The Numbers Game: St. Louis Blues Edition
By Ger Devine
Sep 27, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Minnesota Wild defenseman Clayton Stoner (4) and St. Louis Blues right wing Chris Stewart (25) battle for the puck during the third period at Scottrade Center. The Blues won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
In a feature that I’ll be running here on Gone Puck Wild throughout the season, before each game, I will analyse the underlying numbers for both the Wild and their next opponent to see how they match-up. Tonight’s opponent is the St. Louis Blues.
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-Here are the underlying numbers for both teams so far this year at 5v5 Close, along with some general statistics:
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WILD
BLUES
LEAGUE POSITION
6th 3rd
HOME RECORD
10-1-2 10-1-2
ROAD RECORD
5-4-2 6-2-1
PP%
22.4%5th25.6%1st
PK%
77.4925th84.0%10th
-5v5 CLOSE-
WILD
BLUES
FF%
54.0%7th55.6%3rd
Sh%
7.4%19th9.4%3rd
Sv%
94.8%4th93.5%8th
PDO
102.27th103.06th
(GF%=Goals For %, CF%=Corsi For %, FF%=Fenwick For %, SF%=Shots For Percentage, Sh%=
Shooting Percentage, Sv%=Save Percentage)
- This Blues team is a puck possession monster, and they’re reaping the rewards in their standings points.
- Their 103.0 PDO suggests they are overachieving in terms of Sv% and Sh%, but even after some regression, they should still be a top-5 team in the league by the end of the year.
- The Blues have the #1 ranked powerplay, going up against the Wild’s iffy PK….uh oh.
- The Wild have slipped down the FenClose rankings a little bit after a rough stretch of games, but are still at an extremely healthy 54%.
-Here are the 3 Best and 3 Worst players from each team in terms of Corsi For% (puck possession) and PDO (luck). This only counts players who have played 50% of their team’s games so far:
5v5 CLOSE |
PLAYER #1
PLAYER #2
PLAYER #3
MIN CF% Top 3
KOIVU (61.3%)
PARISE (60.5%)
MITCHELL (57.9%)
MIN CF% Worst 3
BRODZIAK (45.0%)
FONTAINE (46.7%)
COOKE (47.1%)
MIN PDO Top 3
FONTAINE (107.8)
POMINVILLE (107.1)
COOKE (105.9)
MIN PDO Worst 3
DUMBA (92.8)
KONOPKA (92.9)
MITCHELL (94.1)
STL CF% Top 3
BERGLUND (58.7%)
TARASENKO (58.6%)
STEEN (58.5%)
STL CF% Worst 3
LAPIERRE (47.1%)
POLAK (47.7%)
REAVES (50.0%)
STL PDO Top 3
REAVES (108.6)
BACKES (107.8)
STEEN (106.3)
STL PDO Worst 3
SOBOTKA (93.2)
ROY (97.5)
STEWART (99.3)
-Here are the Player Usage Charts for both teams to illustrate which players are getting tough minutes and which players are being sheltered:
Minnesota Wild
- The Wild’s 3rd lin continues to play the tough minutes and their Corsi numbers are suffering as a result.
- Scandella, Spurgeon and, to a lesser extent, Suter are playing tough minutes too, but they’re killing it in terms of Corsi.
St. Louis Blues
(Click To Enlarge) (Bubble Size=Corsi On Rating. Blue Bubble=Postive. Red Bubble=Negative)
- The Blues top line is simply terrifying. They play the toughest compeition, with the lowest percentage of offensive zone starts…and absolutely crush it.
- Speaking of terrifying, that Alex Pietrangelo/Jabe O’Meester top pairing is scary good.
- Ryan Reaves, Maxim Lapierre and Roman Polak are weak points that should be targeted.
Okay, that’s all from me. Make sure you check-out the official Gone Puck Wild Game Preview before puck-drop where you’ll get some useful insight along with all the information you need about the game.
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*Numbers in this article courtesy of: