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Okay, so here goes. I'm just going to kind of wing this at first and see how it goes, and take any suggestions from here moving forward to alter how we might present this data in better ways.
To start, the resources we're going to use to present this data, all from those who are ice cold in their takes:
- ExpG (Expected Goals) Charts, from Don't Tell Me About Heart
- 5v5 Shot Charts, from Micah Blake McCurdy at HockeyViz
- Line-by-Line Corsi For Percentages, using data from HockeyStats.Ca
So the Penguins lost 3-0 in Dallas on Thursday night against the Stars. The Penguins had a ton of scoring chances, but Antti Niemi stood on his head. Here's the charts we compiled to look at a few different aspects of the game.
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You can see here (along with a friendly key) that the Penguins did not have any issues generating shots and chances, they were just unable to finish those chances off. Several very good chances in the net-front area even.
You can read more about Xg from DTM About Heart on Twitter. it's very interesting, and a fun way to look at Expected Goals.
Knowing that all shot attempts are not equal (the hill I will die on), it's a nice way to look at scoring attempts, shot attempts, etc....and be able to factor in shot quality to the situation to see whether you're actually generating good scoring chances, or just shitty shot attempts.
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The Stars stuck it to the Penguins at 5v5, to a point. Kris Letang and Ian Cole in the FUN zone is always well....fun. Lots of room to improve for others. Micah always posts these charts the day after the game on Twitter as well.
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Three thoughts here:
1. PHIL!
2. Sidney Crosby logging a 60%+ even strength Corsi For without registering an actual shot on goal is fairly impressive.
3. This chart is one that I made myself, extracting data from HockeyStats.Ca. Tell Greg that his site is awesome, and so is his dog.
Like I said, this whole thing is kind of a rough draft, any feedback on what you do or don't like is much appreciated. Either in the comments section here or on Twitter.
We hope to keep this going for every game, usually posted the day afterwards, with some brief thoughts.