Analytics Breakdown: Ducks took the Predator's Achey Breaky Heart
The Ducks entered Nashville on Tuesday night for an interesting affair. The Predators had come off a dismal season last year from a standings perspective, but from a 5v5 on ice perspective, it was not as bad as you may think. They finished with a 49.52% xGF%, and coming into last night’s game, in the 6 games they had played, they had a 50.55 xGF%. The Predators should likely be a team in the mid to high 80-point range by the end of the season, so this could have been viewed as a bit of a measuring stick game for the Ducks.
5v5 Play
Through two periods from the game flow side of things, this was a bit of a back-and-forth affair with both teams getting their spells of extended zone time and possession. It was not the most exciting or rush/chance-based game, but it had a bit more control to it for both teams, with more of the shots coming from zone offense than transition (That is not to say there weren’t any rush chances, though).
Shot Chart at 5v5 through 2 periods
The Ducks were able to get shots in tight through the first two periods while limiting the Predators to primarily taking shots from the outside. There are a few higher-quality looks for the Preds, but those either came off a point shot and rebound, a tip, or a rare system breakdown in this game.
It is hard to tell by the numbers, but my one critique for this game for those first two periods is the in-zone offense. As I mentioned, they got shots in tight, but I would like to see more creativity within the offensive zone to create offensive opportunities. It seemed like the Ducks’ main way to drive offensive chances in this game was through chaos, which can wor,k but is not that repeatable. I would love to see them find ways to have more unique looks in the O-zone.
Shot chart at 5v5 for the 3rd period
The biggest positive from this game for me, though, is the third period. The Ducks entered the third with a 2-goal lead, and they turned out a very professional performance. They limited the Predators to only 0.33 xG in that period and only one really good look at the front of the net. This is exactly how you want to defend a multigoal lead in the third, which is not by “turtling” and continuing to board chip and give up the puck, but instead control play and essentially slow the game down so neither team has a bevy of chances
Special Teams
To keep this brief, the PP was okay during this game, but not spectacular. The more notable thing is the discipline. The Ducks took one penalty in this game and kept it extremely clean in the third to not allow the refs to make a call. That is exactly what you need to improve and take a step.
Hayward Fit Check
Look at Hazy go! I think these are three brand new items, with maybe the sweater underneath the blazer being the only repeat item. The jacket is extremely classy with the subtle plaid-ish striping (I know someone will comment about me not knowing the actual term), then paired with a dark sweater vest and a lighter shirt really works.
The part that really brings it all together for me is the pocket square, though. A nice dash of color in an otherwise classy fit.
This look gets a 7/10