A quick look at the NHL standings at the Olympic break offers some interesting contrasts from expectation, with some teams surprising, others disappointing.
In the East, Ottawa sits atop the Northeast Division and third in the Conference with Buffalo right behind them due to a recent cold streak. In the West, the Phoenix Coyotes with an amazing 37 wins sit in fourth place in the conference, only one point ahead of the LA Kings. Colorado may have outperformed expectations the most thus far, with the Yotes making a case.
Then there’s the Detroit Red Wings looking from the outside and Columbus floating around near the bottom.
A look at these clubs records in one-goal games provides good insight as to how the Kings/Senators sit high, and why the Red Wings/Blue Jackets sit outside of a playoff spot, and the Leafs trail the NHL sitting dead last.
Overall, goaltending may be the biggest factor in most of the standings anomalies. After all, goaltending is most important in one-goal games, whether it’s to solidify a win, or to keep the team in games during overtime, or to outright wing on in a shootout.
While goalies carry a burden, the ability to score that important goal holds weight. As often is the case, the important ‘next goal’ could begin a rally, or break the spirits of a team at some point during a game.
Below are three separate tables with stats based on one goal games.
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This table, is the ranking of teams in total one goal games from 2008-09 and 2009-10 and ranked by Winning Percentage. Some quick notes:
Risers:
Ottawa ranks in 08-9, 26th overall and 2nd overall in 2009-10
Los Angeles ranked 22 in 2008-09 and sixth in 2009-10
Phoenix were ranked 17th in 2008-09 and sit in third in 2009-10
Fallers
Columbus was 9th in 2008-09 and dropped to 20th in 2009-10
Detroit dropped from 4th in 2008-09 to 22nd overall in 2009-10
Carolina are the biggest drop from second overall in 2008-09 to 24th in 2009-10
Calgary ranked fifth overall in 2008-09 and rank 21 in 2009-10
And even the mighty offensive machine Washington has dropped from seventh in 2008-09 to 19th in 2009-10.
| Rank(08-9) | Team | W | L | OTL | W% | Rank(09-10) | Team | W | L | Tot | W% | |
| 1 | NJ | 25 | 5 | 4 | 0.735 | 1 | NJD | 18 | 8 | 26 | 0.692 | |
| 2 | CAR | 24 | 8 | 7 | 0.615 | 2 | Ott | 17 | 8 | 25 | 0.680 | |
| 3 | SJ | 26 | 7 | 11 | 0.591 | 3 | Pho | 21 | 10 | 31 | 0.677 | |
| 4 | DET | 24 | 7 | 10 | 0.585 | 4 | Pit | 18 | 10 | 28 | 0.643 | |
| 5 | CAL | 21 | 9 | 6 | 0.583 | 5 | Chi | 20 | 12 | 32 | 0.625 | |
| 6 | NAS | 22 | 8 | 8 | 0.579 | 6 | LA | 20 | 12 | 32 | 0.625 | |
| 7 | WAS | 19 | 7 | 8 | 0.559 | 7 | Col | 19 | 12 | 31 | 0.613 | |
