Crosby sixth in Pens scoring.

I was looking today for player stats from only this years Stanley Cup final. Surprisingly I had a tough time finding any solely for the Final. Below, are the stats I compiled with the help of espn.com. Yes, Crosby is tied for sixth in scoring on the Penguins. This alone leads me to believe that they do have a fair chance at winning. Game seven will be a big early career test for young Sid. After last year’s Cup disappointment, he really has to make himself noticeable on the huge stage of the deciding game of the Cup final. His usual linemates, Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz have been next to invisible which hasn’t helped Crosby’s cause. Perhaps the biggest surprise standout for the Pens has been Maxime Talbot with two big goals and four points in the series.
I decided to put this series to my scoring rating system which I created originally for the 1972 Summit series. The system gives varying weights to scoring points depending on the period of the game and the score at the time. Of course a game winning goal in the third period or overtime is worth far more than a third insurance goal in the second period.

I went through each point obtained in the Finals and came up with these numbers.


We see that overall the order is quite similar to each team’s actual point leaders. Detroit’s top five scorers are identical except for Rafalski jumping over Franzen in the weighted point system. He scores higher on the strength of assisting on the winning goal in the second period of game one and the eventual game winner in game four. Tomas Holmstrom jumps up due to his two assists being on the winner and insurance goal in game two.

We also see that Sidney Crosby’s three points have actually all been fairly important and raise him from sixth to second on the Pens list. He assisted on the third period winner in game three and scored the winner in game four while also assisting on the insurance marker.
Sergei Gonchar’s two points have proved to be huge as well, scoring the game three winner after assisting on the equalizing score. Most of Evgeni Malkin’s seven points have been important, notching points on the tying and winning goal in game three and assisting Crosby’s winner in game four.




Comments

horchy said…
now that the pens have won, Talbot would move close to the top of nitzy's wieghted scoresheet. Talbot i think would gain 16 points with the first goal and ultimately the second goal being go-ahead goals in the second period. perhaps a goal in game 7 could also carry more weight than ones earlier in the series. all in all a real clutch performance by Talbot.
June 14, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Nitzy said…
Yes Horchy...we all know Talbot excelled in the Final...Jeeeeez (Horchy finished first to my second in our playoff pool thanks in large part to the efforts of Mr. Talbot). I was actually thinking that Game seven should carry more weight in my magical rating system. Talbot finished with the second highest rating on both teams, in what may be one of the more unexpected terrific performances in Finals history.
June 15, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...
Read more