Zone Entries List

I'm catching up on the games in order (finished with October; unfortunately, missed lots of games in November). You can see the list here, and download (as .csv) here. I color coded a bit to denote manpower, whether the entry was on an odd-man rush, whose entry it was, and whether the entry was controlled (pass or carry-in). The notes nowadays are simply whether I think a goal was the direct result of the entry, the nature of the "X" (not dump/pass/carry/tip) entry, or the nature of the rush.

I have tracked many games, and I'll put up those results once I've finished with the games in between (I was planning to finish over winter break, but I discovered my internet connection wasn't fast enough to stream smoothly and I didn't have the willpower to watch the games that way). I should be caught up around the all-star break.

Zone Entries: Avalanche 2, Caps 1

Link to view.

Pretty lethargic effort from the Caps, I thought. Without the puck, it always seemed like the Caps were a step slow or a step out of position (except for when Chimera got a stick on O'Reilly, I think it was, to prevent a goal). I know the Avalanche are fast, but when your players get to within one step and then stop skating, you know something is up. It's especially annoying with Ovechkin, who loses the puck so often but then goes passive instead of hounding the player who took the puck away from him. I don't need Ovechkin to be going at 110% on defense all 200ft, like Henrik Zetterberg, but chasing his adversary for five or ten more steps, maybe 30 ft, would be nice. It would slow down the opposition, at a minimum.

I think Jeff Halpern has been a really underrated addition to this team. Not only is he a very good faceoff man (by the way, that ownage in the dot late was painful to watch), but he can do a little of the dirty work, moves plenty well, and knows how to take steps to create offense without doing too much on his own (i.e. cycling and knowing where his teammates are on the cycle).

Lastly, if you want to create room for yourself Mr. Semin, you need to force the D back by playing with speed every now and then. Look at how room as opened up for Ovechkin now that he dumps the puck in every once in a while.

Anyway, I hope for a better effort back in lower-altitude DC.

ZE Tables: Caps@Jets

Vic Ferrari's scoring chances script is handy for adding zone entries and seeing who was on ice for what. It only takes 100 at this time, so I divided the data from the Jets game into two. First part here, second here (and both copied below).

Zone Entries: Caps 1, Jets 0

I get really frustrated seeing this team do no better than even over long stretches of time against mediocre teams. The Jets are by no means a great possession team (their hot finish last season, possession-wise, notwithstanding). I was happy to see the Caps turn on their own jets in the final period. By my count, the Jets had the better of the play for all of two minutes (their only power play of the third). The best teams can still only muster ~55% of the shots and scoring chances at 5-on-5, which for teams like the Blackhawks means a shot differential that's in the low positives each period, but for the Capitals means a couple of even periods followed by a great period.

At least, I hope. I wouldn't be surprised if that third was a complete fluke that's more on the Jets than the Caps. Speedy Colorado will be a better test.

Caps had 83 of 173 entries, 48%, and going just 5v5 they were 75 of 156, 48% again, surprisingly 146, 51%. Anyway, here I don't think neutral zone play is the best indicator of how the game went. Caps were definitely not in there for the first (at least, not playing offense and not playing great defense), but carried the play in the second and especially the third.

Zone Entries: Caps 4, Leafs 2

Caps were 75 of 163, 46%, not terrible considering they were leading for most of the game. Of that, they were 67 of 146 at even strength (5v5 and 4v4), 51.8%, which is solid considering score effects. One would like to see a goal at ES, though.

Locker was spot on during the game, as the Caps did not get an entry for a four minute stretch early in the third (nine straight by Toronto, and for you math geeks, that's nearly 30 seconds between entries, so not all entries for the Leafs were one-and-dones).

PP was good, ES play still not completely up to par. This team is still a rushing team, and it's good to see Hunter's system able to generate rushes.

Ovechkin finally working off the rush, just need to shore up the backside pressure and focus, but it's finally looking like it's coming together for this team. No more worries from me that they'll miss the playoffs, especially since Vokoun is back on track.

Wasn't keeping tabs on who got the entries for Toronto, but I don't think Kessel got more than six entries for Toronto. Carlson and Alzner did a good job. 

I missed one entry by Toronto around the 11:45 mark of the 2nd period, but I noted that it exists, just not the type.

Zone Entries: Panthers 5, Capitals 4

Remember, Caps fans, this time is getting some bad luck right now. Luck can mean many things. Here, we saw a combination of bad bounces, saves that are made 95% of the time without issue not made, and only one power play drawn, for example. Things are going to get better.

