Crunching Numbers: Sabres Escape Montreal With 4-3 Victory

by David Oleksy on Dec 15, 2009 12:23 PM EST in Game Recaps Comment 10 comments

Buffalo Sabres' Patrick Kaleta, left, celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens with teammate Toni Lydman during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Paul Chiasson)

3 months ago: Buffalo Sabres' Patrick Kaleta, left, celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens with teammate Toni Lydman during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Paul Chiasson)

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Monday night was another statement game for the Buffalo Sabres. This is a team that had trouble closing out games last season, but this season they are 14-0-0 when they lead after two periods and they are 9-1-2 in one-goal games.

The off day today gives us a chance to reflect back at the win last night by looking at Corsi Numbers. While watching the game it seemed to be an even game but when looking at the Corsi, the Sabres had more even strength chances than the Canadiens did.

Drew Stafford and Clarke MacArthur were the only Sabres to finish the game with a negative Corsi rating and Lydman and Rivet on defense. Steve Montador led the way with Andrej Sekera following him. I have been impressed with the play of Sekera as of late and I wonder what Lindy Ruff will do when Chris Butler is healthy enough to return to the lineup.

		Game Stats
#	Player	Pos	TOI	+/-	FO%	Hits	GV	TK	BS
4	Steve Montador	D	17:02	0	-	0	2	0	1
5	Toni Lydman	D	14:48	1	-	0	1	0	2
9	Derek Roy	C	18:20	1	38%	0	0	0	3
10	Henrik Tallinder	D	17:55	1	-	1	2	0	2
13	Tim Kennedy	C	13:18	1	63%	1	0	0	0
19	Tim Connolly	C	19:41	0	10%	0	0	1	2
21	Drew Stafford	RW	15:22	1	0%	0	0	0	0
22	Adam Mair	C	7:29	0	-	1	0	1	0
25	Mike Grier	RW	8:19	0	-	0	0	0	0
26	Thomas Vanek	LW	19:24	0	-	1	0	0	1
29	Jason Pominville	RW	19:13	-1	33%	0	0	2	0
36	Patrick Kaleta	RW	15:43	2	-	2	1	0	1
37	Matt Ellis	LW	7:44	0	75%	1	0	1	0
41	Clarke MacArthur	LW	19:47	-1	0%	0	0	0	2
44	Andrej Sekera	D	20:09	0	0%	2	1	0	0
52	Craig Rivet	D	14:41	1	-	1	1	1	0
55	Jochen Hecht	LW	18:38	2	14%	0	0	0	0
57	Tyler Myers	D	28:07	1	-	0	0	1	2
TOI = Total Time on Ice				GV = Giveaways
FO% = Faceoff percentage				TK = Takeaways
Hits = Total Hits				BS=Blocked Shots

			Even Strength Individual Stats						Even Strength On-Ice Totals
#	Player	Pos	EV TOI	G	A	Shots	S A/B	S Miss	SOGF	SOGA	SOG Diff	Tot SF	Tot SA	Corsi
4	Steve Montador	D	16:47	0	0	0	4	0	9	6	3	26	10	16
5	Toni Lydman	D	14:30	0	0	1	1	1	3	11	-8	13	20	-7
9	Derek Roy	C	13:15	0	1	1	0	3	4	6	-2	20	14	6
10	Henrik Tallinder	D	14:28	0	0	0	1	0	9	3	6	16	12	4
13	Tim Kennedy	C	12:25	1	0	2	2	2	7	4	3	12	8	4
19	Tim Connolly	C	11:41	0	0	1	1	1	6	7	-1	15	14	1
21	Drew Stafford	RW	11:10	0	0	0	0	1	3	6	-3	12	13	-1
22	Adam Mair	C	7:26	0	0	2	0	0	5	3	2	10	3	7
25	Mike Grier		7:14	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	-3	6	6	0
26	Thomas Vanek	LW	13:09	0	0	1	1	0	3	6	-3	16	14	2
29	Jason Pominville	RW	12:31	0	0	4	4	0	8	6	2	20	15	5
36	Patrick Kaleta	RW	13:34	0	0	2	0	0	6	3	3	12	7	5
37	Matt Ellis	LW	7:41	0	0	1	3	0	3	4	-1	6	5	1
41	Clarke MacArthur	LW	13:03	0	0	1	0	0	6	8	-2	14	17	-3
44	Andrej Sekera	D	15:47	1	0	2	3	0	8	7	1	16	8	8
52	Craig Rivet	D	11:50	0	0	0	2	0	3	11	-8	11	16	-5
55	Jochen Hecht	LW	11:39	0	2	2	1	0	6	4	2	11	7	4
57	Tyler Myers	D	16:29	0	1	0	0	0	9	4	5	16	15	1
EV TOI = Even Strength time on ice								SOGA = Team shots against while on ice
EV TOI = Even Strength time on ice								SOG Diff = Difference shots on ice
S A/B = shots attempted and blocked								Tot SF = Total shots including blocked/missed
S Miss = Shots missed the net								Tot SA = Total Shots Ag. Including blocked/missed
SOGF = Team Shots while on ice								Corsi = Difference in Total Shots

