Into the Second Round we go. Next up for VGK are the Anaheim Ducks.
Anaheim finished in 3rd place in the Pacific Division despite holding the lead for a good portion of the second half of the regular season. Like Vegas, they experienced many ups and downs over the year, including losing streaks of nine and six games and a pair of five-game winning streaks plus a seven-game streak. They defeated the Golden Knights all three times in the regular season.
Let’s dive into the stats to see how the two teams match up ahead of tonight’s Game 1.
Record
Vegas: 39-26-17, 95 points (13th)
Anaheim: 43-33-6, 92 points (15th)
Goals For
Anaheim: 265, 3.23 per game (13th)
Vegas: 264, 3.22 per game (14th)
Goals Against
Vegas: 242, 2.95 per game (12th)
Anaheim: 288, 3.51 per game (29th)
Shots For
Anaheim: 2523, 30.8 per game (3rd)
Vegas: 2378, 29.o per game (8th)
Shots Against
Vegas: 2001, 24.4 per game (2nd)
Anaheim: 2329, 28.4 per game (20th)
Save Percentage
Vegas: .879 (27th)
Anaheim: .876 (30th)
Power Play
Vegas: 24.6% (6th)
Anaheim: 18.6% (23rd)
Penalty Kill
Vegas: 81.4% (T-7th)
Anaheim: 76.4% (T-26th)
Blocks
Anaheim: 1181 (17th)
Vegas: 1179 (18th)
Hits
Anaheim: 1718 (13th)
Vegas: 1713 (14th)
Despite being considered the more explosive offensive team, the Ducks only outscored the Golden Knights by one goal in the regular season. Defensively, the contrast is much more stark with VGK allowing 46 fewer goals. Anaheim games are typically action-packed with tons of shots and plenty of goals. They lead the playoffs in goals scored and have upped their shot numbers to north of 32 per night.
The 23rd-ranked power play in the regular season caught fire in the First Round, hitting on an incredible 50% of their opportunities and accounting for almost a third of their goals.
On to the fancier numbers.
5-on-5 Shot Share (Corsi)
Vegas: 54.4% (3rd)
Anaheim: 52.1% (7th)
5-on-5 Goal Share (GF%)
Vegas: 48.8% (19th)
Anaheim: 47.37 (23rd)
5-on-5 Expected Goal Share (xGF%)
Vegas: 54.0% (5th)
Anaheim: 50.8% (13th)
5-on-5 – High Danger Save Percentage (HDSV%)
Anaheim: 81.9% (19th)
Vegas: 77.5% (32nd)
5-on-5 – High Danger Shooting Percentage (HDSV%)
Vegas: 18.6% (11th)
Anaheim: 16.8% (24th)
5-on-5 – High Danger Scoring Chance Share (HDCF%)
Vegas: 56.1% (1st)
Anaheim: 50.6% (15th)
5-on-5 PDO
Vegas: 0.983 (28th)
Anaheim: 0.981 (30th)
VGK hold the edge on Anaheim in most of the advanced 5-on-5 numbers. However, like the Golden Knights, the Ducks’ PDO kind of ruined everything for them this year. Both teams allowed more than they were supposed to and scored a lot fewer than they were supposed to. Most of Anaheim’s issues are defensive which tanks a lot of the “share” stats. They create plenty of offense, and in the playoffs, they’ve been finishing.
Now let’s dive into game state numbers.
When Score First
Vegas: 23-4-7 (.779)
Anaheim: 22-9-2 (.697)
When Concede First
Anaheim: 21-24-4 (.469)
Vegas: 16-22-10 (.438)
Lead After 2nd Period
Vegas: 23-0-3 (.942)
Anaheim: 24-1-1 (.942)
Trail After 2nd Period
Vegas: 6-22-10 (.289)
Anaheim: 5-26-4 (.200)
Wins When Trailing At Any Point
Anaheim: 26 (1st)
Vegas: 21 (T-7th)
Losses After Leading At Any Point
Vegas: 14 (T-6th)
Anaheim: 14 (T-6th)
Time Spent Leading
Vegas: 16:22 per game (25th)
Anaheim: 15:56 per game (27th)
Time Spent Trailing
Vegas: 23:58 per game (31st)
Anaheim: 22:57 per game (29th)
These two teams are so similar in how they’ve played a majority of their games this season. They’ve both struggled to score first, they’ve both been elite at coming back, and they both wonder why they can’t just play great for 60 consecutive minutes. It’s going to make for a weird feeling all series because in a weird way, the team that’s behind will feel more comfortable.
