Toronto vs Boston: regular season stats comparison

With the playoffs about to begin in Boston, it’s time to look back for the last time at the regular season result each team put up. I’ve used mostly Offside Review and a few other sites sprinkled in to compile this. The basics are direct from NHL.com, and that’s where I’ll begin.

The view now moves to five-on-five play, and first is the big picture, followed by the breakdown in for and against figures.

Special teams are next, with the power play by shots (Corsi) and Expected Goals. There’s no score adjusting here. The difference between Goals and Expected Goals is much more meaningful than success percentage, but Corsi For rate is more likely to predict results. In less than 400 minutes of time on ice for both teams, there’s even more chance here than there is at five-on-five that goal scoring rates are being affected by random variance.

The penalty kill is very heavily influenced by goaltending, but a look at the pace of shots allowed can tell you a little about the skaters on the ice. The shorthanded Goals For per 60 minutes is included for amusement, since it’s never going to amount to meaningful numbers of goals scored.

The individual results are next, and for raw all-situations points, I’ve included the top 10 for each team.

Five-on-five on-ice performance is all players who played at least 500 minutes, and just Expected Goals percentage is shown.

For power play scoring, everyone who has at least one point is included. Boston splits the ice time between their two units at approximately 65% to 35% (judging by the HockeyViz graphic). Toronto is approximately 60% to 40%, and they have a much more stable set of players who make up the units.

And lastly is the starting goalie comparison. I’m assuming the Bruins will not play Jaroslav Halak, even though his results are better. This information is from Moneypuck.com