Home Analysis Game Reviews Game 1 Scoring Chances and Zone Entries: Canadiens 3 vs. Leafs 1

shawnmatthias — TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 7: Shawn Matthias #23 of the Toronto Maple Leafs battles with P.K. Subban #76 of the Montreal Canadiens during NHL game action October 7, 2015 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)

Game 1 Scoring Chances and Zone Entries: Canadiens 3 vs. Leafs 1

Oct 8, 2015

There was a lot of doom and gloom around the Toronto Maple Leafs entering the season, and a bad goal against in the first few minutes seemed to signal the start of a long year.

However, despite an opening night loss, there’s a lot of positives in the Leaf performance from last night. In addition to carrying the play in terms of possession, the Leafs had the better of the scoring chances and zone entries. While they only narrowly out-chanced the Habs, they were slightly ahead, and they won the neutral zone battle just over half the time as well.

Team	Overall Chances	1st	2nd	3rd	ES	ESClose	ESC%	NZEnt%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Tor	23	5	11	7	18	17	51.5%	51.8%	45.9%	44.3%
Mtl	20	5	8	7	19	16	48.5%	48.2%	-	-

The Leafs had their strongest run at the start of the second period, including the tying goal, but did disappoint somewhat in the closing minutes, as it was Montreal that had more chances in the last four minutes, when the Leafs were trying to push for an equalizer.

Scoring Chance Events

Period	Time	ST	SO	Team	How	State	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	O1	O2	O3	O4	O5	O6
1	19:09	0	0	Tor	Boyes drives	ES	21	28	36	43	45	51	15	22	26	31	51	74
1	18:55	0	0	Tor	Kadri from loose puck	ES	21	28	36	43	45	51	15	22	26	31	51	74
1	17:23	0	0	Tor	Lupul deflects Phaneuf shot	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	17	21	28	31	32	77
1	15:49	0	1	Mtl	Fleischmann drives wide	ES	15	16	26	36	45	51	15	22	26	31	51	74
1	15:29	0	1	Mtl	Wiese post from Desharnais	ES	15	16	26	44	45	52	22	26	31	51	67	77
1	14:31	0	1	Tor	Van Riemsdyk wide from Holland	ES	2	3	21	43	45		14	26	31	67	74
1	13:10	0	1	Mtl	Gilbert drives	ES	24	28	44	45	52		13	27	28	31	77
1	06:48	0	1	Mtl	Galchenyuk bar from Subban	SH	2	16	26	44	45		13	27	31	76	79	81
1	04:51	0	1	Tor	Boyes drives	ES	21	28	36	43	45	51	15	22	28	31	51	77
1	01:33	0	1	Mtl	Eller wide from Semin	ES	24	33	44	45	47	52	13	27	31	76	79	81
2	19:41	0	1	Tor	GOAL! Van Riemsdyk deflects Kadri shot	PP	3	15	21	28	43	45	15	17	26	31	74
2	18:40	1	1	Tor	Kadri from Boyes	ES	21	28	36	43	45	52	13	26	27	31	74	81
2	15:37	1	1	Tor	Winnik drives	ES	15	16	26	36	45	51	15	22	28	31	51	77
2	13:47	1	1	Tor	Matthias drives	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	11	14	26	31	67	74
2	13:43	1	1	Tor	Matthias from rebound	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	11	14	26	31	67	74
2	13:24	1	1	Mtl	Petry from Pacioretty	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	13	14	26	31	67	79
2	11:51	1	1	Tor	Lupul drives	EN	15	19	24	42	44	51	11	14	15	31	74	79
2	09:43	1	1	Tor	Holland wide from Bozak	ES	19	24	33	42	45	51	14	31	67	76	79	81
2	09:17	1	1	Mtl	Desharnais drives	ES	16	24	42	44	45	51	15	22	28	31	51	77
2	07:54	1	1	Tor	Van Riemsdyk from Matthias	ES	3	21	23	43	44	45	13	15	28	31	51	77
2	07:00	1	1	Mtl	Plekanec drives	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	11	14	31	67	76	79
2	06:43	1	1	Mtl	Plekanec from Pacioretty	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	11	14	31	67	76	79
2	06:42	1	1	Mtl	Plekanec post from rebound	ES	2	3	19	23	42	45	11	14	31	67	76	79
2	05:49	1	1	Mtl	Fleischmann drives	ES	15	24	26	44	45	52	15	22	28	31	51	77
2	05:15	1	1	Tor	Kadri drives	ES	21	28	43	44	45	52	13	26	27	31	74	81
2	03:35	1	1	Mtl	Fleischmann drives	ES	24	33	36	45	47	51	15	22	28	31	51	77
2	01:58	1	1	Tor	Rielly drives	ES	21	28	43	44	45	52	13	27	31	76	79	81
2	01:29	1	1	Mtl	Eller drives wide	ES	28	42	43	44	45	52	13	27	31	76	79	81
2	00:17	1	1	Tor	Kadri deflects Phaneuf shot wide	ES	2	3	21	28	43	45	14	21	31	67	76	79
3	18:58	1	1	Tor	Rielly drives	ES	21	28	43	44	45	52	15	22	26	31	51	74
3	17:37	1	1	Tor	Winnik from Spaling	ES	16	26	33	36	45	51	13	27	28	31	32	77
3	13:07	1	1	Mtl	Desharnais from rebound	ES	3	21	28	43	45	51	15	22	31	51	76	79
3	08:51	1	1	Mtl	Flynn deflects Gilbert shot wide	ES	2	3	24	33	45	47	17	21	28	31	32	77
3	08:27	1	1	Tor	Spaling wide from Parenteau	ES	15	16	26	36	45	51	13	17	28	31	77	81
3	08:10	1	1	Mtl	Eller drives wide	ES	15	16	26	36	45	51	13	27	28	31	76	81
3	07:58	1	1	Mtl	GOAL! Galchenyuk from Markov	ES	15	16	26	36	45	51	13	27	31	76	79	81
3	05:43	1	2	Tor	Holland from Arcobello	ES	24	33	44	45	47	52	17	21	31	32	76	79
3	04:22	1	2	Tor	Lupul from Bozak	PP	19	24	33	42	44	45	15	26	31	74	81
3	04:10	1	2	Tor	Rielly wide from Holland	PP	19	24	33	42	44	45	15	26	31	74	81
3	03:18	1	2	Mtl	Smith-Pelly wide from loose puck	ES	2	21	28	43	45	51	17	21	31	32	76	77
3	02:53	1	2	Mtl	Plekanec from Gallagher	ES	3	15	16	26	45	51	11	14	28	31	67	77
3	02:01	1	2	Mtl	Gallagher drives	ES	3	19	24	42	45	51	11	14	26	31	67	74
3	00:40	1	2	Tor	Hunwick deflects Van Riemsdyk shot	EN	2	15	21	28	43	51	13	14	31	76	79	81

