A Second Look: Penguins 3, Panthers 1

The final score doesn't really tell the story in much detail. Two first period goals by Nick Spaling and Derrick Pouliot put the Pens on top, then Vincent Trocheck halved the lead before eight minutes were gone. Sidney Crosby put a cherry on top for the Penguins with 13 minutes left in regulation for the final 3-1 margin.

The Corsi event chart show the Panthers outdistancing the Penguins throughout the first period (when they were outscored, 2-to-1), allowing Pittsburgh to draw nearly even in the second (when nobody scored) and running away with the puck possession game in the third (when they were outscored 1-to-0). Clearly, score effects were largely on display here.

* All statistics are culled from the great data mine over at www.hockeystats.ca and from www.nhl.com.

Florida Panthers Even Strength

• Jussi Jokinen was the big Even Strength Corsi / Zone Start Diff winner last night. Despite starting in Pittsburgh's zone only 25% of the time, Florida owned two-thirds of all shots while he was there. Small sample size may be in effect here, as Jokinen had a team low 6:47 of even strength ice time. His total ice time was a much more respectable 13:48, due to his being both a power play and penalty kill specialist.
• Dave Bolland enjoyed similar results, with a 58% Corsi despite only starting a quarter of the time in the offensive zone.
• Dmitry Kulikov, Tomas Fleischmann, and Willie Mitchell also graded above the bell curve in terms of shot generation relative to where they started each shift.
• Vincent Trocheck, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau, Erik Gudbranson, Scottie Upshall, Dylan Olsen, and Tomas Kopecky all ended up in standard deviation between Corsi and Zone Starts.
• Aaron Ekblad, Derek MacKenzie, Brad Boyes, Aleksander Barkov, Brian Campbell, and Sean Bergenheim were incrementally less effective, although these results are misleading. Boyes started 100% of his shifts in the offensive zone, and earned a Corsi of 85%. Only three shots were directed toward Luongo in his 12 minutes on the ice.
  No Panther had a Corsi% below 55 - a testament to all four lines and all three pairings showing up for work last night. /

Pittsburgh Penguins Even Strength

• Marcel Goc was Pittsburgh's big winner in the same category as Jokinen, and for much the same reason, perhaps SSS. He started only 12% of the time in the offensive zone, yet the Penguins had 45% of all Corsi events with him in the mix.
• Patric Hornqvist was the only Penguins who wound up with a Corsi% that wasn't below 50. Of the 26 Corsi events in his presence, 13 of them were directed at each goaltender.
• Evgeni Malkin only started 36% of his shifts in Florida's zone, and was out-shot-attempted 25-to-7 when on the ice. /

Florida Panthers: All Situations Corsi/ZS

• When we extend the window from even strength only to include all situations, the Panthers still have 16 out of their 18 skaters with a Corsi% above 50.
• Brad Boyes night becomes even more impressive when you add his 2:45 of power play ice time to his 12 minutes at even strength. He had a Corsi% of 89 with 92% offensive zone starts.
  Aaron Ekblad was on ice for 36 shots directed in Fleury's general direction in only 23 minutes. Stacked up against the 16 the Panthers allowed with him out there, he finished up at 69% in 77% offensive zone starts.
• I think Willie Mitchell deserves a shout here, with only 35% of his starts in the Penguins zone, he still managed to quarterback the team to 58% positive Corsi events. /

Thanks for reading our extension of the conventional recap today. Keep it locked down here for Florida's next matchup, the Penguins (again). In the meantime, join us for a history lesson, a caterwaul (or two), and other refinements as we head into the NHL's holiday break.