| 8 | NYR | 24 | 10 | 9 | 0.558 | 8 | Van | 13 | 9 | 22 | 0.591 | |
| 9 | COL | 20 | 6 | 10 | 0.556 | 9 | Ana | 15 | 11 | 26 | 0.577 | |
| 10 | PIT | 19 | 8 | 9 | 0.528 | 10 | Min | 19 | 15 | 34 | 0.559 | |
| 11 | COL | 22 | 15 | 5 | 0.524 | 11 | Buf | 17 | 14 | 31 | 0.548 | |
| 12 | ANA | 23 | 14 | 7 | 0.523 | 12 | SJ | 14 | 12 | 26 | 0.538 | |
| 13 | FLO | 16 | 4 | 11 | 0.516 | 13 | Nas | 16 | 14 | 30 | 0.533 | |
| 14 | MTL | 20 | 8 | 11 | 0.513 | 14 | Phi | 12 | 12 | 24 | 0.500 | |
| 15 | BUF | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0.500 | 15 | StL | 15 | 15 | 30 | 0.500 | |
| 16 | STL | 18 | 9 | 10 | 0.486 | 16 | NYI | 16 | 17 | 33 | 0.485 | |
| 17 | PHX | 17 | 11 | 7 | 0.486 | 17 | Mtl | 16 | 18 | 34 | 0.471 | |
| 18 | DAL | 19 | 10 | 11 | 0.475 | 18 | Dal | 14 | 16 | 30 | 0.467 | |
| 19 | BOS | 18 | 10 | 10 | 0.474 | 19 | Was | 13 | 15 | 28 | 0.464 | |
| 20 | VAN | 17 | 9 | 10 | 0.472 | 20 | Cbs | 13 | 17 | 30 | 0.433 | |
| 21 | TOR | 16 | 5 | 13 | 0.471 | 21 | Cal | 14 | 20 | 34 | 0.412 | |
| 22 | LA | 20 | 12 | 11 | 0.465 | 22 | Det | 12 | 18 | 30 | 0.400 | |
| 23 | EDM | 19 | 13 | 9 | 0.463 | 23 | Bos | 13 | 20 | 33 | 0.394 | |
| 24 | MIN | 19 | 13 | 9 | 0.463 | 24 | Car | 9 | 14 | 23 | 0.391 | |
| 25 | PHI | 18 | 11 | 11 | 0.450 | 25 | Atl | 14 | 22 | 36 | 0.389 | |
| 26 | OTT | 17 | 10 | 11 | 0.447 | 26 | NYR | 10 | 16 | 26 | 0.385 | |
| 27 | ATL | 15 | 14 | 6 | 0.429 | 27 | TB | 11 | 18 | 29 | 0.379 | |
| 28 | CHI | 12 | 7 | 12 | 0.387 | 28 | Edm | 9 | 15 | 24 | 0.375 | |
| 29 | NYI | 11 | 17 | 9 | 0.297 | 29 | Flo | 11 | 19 | 30 | 0.367 | |
| 30 | TB | 10 | 11 | 18 | 0.256 | 30 | Tor | 8 | 18 | 26 | 0.308 |
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This table looks at the year-to-year change in rankings from 2008-09 to 2009-10. Ottawa has the biggest change, while Carolin lines the bottom, with some strange changes throughout the NHL.
One anomaly has the Minnesota Wild as jumping 14 spots from 24th in 2008-09 to 10th overall, yet, they are still sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
| Rank(08-9) | Team | W% | Chg | Rank(09-10) | Team | W% |
| 26 | OTTAWA | 0.447 | 24 | 2 | Ott | 0.680 |
| 28 | CHICAGO | 0.387 | 23 | 5 | Chi | 0.625 |
| 22 | LOS ANGELES | 0.465 | 16 | 6 | LA | 0.625 |
| 24 | MINNESOTA | 0.463 | 14 | 10 | Min | 0.559 |
| 17 | PHOENIX | 0.486 | 14 | 3 | Pho | 0.677 |
| 29 | NY ISLANDERS | 0.297 | 13 | 16 | NYI | 0.485 |
| 20 | VANCOUVER | 0.472 | 12 | 8 | Van | 0.591 |
| 25 | PHILADELPHIA | 0.450 | 11 | 14 | Phi | 0.500 |
| 10 | PITTSBURGH | 0.528 | 6 | 4 | Pit | 0.643 |
| 11 | COLORADO | 0.524 | 4 | 7 | Col | 0.613 |
| 15 | BUFFALO | 0.500 | 4 | 11 | Buf | 0.548 |
| 12 | ANAHEIM | 0.523 | 3 | 9 | Ana | 0.577 |
