Juraj Slafkovsky's increasingly confident development bodes well for the Canadian's future. It tends to show that the Habs are finally relying on a real first trio. And given the young age of each of its members, he will be able to count on him for several seasons.
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“It's encouraging. You find consistency. It's hard not to be excited about this. It’s fun to watch,” said Martin St-Louis after the one-sided win against the Ducks.
That's the good news. What is worrying is that behind this productive unit there is absolute silence. Seven of the Canadian's last 11 goals at even strength have been scored by the first trio.
Joël Lemay / QMI Agency
When Nick Suzuki became aware of this trend a few hours before the Ducks' visit, he didn't seem too worried about it.
“The other lines also get scoring opportunities. They just didn’t capitalize on it,” the captain said.
Really?
Not sure. The table compiled by Sportlogiq certainly didn't show that.
Not only is the top team well ahead of the rest of the group in terms of playing time, but no other unit has managed to achieve a positive expected goals ratio (above 50%) while scoring at least 10 in the three matches before Tuesday minutes to play.
Here's a quick reminder: An expected goal is the chance that a shot will end up in the net. The origin of the shot, the movement of the puck before the shot, the presence or absence of a screen, and several other data are compiled to determine the probability of that shot being a goal.
For example, a shot from the slot after a cross-ice pass is worth more than a shot from the blue line without a screen in front of the goalie.
In short, the unit of Caufield, Suzuki and Slafkovsky leads the group with a percentage of 58.1%, which is light years away from the 27% of Tanner Pearson, Jake Evans and Josh Anderson in second place lay.
A return to balance?
However, the Joshua Roy-Alex Newhook-Joel Armia combination seems interesting considering the 66.1% stat is based solely on the atrocious loss to the Blues.
Obviously, the game against the Ducks drove up the stats spectacularly for all trios. After all, my trio would have looked good in the Monday Night Depression League in Granby. For this reason it was not taken into account.
One wonders whether the return of Brendan Gallagher, whose five-game ban is over, will have an impact on the balance and performance of the other lines.
Considering he has only picked up four points in his last 17 games, nothing is less certain.
PERCENTAGE OF EXPECTED GOALS
The three games before the Ducks visit
| Combinations | Playtime | % of expected targets for |
|---|---|---|
| Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovsky | 35 minutes and 18 seconds | 58.1% |
| Pearson-Evans-Anderson | 16 minutes and 23 seconds | 27.0% |
| Armia-Gignac-Anderson | 11 minutes and 31 seconds | 23.3% |
| Pezzetta-Gignac-Ylönen | 9 minutes 30 seconds | 74.4% |
| Pearson-Evans-Ylönen | 8 minutes and 44 seconds | 17.3% |
| Pezzetta Condotta RHP | 8min 3s | 43.5% |
| Armia Newhook Roy | 7 minutes and 49 seconds | 66.1% |
Source: Sportlogiq