Game 20 Scoring Chances and Zone Entries: Leafs 2 vs. Hurricanes 1 (SO)

The Leafs weren’t offensively impressive for most of their game in Carolina, but some strong goaltending from James Reimer earned them an eventual shootout victory.

That was put in danger when Carolina went ahead midway through the third, but Nazem Kadri got a well-timed power-play goal, and the Leafs prevailed in the ensuing shoot-out.

The possession numbers were pretty even for the first half of the game, but in the second half the Hurricanes pulled out a substantial advantage. That didn’t end up showing in chances, as the two teams finished even after regulation, though Carolina was slightly ahead at even strength. You can see that effect in the zone entries, where the Hurricanes dominated, particularly in the third period.

Team	Chances	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	ES	ESClose	ESCh%	NZEnt%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Tor	20	6	4	3	7	14	9	46.7%	41.3%	39.4%	41.6%
Car	16	5	4	4	3	16	9	53.3%	58.7%	-	-

Neither side really had a substantial period of sustained chances, and there were a couple of long stretches, early in the second and third periods, where there were no chances either way. While Carolina had the better of the possession early in the third, you can see that they didn’t manage a chance until almost ten minutes into the frame. The overall chance numbers were saved by the overtime period, as the two teams combined for only twenty-six chances in the sixty minutes of regulation.

Period	Time	ST	SO	Team	How	State	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	O1	O2	O3	O4	O5	O6
1	19:28	0	0	Tor	Van Riemsdyk from rebound	ES	2	21	34	43	47	51	12	20	27	30	42	74
1	17:52	0	0	Car	Rask from loose puck	ES	19	26	34	46	52	56	5	16	26	30	49	53
1	14:23	0	0	Tor	Winnik deflects Rielly shot wide	ES	2	23	26	34	44	56	5	12	25	26	30	32
1	12:08	0	0	Car	Liles drives	ES	2	24	28	34	40	44	5	14	18	24	26	30
1	12:01	0	0	Car	McClement deflects Hanifin shot wide	ES	2	24	28	34	40	44	5	14	18	24	26	30
1	10:12	0	0	Car	J Staal drives	ES	3	15	23	34	42	51	11	20	27	30	42	74
1	09:17	0	0	Tor	Froese deflects Hunwick shot wide	ES	2	19	26	34	44	56	5	12	25	26	30	32
1	05:39	0	0	Tor	Lupul wide from loose puck	ES	3	19	24	28	34	51	5	12	30	32	53	65
1	04:12	0	0	Car	Pesce from E Staal	ES	2	21	34	43	44	47	12	25	30	32	54	65
1	03:23	0	0	Tor	Grabner from loose puck	ES	24	28	34	40	46	52	14	18	24	27	30	74
1	03:21	0	0	Tor	Grabner from rebound	ES	24	28	34	40	46	52	14	18	24	27	30	74
2	14:46	0	0	Tor	Matthias wraparound	ES	15	23	34	42	44	46	12	25	30	32	54	65
2	13:19	0	0	Tor	Grabner from Holland	ES	24	34	40	46	51	56	16	26	27	30	49	53
2	11:08	0	0	Car	Nordstrom drives post	ES	2	15	23	34	43	44	11	20	30	42	54	65
2	10:38	0	0	Car	E Staal wide from Faulk	ES	2	21	34	43	44	47	12	25	26	27	30	32
2	07:44	0	0	Car	Nash from loose puck	ES	2	3	21	34	43	47	11	20	26	27	30	42
2	06:37	0	0	Tor	Boyes wide from Hunwick	ES	2	24	28	34	40	44	5	16	30	49	53	74
2	06:15	0	0	Car	Nordstrom wide from loose puck	ES	19	26	34	42	46	52	11	20	30	42	54	65
2	00:28	0	0	Tor	Parenteau from Bozak	PP	3	15	24	28	34	42	18	20	27	30	65
3	10:17	0	1	Tor	Hunwick from Parenteau	ES	2	15	23	34	42	44	12	25	30	32	54	65
3	10:02	0	1	Car	E Staal from rebound	ES	2	15	23	24	34	44	5	12	25	30	32	74
3	09:13	0	1	Car	McClement drives	ES	19	28	34	46	52	56	14	18	26	27	30	42
3	09:02	0	1	Tor	Lupul drives wide	ES	3	19	34	40	51	56	5	16	30	49	53	74
3	07:50	0	1	Car	J Staal drives	ES	3	15	34	42	44		11	12	26	27	30
3	04:34	0	1	Car	Skinner from Lindholm	ES	3	21	34	43	47	51	16	26	27	30	49	53
3	03:33	0	1	Tor	GOAL! Kadri from Komarov	PP	19	21	34	43	47	51	11	14	27	30	65
4	04:39	0	1	Tor	Bozak drives	ES	15	34	42	44			11	12	27	30
4	04:29	0	1	Car	Faulk from E Staal	ES	15	34	43	44			11	12	27	30
4	04:17	0	1	Tor	Kadri drives	ES	2	21	34	43			30	32	53	65
4	04:08	0	1	Car	Hainsey drives	ES	2	21	34	43			30	32	53	65
4	03:13	0	1	Car	Faulk drives	ES	2	21	34	43			16	27	30	49
4	02:32	0	1	Tor	Phaneuf from Kadri	PP	3	21	34	42	43		18	26	30	65
4	01:55	0	1	Tor	Phaneuf from Kadri	PP	3	21	34	42	43		18	26	30	65
4	01:31	0	1	Tor	Rielly wide from Parenteau	PP	15	19	24	34	44		20	26	30	65
4	01:00	0	1	Tor	Parenteau wide from Holland	PP	15	19	24	34	44		20	26	30	65
4	00:02	0	1	Tor	Hunwick from loose puck	ES	2	21	34	43	51		11	12	27	30	54

