Haven’t done one of these in a while, and as the Hawks sit on the precipice of being halfway to another Grant Park Drunkening, seems like a good time to do it. Let’s get to it.
63%
That’s the third line’s Corsi-percentage over the past two games. In case you’re new to us and/or these analytics, 55% would be considered dominant. Now, only one of those games did that line see heavy offensive zone starts, and last night their zone starts were pretty evenly split between the o-zone, neutral zone, and d-zone. That’s the third line. 3rd. #3. In case you want to know what separates the Hawks right now.
447
That’s the career goals currently on the Hawks’ third line. It doesn’t really mean much, it just makes me feel good to see.
89.3% – 81.6%
Thats’ the regular season save-percentage on the penalty kill, and the second is the SV% on the kill in the playoffs. Clearly, this is not the only way to look at the struggles of the penalty kill in the postseason, but it’s probably the biggest. What’s strange is that the Hawks give up less shots on the kill in the postseason, or at a lower rate, than they did in the regular season. It’s 49.9 per 60 in the playoffs, it was over 56 in the regular season. War On Ice doesn’t do a playoffs specific shot chart, so it’s hard to judge if they’re seeing better quality shots than they were in the regular season. As I try and drum up anything to be afraid of when it comes to Anaheim (and it’s a real struggle), their power play is the one I keep coming back to if the Hawks can’t straighten out the kill back to what it was, and it’s mostly on Crawford. The Ducks can’t hang with the Hawks at evens over seven games, but if they get a power play goal or two per game, they don’t have to.
3%
That’s the gap between Duncan Keith’s Corsi-percentage for the playoffs and any other d-man that isn’t his teammate. That’s right, only Rozsival and Seabrook are anywhere near him, and that’s because they spend a lot of time playing with him. The last time Keith was this dominant in possession, and granted it’s only nine games so far, was 2010 when he took home his first Norris, a gold medal, and really should have walked away with a Conn Smythe as well. Looks like he might put that right this season.
0
Amount of goals against Hjalmarsson has been on the ice for this series. That’s easy when the other team only scores four, but still. Also, Hammer had two games against the Preds where he wasn’t on the ice for a goal against, Hawks won both of those as well. These things are probably not a coincidence.