Leafs Players Game Data

Name	ESChF	ESChA	ESCh%	ESTOI	ZS%	NZ%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Van Riemsdyk	10	2	83%	14:43	75%	50%	76%	57%
Kadri	10	3	77%	15:11	75%	58%	69%	53%
Boyes	8	4	67%	15:20	75%	57%	68%	52%
Matthias	4	4	50%	12:57	50%	41%	26%	33%
Arcobello	3	3	50%	10:15	79%	57%	38%	40%
Lupul	4	5	44%	15:30	50%	42%	27%	32%
Bozak	4	7	36%	16:36	50%	49%	29%	28%
Spaling	3	6	33%	13:49	40%	56%	41%	53%
Winnik	3	6	33%	13:34	40%	60%	36%	47%
Parenteau	2	6	25%	13:05	50%	51%	42%	56%
Komarov	1	3	25%	08:47	64%	52%	33%	36%
Holland	2	7	22%	12:18	79%	59%	40%	36%
Harrington	7	4	64%	16:31	67%	51%	48%	50%
Marincin	5	5	50%	15:30	70%	54%	52%	48%
Hunwick	5	6	45%	18:45	53%	51%	42%	43%
Rielly	5	6	45%	18:47	69%	55%	48%	48%
Gardiner	7	9	44%	20:09	79%	51%	46%	44%
Phaneuf	6	8	43%	18:00	57%	45%	39%	41%

It was a strong night for the ‘top’ line, with Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and Brad Boyes, as they were the primary trio that produced even strength chances, and they were somewhat unlucky not to be rewarded with an ES goal. A part of that offensive ability was down to their ability to enter the Montreal zone with control. They also were the worst line at preventing the Habs from entering with control, but the margin was much more in that line’s favour.

Tyler Bozak, playing with Joffrey Lupul and Shawn Matthias, was used mostly against the top Montreal line, and you can see that tough matchup reflected in their data. They were out-chanced, though not too badly, and were the only Leaf line to be beaten out in the neutral zone. They were able to prevent the Canadiens from entering with control, but didn’t generate much themselves.

I mentioned it in my preseason preview, but Peter Holland’s chance numbers have regularly been pretty poor, and this wasn’t a great start to the 2015-16 campaign. Despite having the most offensive zone start ratio, he was a team worst -5 at ES. That line was able to do well at entering the zone, but didn’t turn that into enough chances. Leo Komarov also had poor chance numbers, while Mark Arcobello managed to finish at even.

P.A. Parenteau and Nick Spaling, who were excellent in the preseason, were outchanced in this game, though they were used more defensively than any of the other lines.

It was a good first game as a Leaf for Scott Harrington, who had relatively easy assignments, but was the only Leaf defenceman to be above even in ES chances. Dion Phaneuf had the weakest numbers, lagging behind his partner, Matt Hunwick, who was solid in his matchup with the Montreal top line.

The two young defencemen, Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner, got a lot of ice time against the other Montreal lines, but were both out-chanced. Rielly was the best at winning the neutral zone, and was the most likely defenceman to carry the puck in himself, both good signs for the remainder of the year. Martin Marincin also started well, and was the defenceman on for the highest percentage of controlled entries.