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Comments

There has to be a glitch somewhere.

Did Montador really have TWICE the Corsi as the nearest Sabre? That’s bizarre.

by HarryNeale'sGarden on Dec 15, 2009 3:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Monty always seems to have the best Corsi number.
Offensively he keeps things simple so I suppose that would help.
He’s often out there against 3rd and 4th lines which is an area where we usual do very well.
Maybe when our guys are out there and they know Monty is back there they’re a little more cautious and play better?

Jesus, Connolly is doing TERRIBLE on draws. Matter of fact, he hasn’t looked himself in quite awhile. By ‘himself’ I mean the ‘feistiness’ we saw out of him earlier in the season. Maybe he’s just dinked up, I mean dinged up..

by Traver on Dec 15, 2009 3:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The entire team seems to be doing terrible on draws. Roy and Connolly in particular, but Hecht is just as bad and he played Center last year, so it’s not like when he has to step in it should be a big deal. We desperately miss the Goose in that category. He takes just about every big draw for this team, and his presence in the faceoff circle last night could have eliminated several scoring chances by the Habs, especially in the waning minutes on that PK

B-B-B-Byrd Byrd Byrd, Byrd is the Wyrd!"

by willgarr15 on Dec 15, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love these stats posts, it is great to analyze the team’s performance. I do have a minor suggestion though, and maybe I’m just splitting hairs here, but in the future would it be possible to show face-off stats as a fraction (wins/attempts) rather than a percentage? For example, winning 1/2 or 6/12 is a pretty big difference, but both would register as 50%. Showing the fractions would provide a better indication of how players are performing in the circle…

by lassathrax on Dec 15, 2009 4:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

great suggestion…I’ll try to get that done in the next post.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by David Oleksy on Dec 15, 2009 4:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Yikes – Myers played almost half the game. Gotta hope Lindy knows that he’s doing and doesn’t burn the kid out. Most rookies seem to hit a wall sometime toward the end of their first full NHL season.

by Andy Boron on Dec 15, 2009 5:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

myers better get used to it

He is going to play alot of mins for the rest of his career. That’s the life of a STUD in any sport, just be happy we have one finally(sorry Miller)

Rookies are like teabags...you don't know what you're gonna get until you put them in hot water. -Harry Neale

by weswed51 on Dec 15, 2009 9:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You don’t think Miller is a stud?
Ok, you know I just feel weird saying that… nevermind.

by Traver on Dec 15, 2009 9:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

What kind of twisted criteria would qualify Myers as a stud but not Miller? The man leads all goaltenders in nearly every category this season, while Myers leads nothing… I’m not saying that Myers isn’t a “stud” – he definitely shows tons of promise to become an elite player – but how could you make this argument against Miller?

by lassathrax on Dec 16, 2009 1:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, he needs to go through this to get an idea of what he’s up against for the rest of his career. Better to teach him this now than later. This season is a little different with the Olympic Break. Ruff’s in a great place, getting an opportunity to see just how much the kid can handle while knowing that there’s a nice, big 2 week break coming up to let him recharge and re-focus.

With Butler out and Rivet struggling with anything more than 17 minutes, Myers and Hank are going to have to do the heavy lifting for the near future.

Ta,

by Tom Luongo on Dec 16, 2009 9:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs