Analytics Breakdown: "45"
Like the last article, we will get to the hockey eventually, but let’s start with the Song of the Game
Song of the Game
This time, the song of the game works on multiple fronts. Gaslight Anthem, per the Google machine, is from New Jersey, and the song title just works too well. Mr 45, Beckett Sennecke, had his best game of the season as a Duck. Not only did he score that goal, but as Felix pointed out in his game notes, he limited the turnovers and looked overall dangerous. This song is to honor that performance.
5v5 Play
Let us jump into the hockey now. This was to me the most complete 60-minute effort from the Ducks, and a game where looking at the xG flow chart is important instead of only looking at the final totals. If you only look at the total, you might think it was a back-and-forth game that the Ducks and Devils with the Devils being the better team by a bit, resulting in a 3.62 xG total for the Devils and a 3.14 xG total for the Ducks.
When you look at the game flow, though, you see a lot more context that matches the eye test for me in this game. The Ducks were the more consistent team throughout this game, and for large stretches felt like they had this under control. This felt like the most complete performance for the team, and that shows with the Ducks continually getting shots that were coming from dangerous locations. The line for the Ducks is exactly what you want to see from a team offensively in a game for 60 minutes.
Defensively, they were also stout for large stretches of the game, keeping the Devils to some large stretches where they effectively flatlined from an xG perspective. The only issue for this team came in some short stretches where they allowed multiple high-danger looks from the Devils.
Late in the first, the Devils had a flurry of about 1.3 xG. In the second, they had a flurry of about 0.5 xG. In the third, they had a flurry of 0.8 xG. These three flurries resulted in 2.6 xG, and the Devils scored 0 goals from these stretches. The Ducks have been a turnover-prone team to start the season, and they have had times where they have looked disorganized in their own zone. On the whole, that was not the case last night, but they did have their errors that do still need to be cleaned up.
All in all, this was the Ducks’ best game to me this season at 5v5, even though they ended up below 50% due to the control they had. A single game is a small sample, and if they play like this and clean up those few mistakes, they will find themselves as the better team in more games.
Looking at the individual play numbers, I really just want to highlight Ian Moore. He has continued to look fantastic and is a bona fide top 4right-handedd shot D man right now.
Goaltending
I am skipping special teams in this one because there were only 3 penalties in all games, so not much to glean. I did want to once again give credit to Lukas Dostal.
He posted a stellar 3.93 GSAx in this game and was a large reason why the Ducks won this game in regulation. I know above I had praised their effort at 5v5 in totality, but those flurries from the Devils should have resulted in at least 2 more goals for them, and they were in large part thwarted by one Mr Dostal. If the Ducks had received average or even just good goaltending in this one, the game would have likely been tied at 3-3.
Brian Hayward Fit Check
Brian Hayward, much to the chagrin of the CTP discord, went extremely casual with his fit for this game, but you know what, I dig it. Good on Hazy for bringing out his casual wear for a Sunday game. I think we all need to cut him some slack and give him some games to just be comfortable at! And if I judge this look based on that, then I don’t have a lot of issues with it. It is not something that is blowing me away, but let Hazy be comfortable every once in a while.
I give this look a 6.5/10
While I know this is a Hazy fit check, I need to bring attention to two other fits in this one
The last time I discussed Ahlers in one of these, I was extremely disappointed with his look, and he had a massive bounce back last night. I love this look for him. The light V-neck sweater under the button-down black coat is a fantastic look.
Ahlers gets a 9/10 for this one
Our friend and wonderful beat writer Patrick Present was visible in the Ducks postgame scrum that Derek posted yesterday. The fit he had on was amazing, and he followed that up with a picture of his full look through text. Patrick killed it with this look, and the sweater color was just perfect!
Patrick gets a 9.9/10 from me.