It's not a good feeling to be the underperforming team, like St. Louis and Florida last year, or Columbus since Steve Mason's rookie season, or Calgary since Kiprusoff became average at best, or the Rangers last year. But if you ever wished that opponents wouldn't take the Caps as seriously come playoffs, well, you got your wish.

I don't really feel like tallying up the entries in any detail here. With big margins, you're going to see queer score effects. Anyway, Caps had 79 of 154, 51.3% (remember that Florida had six power plays and the Capitals only two).

Zone Entries: Caps 3, Senators 2 (OT)

Link to the spreadsheet (cells also posted below)

Positives:

• Clean breakouts and zone entries
• A good mix of dumps and controlled entries
• Discipline
• Generating chances in transition
• Alex Ovechkin (by my count) using five different moves on the rush, and using the cut-to-the-middle only twice.
• Pressure in the defensive zone, regaining possession of the puck
• Getting 87 of the 167 entries, 52.1%, despite holding a lead for about half the game (the first and half the third) and against an underrated possession team (last year they were about 49% in Fenwick, but got terrible, terrible goaltending).
• Neuvirth finding his game.
• No Semin, know win. Know Semin, no win.

Caveats:

• Sitting back a bit much with the lead, and getting hemmed in for about three minutes after Michalek tied the game.
• Getting a slumping goalie to play well.
• This was Ottawa, after all. And we haven't seen coaches really plan for Hunter, yet. His true test will be how he adapts.
• Getting 67 of 141 entries at even strength, 47.5%. A little more sitting back in the third than I would have liked to see.
• Troy Brouwer with a team-worst -9 Fenwick, -11 Corsi.
• Erik Karlsson's +12 Fenwick, +17 Corsi, despite playing plenty against Ovechkin. Just copy how teams play against Green and use that against Karlsson, who looks to me like he's ahead of where Green was at the same age.

All in all, the bottom six seems to have their game, and we're waiting for the top six to find their game. Slowly but surely, it seems like that's happening at last. Florida will be a nice follow-up test.

Zone Entries: Blues 2, Caps 1

I know St. Louis is an elite possession team, and Hitchcock is one of the best coaches around, but getting murdered in Corsi (worse than -20), especially when trailing by 1 for about half the game, is absolutely inexcusable.

That being said, there are some positives. The Caps were improved in the neutral zone, at times actually making it difficult for the other team to enter the zone. On the game, the Caps were 87 of 172, which is slightly over 50%. The Blues clearly sat back in the third, but the entries were 28-28 (including power plays). I guess work in all score situations remains to be done.

Now, cleaner break-outs and better coordination and communication between players in all zones--notice how infrequently a Blue made a pass to nobody in particular, and how often the Caps did--and this team should be set to go.

Fingers crossed.

Zone Entries: Devils 3, Capitals 2 (SO)

Much will be made about the Caps' low shot totals. Low shot totals almost always indicate that a team is hardly able to enter the offensive zone. That was most certainly not the case Saturday night, as the Capitals had 86 of 167 (51.5%), including 57 of 104 (54.8%) over the second and third periods, 44 of 76 (57.9%) at 5v5. Sure, you'd like more shots, but at the end of the day, you want to see your team doing what is going to win the most games in the long run, and I think the Capitals were playing a style that will win a lot of games in the long run.

Let's not forget that New Jersey is probably one of the best possession teams in the league (they were last season, and essentially added the league's second-best wing in Zach Parise) and are perfectly capable of dictating the pace of the game. On poor ice (there was a Georgetown game earlier in the day), the Caps dictated the game for long stretches (the second half of the third, for example) against a very good team.

When you have a lead, conventional wisdom says you want to slow the game down, and the Caps did that. When the score is tied, you attack, and the Caps did that. Maybe this is really selective memory on my part--I guess we'll know when we get a glimpse of scoring chance numbers--but if the Caps play like this against Nashville, they'll likely win.

I guess I just want to say that don't take that SOG total for what it's not. Here, it's not an accurate representation of possession here. No need to fret. Flukes happen.

Someone please teach Alex Ovechkin how to shoot past a defenseman again. Dan Girardi, Roman Hamrlik in Montreal, Mike Weaver, Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill, Anton Volchenkov, and Mark Fayne now joins the club. What was actually surprising is how often I was actually able to see Ovechkin get a chance off the rush...thank you Joel Ward.

I'm hoping Alexander Semin has a hand injury, because he's been pretty bad, not even able to make those clean saucer passes he's been able to execute with ease in the past, and the refs aren't giving him any sort of break, either. I don't care all that much about production in short samples as long as there's something the guy is doing right, but since about the third or fourth game of the season, he hasn't been doing much right.

At least Jason Chimera is doing his best to prove to me that he's actually a useful player outside of the fourth line.