Leafs Player Data

Player	ESChF	ESChA	ESCh%	ESTOI	ZS%	NZ%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Grabner	5	2	71.4%	09:08	32.6%	50.0%	53.3%	20.0%
Froese	4	2	66.7%	10:55	100.0%	46.9%	33.3%	23.5%
Holland	5	3	62.5%	11:44	33.3%	40.0%	35.7%	28.6%
Boyes	4	3	57.1%	10:39	40.0%	42.4%	42.9%	31.6%
Lupul	3	3	50.0%	14:10	12.5%	37.5%	13.3%	28.0%
Matthias	3	3	50.0%	14:45	36.4%	34.8%	25.0%	46.7%
Winnik	2	2	50.0%	09:47	14.3%	44.0%	9.1%	28.6%
Bozak	3	3	50.0%	16:10	25.0%	38.9%	42.9%	54.5%
Parenteau	3	5	37.5%	15:25	38.5%	42.9%	33.3%	57.1%
Van Riemsdyk	3	6	33.3%	16:05	46.2%	38.5%	50.0%	46.9%
Kadri	3	8	27.3%	17:36	35.7%	40.7%	45.5%	46.9%
Komarov	1	4	20.0%	13:43	30.0%	43.5%	50.0%	34.6%
Gardiner	5	2	71.4%	17:24	36.4%	41.5%	45.5%	35.5%
Polak	4	3	57.1%	16:42	30.0%	36.8%	23.8%	38.9%
Hunwick	7	9	43.8%	23:33	27.8%	43.9%	44.8%	48.6%
Rielly	6	8	42.9%	23:38	42.9%	43.1%	35.5%	43.9%
Marincin	2	3	40.0%	09:45	33.3%	34.4%	36.4%	38.1%
Phaneuf	2	4	33.3%	18:13	36.8%	44.8%	42.3%	34.4%

I’ve sung the praises of the top line a lot this season, but this was a rare game where that line was out-chanced. Nazem Kadri’s numbers look particularly bad, but they are a little inflated by a tricky overtime shift that added three chances against to his tally. No one line got the better of them, as they gave up chances against all three Carolina top lines.

The strength of Toronto’s game came from the bottom two lines. Peter Holland, Brad Boyes and Michael Grabner dominated their matchup against the Carolina fourth line. The Joffrey Lupul, Daniel Winnik and Byron Froese line managed to break even, and were the strongest line at preventing Carolina from entering with control.

Jake Gardiner and Dion Phaneuf played most of the game with each other, but ended up with very different chance numbers, as the moments they were apart from one another ended up benefiting Gardiner, who finished with the best numbers on the team.

Matt Hunwick and Morgan Rielly dominated the ES ice time, playing six more minutes than anyone else on the team, and they finished just below even in chances. The third pairing of Roman Poland and Martin Marincin had terrible neutral zone numbers, barely getting over a third of zone entries.