montreal and Chicago have also had strong third periods, going plus-18 and plus-15, respectively.

Read more: Torts downplays significance of tonight’s Jackets-Penguins game

Minus-25 -- That’s the Winnipeg Jets’ goal differential in the second period, the worst goal differential of any team in any period. The middle frame tripped them up again Tuesday in Vancouver, where they entered with a 1-0 lead and came out tied. They would eventually lose, 4-1. Winnipeg is plus-10 in the first and third periods combined. One other notable: Colorado is minus-20 in the first and minus-13 in the third. But hey, they’re only minus-3 in the second, a relative success.

14 -- Rangers victories when they’ve been outshot by their opponent. No team has won more in that scenario, which says two things about the Blueshirts. First, they’ve had some very good goaltending performances from both Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta. And second, they’re converting on a high percentage of their shots (an NHL-best 11.2 percent, in fact). It is also somewhat worrying, given their score-adjusted Corsi is down there with the league’s bottom-feeders. But with a record of 23-11-1, they’ve at least given themselves a nice playoff cushion if they do happen to regress.

Minus-3 -- The goal differential of the Carolina Hurricanes while shorthanded -- which is, frankly, amazing. The ‘Canes have only surrendered seven goals on the PK all season, and they’ve scored four times shorthanded. Compare that to Winnipeg, which has a minus-26 goal differential while shorthanded. Yep, not to pick on the Jets, but they continue to hurt themselves with penalties under head coach Paul Maurice. Since 2013-14, they’ve been burned a whopping 196 times while shorthanded. Only the Coyotes (216) have given up more PPGs over that time frame.

47.4 -- The faceoff winning percentage of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the second worst rate in the league after Winnipeg (46.9). Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche are at 53.2, the second best after Anaheim (56.2). What does this mean? It means it’s always nice to be a good faceoff team, because obviously it is. However, it’s not an absolute prerequisite for winning. The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013 with a faceoff percentage of just 46.8 in the playoffs. The ‘Hawks are only at 48.2 percent this season, and they lead the overall standings with a 22-9-4 record.

faceoffs

7 -- Overtime losses for the Dallas Stars, who really can’t afford so many. The Stars have just one victory in sudden death this season. They have yet to go to a shootout. "(If) you’re scoring in overtime, you’re confident, you believe a little bit more,” defenseman Dan Hamhuis told reporters after Tuesday’s 3-2 OT loss to St. Louis. “You don’t want to say it, but it certainly affects guys out there when we haven’t had a great record so far.”