It took the Golden Knights five games to put away the 12-seed Chicago Blackhawks and move on to the second round. Despite the score only favoring Vegas by just four over the five games, the Golden Knights dominated just about every other major statistical category. Here’s a look at the stats from the series.
*Stats are compiled from NHL.com and NaturalStatTrick.com**
Team Stats
Goals
VGK – 15
CHI – 11
Shots
VGK – 187
CHI – 123
Scoring Chances
VGK – 167
CHI – 117
Corsi For %
VGK – 58.1%
CHI – 41.9%
Power Play
VGK – 1/10
CHI – 1/12
Faceoffs
VGK – 49.7%
CHI – 50.3%
Giveaways
VGK – 75
CHI – 69
Takeaways
VGK – 37
CHI – 44
Hits
VGK – 184
CHI – 140
Shots Blocked
VGK – 90
CHI – 100
Expected Goals
VGK – 17.44
CHI – 10.43
Shooting Percentage
VGK – 8.02%
CHI – 8.94%
Save Percentage
VGK – .911
CHI – .920
Individual Stats
Goals
Smith – 3
Stone – 2
Theodore – 2
Debrincat – 2
Assists
Marchessault – 5
Kane – 4
Smith – 3
Martinez – 3
Shots
Theodore – 20
Marchessault – 19
Schmidt – 18
Debrincat 18
Tuch – 16
TOI
Keith – 123:43
Martinez – 116:49
Theodore – 114:48
Kane – 114:30
Faceoffs
Kampf – 61.5%
Strome – 57.6%
Stastny – 55%
Brown – 55%
Roy – 54.8%
Toews – 54.6%
Hits
Caggiula – 26
Reaves – 20
Carrier – 18
Shots Blocked
de Haan – 17
McNabb – 15
Martinez – 13
Keith – 12
Corsi For %
Cousins – 76.6%
Tuch – 75.2%
Holden – 67.4%
*Chicago’s best was Saad at 46.1%. Only 2 VGK finished below that. Stephenson and Nosek.*
On Ice Goals For
Martinez – 10
Theodore – 9
Schmidt – 6
Marchessault – 6
Smith – 6
Stastny – 6
On Ice Goals Against
Keith – 10
Kane – 6
Murphy – 6
Schmidt – 6
The Golden Knights had a sizeable advantage on the Blackhawks in all these categories in 5-on-5 play for the series.
Shot attempts: 305-202
Shots on goal: 158-96
Scoring chances: 151-88
High-danger chances: 62-32
Goals: 13-8— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) August 19, 2020
When William Karlsson was on the ice at 5-on-5 against the Blackhawks (and remember he played with five different linemates), Vegas generated 79% of the expected goals
— Justin “Wear A Mask” Emerson (@J15Emerson) August 19, 2020
Per @PR_NHL, Robin Lehner became the 2nd goaltender in NHL history to earn a series-clinching win against a team that he played for earlier in the same season (Hal Winkler BOS – 1927).
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) August 19, 2020
5v5 shot rates for VGK – CHI series. Crawford more or less the only reason Chicago didn't get swept. Skaters just completely out-classed. pic.twitter.com/V5ZWVmyDuQ
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) August 19, 2020
sb
The answer to why this wasn’t a sweep is found in the Save Average. Chi .920 vs VGK .911. Not a knock on Lehner. Crawford’s 48 saves gave Chi one victory. Vegas will beat any Team 4 of 5 times when putting up that many shots. Chicago does have a very good young Team. Closer than many expected.
knights fan in minny
tuch was a beast the wild were stupid to let this guy go thats why they will never get a sniff at the cup it was good to see 67 get on the board schmitty and mcnabb need to shore up there game some ugly turnovers in there own end when chandler was centering tuch and couisins that trio was buzzing leave him on that line move roy down round 2 lets go when does round 2 start
Doktor Hockey
Stat-man is back. Now this I can read! The concern I have from this series is the lack of physicality. Especially in front of the net. We let the Hawks buzz around the net untouched much of the time.
Daryl
A couple things I took away from those stats, first being the special teams. Our PK looked horrible for the majority of that series and I did not realize that they didn’t score more on the PP. That is not a testament to our PK as I remember our goalies making pretty good saves during that span. Maybe neither PP looked very good which lead to PK looking better than what it was.
Was also not pleased with our play in front of the net. I seemed when we set up screens or even remotely played aggressive in front of the net we were able to score. Too bad they didn’t do that most of the games.
I give credit to Crawford for making this series interesting. Without his amazing play, this would have been a very lopsided series.
A VGK Fan
Reilly leading the way in points, as expected. Also, Keith is 37 years old and spent way too much time on the ice. That’s borderline elder abuse lol. Imagine having Engelland on the ice for that long…DeBoer would pull out whatever remaining hairs he had left!
Tim
Chicago played well we just overwhelmed them with shots and as good as Crawford was he wasn’t good enough in the end. I’m hoping the Canucks beat the Blues seems to be an easier path to me. With a week to get ready and recoup from any injuries we should be ready to go.
Bill
Hopefully Tuch is breaking out, he looks good and if he breaks out like Theodore it will be interesting to see if he can move up the lineup
VGK Fan
Ken, how are you the only one who isn’t willing to give the fourth line any love? NHL analysts, NBC analysts and insider show guys all praising the 4th line play. Not to mention Pete Deboer and Hawks coach. Credit where credit is due.