Zone Entries: Stars 5, Caps 2

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Caps were 98 of 188 in entries, 52.1%, which when you're trailing for much of the game is worse than they should be (their Corsi should be minimum 55% down 1, 60% down by more than that). Benn's line ate the Caps alive, and with a quiet night from Ovechkin, well, that's the story right there. Kari Lehtonen was solid, but did not need to be spectacular.

Spreadsheet is giving me trouble right now, so here's a direct link.

Zone Entries: Canucks 7, Caps 4

Link. Ugh. Amidst the diving, dirty play, and at times poor reffing (which goes hand in hand with embellishing), the Caps got their asses whipped. They were only 77 of 170, 45%, despite trailing by multiple goals for a significant portion of the game. I don't even want to restrict myself to ES data only--something tells me that would be even worse.

Defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown...and that wasn't even the biggest problem. The Canucks waltzed through the neutral zone all the time. They always have puck support from their defenseman, so if one guy is blocked, he can make a short pass to another player, who the Caps often left open. I'd love to see the Caps pick up on that.

Oh, and I hope Mike Green will be good to go soon.

On a side note, I haven't recorded ZEs for all the games so far in October, yet, but here's a link to the spreadsheet of the ones I have done. In this game I missed about 45 seconds of game time, 6-5:15 left in the second, so I'll get back to that in a bit.

Zone Entries: Oilers 2, Caps 1

Well, it was bound to happen at some point. Regression to the mean after a hot start and shelling Detroit. Oh well. Not outplayed since the first couple of game of the season in my mind.

Link. Caps got 73 of 144 entries, which is 50.7%, but restrict yourself to full and even strength and we've got 51/99, 51.6%...ehh, still not all that great. Even strength was 57/109, 52.3%. The Capitals could have been better--they had some short lulls here and there and didn't really dominate for an extended stretch or several stretches--but I'll take the effort nonetheless. Mike Green is also kind of a big loss in all situations.

Zone Entries: Caps 7, Red Wings 1

Link. I have no idea how this happened, but I'm happy. The Capitals I thought had a couple of lulls in their play, when the Red Wings essentially controlled: late in the second and early in the third. I think that may be chalked down to score effects (close enough that the teams would remain interested, far enough to tilt the ice quite significantly). Once the Capitals got that 5th goal, though, the Red Wgins' interest seemed to wane.

Capitals overall were 77/151, 51%, including 9/17 on special teams, leaving 68/134 at 5v5 (51%). Yes, the Red Wings were coming off a game last night, but we'd expect heavy score effects, at for the most part we didn't see that. I'm satisfied with this performance. There's still some work to be done, but I think that's more the top line getting back in shape than anything else.

Zone Entries: Caps 5 @ Flyers 2

Direct link. Some observations:

Mike Green and Joel Ward I think have been noticeably good each and every game thus far.

Matt Hendricks: +13 Corsi. Mathieu Perreault: +13. Jeff Halpern: +11. Yeah, they had a good night.

Jason Chimera: -8. Brooks Laich: -13. Joel Ward: -4. Could be better, but that's only because my expectations are so high to begin with. Jeff Schultz was a team-worst -14 and Dennis Wideman was a -9. I'm a little confused on Schultz. My rule of thumb is the less you notice him, the better, and I wasn't aware he was playing until he handled the puck in the second. I think those five got caught a few times getting shelled, but as far as I could tell they kept the shots to the outside, so all is good.

Philadelphia is probably one of the best possession teams in the league (they have been since 08-09 and I don't think that will have changed, even with losing Carter and Richards). The Capitals led for over 40 minutes of the game, including by two or more for most of the third, and were only -2 in Corsi. Nice.

Ovechkin was only involved in five entries all game: twice making a pass and thrice carrying the puck into the zone. You could say Timonen, Meszaros, and company did a good job not even letting the rush get started.

Say what you want about Sean Couturier, but a guy who, after being drafted, can immediately step into the lineup of one of the NHL's top-ten teams and be one of the most trusted defensive forwards despite playing behind several more proven players (and one who I think will win the Selke in short order in Claude Giroux) is pretty rare. He deserved to go top-3. I can see Nugent-Hopkins and Larsson above him, but not the others.

I counted 172 entries, with the Caps getting 84, 49%. There was a noticeable lull for the second half of the second and the Caps more or less going into a shell for the final half of the third, 24 of 78 from 12 minutes left in the second to the end of the game at full and even strength. At 5v5, the Caps got, per my quick count, a pretty unimpressive 57 of 136, however (all those power plays boosted the totals). That's only 42%. Even with a lead, I'd like to see closer to 46 or 47 (then again, the difference is only a handful of entries going the other way).

