Results Comparison III: Surprise!

Welcome to the third installment of my eight part series comparing this season's results to last year's. In the first two parts we saw that in the game number comparison this year's squad bears a startling resemblance to the 2005-06 buds squad. It was only in the equivalent fixtures comparison (my favourite) that we saw tangible evidence of the improvement that all Leaf fans could see with our eyes.

Then the Leafs took their Christmas vacation about a month early and proceeded to lose seven games in a row. I had assumed that this slide would manifest itself in a rather poor comparison at the 30 game mark. Most of the gains in the Equivalent Fixtures comparison have been rolled back. The big surprise (not really since I gave it away in the post title) comes within the Game Number comparison where the Leafs have played themselves into almost the exact same position as last year after 30 games. This surprised me quite a bit because my memory was that last year they had been in pretty good shape after 30 games whereas this year there has been much gnashing of the teeth.

Without further ado, here are the past segments in the series and the comparison's at the 30 game mark.

Results Comparison: The Explanation
Results Comparison I: After 10 Games
Results Comparison II: State of Leafs Nation

Game Number Comparison

After 30 Games Last Season

Record: 15-12-3
Points: 33
Total Goals For (TGF): 99
Total Goals Against (TGA): 95
Goal Differential (GD): +4
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 60
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 54
Power Play Goals (PPG): 42
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 193
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 21.76%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 153
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 186
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 82.26%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 6
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 5

After 30 Games This Season

Record: 13-12-5 (-2, +/-0, +2)
Points: 31 (-2)
Total Goals For (TGF): 94 (-5)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 100 (+5)
Goal Differential (GD): -6 (-10)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 61 (+1)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 67 (+13)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 29 (-13)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 156 (-9)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 18.59% (-3.17%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 129 (-24)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 154 (-32)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 83.77% (+1.51%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (-4)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 4 (-1)

Equivalent Fixtures Comparison

After 30 Games Last Season

Record: 15-13-2
Points: 32
Total Goals For (TGF): 97
Total Goals Against (TGA): 102
Goal Differential (GD): -5
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 51
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 58
Power Play Goals (PPG): 39
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 183
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 21.31%
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 157
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 196
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 80.10%
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 5
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 3

After 30 Games This Season

Record: 13-12-5 (-2, -1, +3)
Points: 31 (-1)
Total Goals For (TGF): 94 (-3)
Total Goals Against (TGA): 100 (-2)
Goal Differential (GD): -7 (-2)
Even-Strength Goals For (ESGF): 61 (+10)
Even-Strength Goals Against (ESGA): 67 (+9)
Power Play Goals (PPG): 29 (-10)
Power Play Attempts (PPA): 156 (-27)
Power Play Percentage (PP%): 18.59% (-2.72%)
Successful Penalty Kills (SPK): 129 (-28)
Penalty Kill Attempts (PKA): 154 (-42)
Penalty Kill Percentage (PK%): 83.77% (+3.67%)
Short-handed Goals For (SHGF): 2 (-3)
Short-handed Goals Against (SHGA): 4 (+1)