Finally, some other miscellaneous numbers that these teams either excel or struggle with.
Minor Penalties
Vegas: 226 (T-1st)
Anaheim: 272 (22nd)
Forced Icings
Vegas: 403 (3rd)
Anaheim: 329 (20th)
Snap Shot Goals
Anaheim: 100 (5th)
Vegas: 67 (17th)
Takeaways
Anaheim: 416 (3rd)
Vegas: 363 (25th)
3rd Period Goals
Vegas: 108 (1st)
Anaheim: 97 (11th)
Shorthanded Goals
Anaheim: 8 (T-6th)
Vegas: 6 (T-15th)
4-on-4 Goal Differential
Anaheim: +4 (2nd)
Vegas: -3 (T-27th)
So there you have it. The Golden Knights certainly have the edge which was proven in the end by the standings in the Pacific Division. But, Anaheim are a dangerous team that have done enough this season to strike fear in anyone. It should be a close, fun, exciting series.
**Stats for this article were sourced from NHL.com, NaturalStatTrick.com, and MoreHockeyStats.com.**
KnightWatch
There will be a Storm in the Fortress tonight.
Not only from the fans but our former 2nd on ice reporter Stormy is our rinkside reporter for Game 1.
️Bob Wischusen, Kevin Weekes, Stormy Buonantony
Studio guest is Washington coach Spencer Cardbery
Local Scripps pregame on Vegas 34 – 6:00pm , VGK Knight Life 6:30pm
National pregame & Game on ESPN – 6:30pm
Vic
Sound goes off for me when ESPN does a game. Music works better.
A VGK Fan
Karlsson will be back in the line up either tonight’s game or by Wednesday. This will definitely help up defensively and shape up the top 6 for scoring as well
Larry
As I predicted…. and hoped… for yesterday after seeing Karlsson at practice, he will be playing tonight…. WOOHOO!!!
KEN seems to feel Reilly will draw out which is a little surprising to me cause I figured should be Kolesar, but I guess with Lauzon out they want to have a supposed alleged physical presence to combat a Trouba or perhaps Gudas if he is playing.
A VGK Fan
Hertl needs to go. He sucks and isnt playing to his contract. defensive liability.
Pistol Pete
Per NHL.com:
Hertl on Karlsson’s left wing. Hutton in for the injured Lauzon. R. Smith the scratch.
Golden Knights projected lineup:
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Pavel Dorofeyev
Brett Howden — Mitch Marner — Mark Stone
Tomas Hertl — William Karlsson — Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith — Nic Dowd — Colton Sissons
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin — Rasmus Andersson
Ben Hutton — Kaedan Korczak
Carter Hart
Adin Hill
Scratched: Brandon Saad, Akira Schmid, Reilly Smith
Injured: Jonas Rondbjerg (lower body), Jeremy Lauzon
JB
Maybe Hertl will play better at wing? I would rather seen him benched. Gonna miss Lauzon, but Hutty comes in and always plays hard. Goodluck guys and welcome back Wild bill!
KnightWatch
Butch has his part time gig.
Bruce Cassidy will be back in Georgia as analyst Saturday on TNT/HBO Max.
That’s for the Canes/Flyers, Avs/Wild games.
We’ll have “Handsome Hank” Lundqvist for our Wednesday & Friday games.
May the force be with Wild Bill tonight.
Rob S.
Why in the world would you *not* scratch Kolesar for Karlsson!? Kolesar essentially brings nothing to the table except physicality—and we have plenty of that with the entire fourth line, Barbashev, and Hertl up front and McNabb and Andersson on the blue line. (Heal up soon, Lauzon.)
Moreover, Karlsson and Reilly Smith have proven chemistry together that might help ease Karlsson back in and ignite Smith’s game—and, between the two of them, they might even resurrect the ghost of Tomas Hertl.
I realize Torts might not be aware of this but if, as he says, he is leaning on the assistant coaches, this is something they should know.
JB
Kolasar is fast, that’s why you don’t set him against these guys!
Rob S.
He’s not any good, but he’s “fast?” Appreciably faster than Reilly Smith? I think not. On the other hand, Reilly Smith *is* appreciably better in almost every way (except physically) than Kolesar.