(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
Last night, the Golden Knights lost in one of the rarest and most heartbreaking ways. It was just the 5th time in the last nine seasons in which a team allowed a shorthanded goal in overtime, and it ended the longest homestand of the season with a paltry 1-3-2 record.
There are issues in many different areas that have plagued the Golden Knights through the first month of the season. These include special teams, depth scoring, transition offense, and penalties, but there’s one place VGK could be better that would essentially erase all of it, and they simply haven’t been.
Overtime.
The Golden Knights are now 1-5 this season when the game has extended beyond regulation, and dating back to last year, they are now 5-15, including a 4-9 mark in games that end before shootout.
Loser points have kept this year’s team afloat, but if they were just average in OT and shootout, they’d be right near the top of the league rather than sitting on the wrong side of the cut line.
We’ve been better in overtime the last two. If you told me what was going to happen in terms of the chances, I’d say ‘ok, I’ll take that chance.’ Earlier in the year, we didn’t generate enough. -Bruce Cassidy
The numbers bear that out as well. Last night, VGK racked up three scoring chances, two high-danger, and posted their highest expected goal total of any overtime this season. In the Anaheim game, the last OT, Vegas also doubled up the Ducks in scoring chances and expected goals, but just couldn’t get one to go.
The on-ice numbers paint a pretty clear picture as to what’s going wrong.
Number of times on the ice for OT goal against (last two seasons)
Eichel – 8
Theodore – 4
Hertl – 4
Dorofeyev – 3
Stone – 2
Howden – 2
Pietrangelo – 2
Marner – 2
Hanifin – 1
Beyond just being on the ice for eight of the nine goals VGK have allowed in OT, Eichel’s analytics in OT are terrible. He’s posted a 28.6% shot share (16 shots for to 40 against), scoring chances and high-danger are both right around 25% (12-34 scoring chances, 4-12 high-danger), and his expected goal share is a measly 23.5% (0.73-2.37).
Eichel has been on the ice for 2.37 expected goals against in 26:28 of 3-on-3 play since the start of last season. There’s only one player in the entire NHL who has been on ice for more, Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson, and he’s played 13 more minutes, 50% more ice time, than Eichel.
And, none of the above numbers account for last night’s debacle because it wasn’t 3-on-3… it was 3-on-4!
Of course, Eichel has played a massive amount more than everyone else in a Golden Knights sweater. He’s been on the ice for 26:28 at 3-on-3, while Theodore is a close second at 23:42. No one else is more than 17 minutes, and only six players have eclipsed double digits. VGK have played a total of 55:33 of 3-on-3 time.
The only saving grace for Eichel is that his PDO currently sits at a level that indicates he’s been extremely unlucky. The team’s shooting percentage while he’s been on the ice is 14.3% while the opposition is shooting 25.9%. Typically, those numbers even out, even if the advanced analytics differ.
It seems weird because Jack Eichel is unquestionably the best player on the roster, but there’s a pretty good argument based on the numbers that he should be used less in overtime.
Also, they could use a save here and there.