I hope Troy Brouwer isn't turning into Eric Fehr (promising career but a shoulder injury or two sets back his development quite a bit).

Marcus Johansson outmuscled someone along the boards in the third (I want to say it was Jakub Voracek). That would not have happened last season. He still got beat a few times along the boards, but he's noticeably stronger on the puck and along the boards.

Tomas Vokoun, eh? When was the last time he had a four goal lead to defend? When was the last time his team was 6-0?

Zone Entries: Caps 3, Panthers 0

Direct link. Some observations:

60 minute effort, more or less.

This was the type of game you'd expect from a good team against a bad team. The Capitals were never on their heels for more than a minute or two and dominated significant stretches of the game. The only effective line for Florida was the Weiss line, but Weiss is one of two or three solid top-six forwards Florida has (Versteeg and Booth), so it's not like losing to him is embarrassing in any form.

Ovechkin is getting better each game. I think Brouwer has been getting better as well. As for the "Ovechkin needs to let Backstrom carry the puck more" crowd, Ovechkin only carried the puck into the offensive zone three times. What I find very worrisome is that he really wasn't all that involved in entries, period. It's as if "he just doesn't care" in the neutral zone. I have him as carrying the puck in thrice, receiving a pass five times, and dumping the puck in once. Compare to fifteen total for Backstrom. It's only a one game sample, but it's the impression I've gotten from the other games as well. I don't want Ovechkin turning into Kovalchuk, Kessel or Gaborik, being a finisher and not much more. Anyway...

I think Laich brings the meat, so Ward and Chimera bring potatoes.

I can't believe people thought Vokoun was being sheltered in Nashville and Florida and would collapse in Washington. Seriously. At this rate he won't need 60 starts to win the Vezina.

Knuble, Semin, Carlson, and Schultz were the only Caps with a negative Corsi. Green and Hamrlik were each +12 (Green was particularly good), Ovechkin-Backstrom-Brouwer +9. The goals will start coming in torrents soon enough with more performances like this.

I don't think Hamrlik has been playing all that poorly, but maybe that's just me. He's been asked to handle the puck an awful lot and maybe more than he's comfortable with in the offensive zone. It's certainly easier to make the short breakout pass to the deep backchecking forward than to your winger fleeing the zone at full speed. Regardless, he's been able to make those small short plays that are crucial to keep possession in the offensive zone. At least my lying eyes tell me so. It's not like the alternative--Mike Green making his partner look good--is plausible at all.

Weiss, Fleischmann (?! even with 7 more defensive zone draws than offensive zone draws?!), Versteeg, and Campbell were the only Florida players in the black in Corsi. Weiss: want.

155 entries total, 135 at 5-on-5. Caps had 71 at ES (53%, not bad considering they had the lead almost the entire game and a two-goal lead for nearly 20 minutes), 78 overall (50%). Not bad at all. CSN had a giant scoring chances disparity (something like a 3:1 ratio).

Zone Entries: Caps @ Pens

Direct link.

Some observations:

The most striking thing about the Penguins' entries in this game was how often they'd switch the flank of attack. If the player did not have a clear lane to get into the offensive zone with control, he'd throw it across the ice either right before or right after crossing the blueline, and there was always another Penguin there ready to pick up the puck. Malkin carried the puck into the zone an awful lot.

The Pens don't dump and chase as much as I'd thought, at least not in this game.

I thought the Penguins played a lot like Detroit, just going back to the points for lots and lots of shots with traffic in front.

Of 177 entries I tallied, the Pens had 107 of them, 60.5%. They dominated the first and the middle of the third.

The most exciting thing as a Caps fan? That's the sort of performance I can expect form Tomas Vokoun every start.



I missed the 2nd and first half of the third period in the Tampa game, so that's why I didn't post ZE for that game. I'll get around to that game eventually.

Zone Entries: Caps 4, Canes 3 (OT)

A few notes on what I've done here, inspired by Flyers' SBN site Broad Street Hockey:

I recorded the time of the zone entry--the puck crossing the blueline from the neutral zone into the offensive or defensive zone--as well as the method of entry (Carry, Dump-in but not counting dump-and-changes, Pass, Tap-in, and other, noted as X). I noted the players involved for the Capitals, but not for Carolina. I was doing these real-time, so I may have made a mistake here or there, especially with dump-ins, but I think I got almost all of the players correct. Timings may vary by a second or two from actual time (though it's not like official scorekeepers get those exactly right, either). I also noted whether the rush was an odd-man rush; I included only clear-cut breaks here, where there was no equalizing backchecker within two strides of the final attacking player. In this game, there were a couple of 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s with one breakaway.