| 30 | TAMPA BAY | 0.256 | 3 | 27 | TB | 0.379 |
| 27 | ATLANTA | 0.429 | 2 | 25 | Atl | 0.389 |
| 16 | ST LOUIS | 0.486 | 1 | 15 | StL | 0.500 |
| 18 | DALLAS | 0.475 | 0 | 18 | Dal | 0.467 |
| 1 | NEW JERSEY | 0.735 | 0 | 1 | NJD | 0.692 |
| 14 | MONTREAL | 0.513 | -3 | 17 | Mtl | 0.471 |
| 19 | BOSTON | 0.474 | -4 | 23 | Bos | 0.394 |
| 23 | EDMONTON | 0.463 | -5 | 28 | Edm | 0.375 |
| 6 | NASHVILLE | 0.579 | -7 | 13 | Nas | 0.533 |
| 3 | SAN JOSE | 0.591 | -9 | 12 | SJ | 0.538 |
| 21 | TORONTO | 0.471 | -9 | 30 | Tor | 0.308 |
| 9 | COLUMBUS | 0.556 | -11 | 20 | Cbs | 0.433 |
| 7 | WASHINGTON | 0.559 | -12 | 19 | Was | 0.464 |
| 5 | CALGARY | 0.583 | -16 | 21 | Cal | 0.412 |
| 13 | FLORIDA | 0.516 | -16 | 29 | Flo | 0.367 |
| 4 | DETROIT | 0.585 | -18 | 22 | Det | 0.400 |
| 8 | NY RANGERS | 0.558 | -18 | 26 | NYR | 0.385 |
| 2 | CAROLINA | 0.615 | -22 | 24 | Car | 0.391 |
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The picture is slightly altered however when taking into consideration one-goal wins in regulation time, as opposed to lumping together all the extra time games.
San Jose leads the NHL with a .700 winning percentage, with Ottawa and Anaheim a close second and Colorado making up ground. Buffalo, Dallas and NJ are tied and then Phoenix makes its appearance, as does one of the better clubs in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
| Rank(09-10) | Team | W | L | TOT | W% |
| 1 | SJ | 7 | 3 | 10 | 0.700 |
| 2 | Ott | 9 | 4 | 13 | 0.692 |
| 3 | Ana | 9 | 4 | 13 | 0.692 |
| 4 | Col | 13 | 6 | 19 | 0.684 |
| 5 | Buf | 10 | 5 | 15 | 0.667 |
| 6 | Dal | 8 | 4 | 12 | 0.667 |
| 7 | NJD | 10 | 5 | 15 | 0.667 |
| 8 | Pho | 9 | 5 | 14 | 0.643 |
| 9 | Pit | 8 | 6 | 14 | 0.571 |
| 10 | LA | 10 | 8 | 18 | 0.556 |
| 11 | StL | 7 | 6 | 13 | 0.538 |
| 12 | Van | 8 | 7 | 15 | 0.533 |
| 13 | Cbs | 8 | 7 | 15 | 0.533 |
| 14 | Chi | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0.500 |
| 15 | Det | 6 | 6 | 12 | 0.500 |
| 16 | Min | 11 | 11 | 22 | 0.500 |
| 17 | Tor | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0.500 |
| 18 | Nas | 8 | 9 | 17 | 0.471 |
| 19 | Was | 6 | 7 | 13 | 0.462 |
| 20 | Cal | 9 | 11 | 20 | 0.450 |
| 21 | NYR | 7 | 9 | 16 | 0.438 |
| 22 | Phi | 7 | 9 | 16 | 0.438 |
| 23 | TB | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0.417 |
| 24 | Atl | 8 | 12 | 20 | 0.400 |
| 25 | Car | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0.364 |
| 26 | Flo | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0.357 |
| 27 | Edm | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.308 |
| 28 | NYI | 4 | 9 | 13 | 0.308 |
| 29 | Bos | 3 | 9 | 12 | 0.250 |
| 30 | Mtl | 3 | 12 | 15 | 0.200 |
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