Triggerman6

VGK leads the division but the other teams have between 1 to 3 games in hand on the Knights. If VGK wants to ensure they make the playoffs, they have to finish in the top three as we know.

So with all things being equal, it's about the play within the division that matters. Especially when it can be argued that the Pacific Division is the weakest of the four. Only the Kings have played more in division games (18 of the 29). The VGK and SJS has both played 16 games with 13 remaining. AZ, Van, EDM have played 14 games (2 games in hand within the division), CGY has played 13 (3 in hand w/in the division) and ANA has only played 11 (5 in hand w/in the division). Note only 3 points separate the

Translation per Google Translate:

Forward SKA St. Petersburg Nika Gusev at the end of this season, intends to pursue a career in the National Hockey League (NHL). It is reported by RIA "News", citing a source close to the situation.

The contract of the Olympic champion Pkhenchkhana with SKA expires on April 30, 2019, the agreement can be terminated earlier by agreement of the parties.

According to the source, the Vegas club claims for Gusev in the NHL. In June 2017, as a result of the expansion draft, it acquired the rights to a hockey player originally drafted by Tampa in 2012.

“If Nikita Gusev signs a contract with Vegas after completing the season in the KHL and plays at lea

According to the data from Evolving Hockey, we have three of the top 30 in the league.

When looking at the impact on Expected Goals Against (xGA) this chart shows the total defensive impact on both 5 v 5 and Penalty Kill. (remember it's defense, so negative #s are good).

xGA 5v5 & PK

Theodore is #6

Schmidt is #21

Miller is # 28

As not everyone contributes on the PK so we can remove them and believe it or not, we still have three on the list.

xGA 5v5 w/ +PK impact

Schmidt is #10

Miller is #16

Holden is # 26

This data was taken from an article about TBLs Erik Cernak which can be found [here](https://www.rawcharge.com/201

Are we playing better offense today and if so is it (the style of offense) having any impact on defense?

So I identified two 5W-1L runs to compare. The 5-1 run from 11-19-18 to 11-29-18 (NOV) & the 5-1 run from 2-28-19 to 3-10-19 (Feb. welcome to the Stone age).

Player Lineup differences: No Stastny (Hurt, IR) or Stone in the November run. Subban was in goal for each Calgary loss, MAF for the other games.

Opponent differences:

The November opponents were, in order (CGY 7-2 L, AZ 3-2 OT W, CGY 2-0 W, SJS 6-0 W, CHI 8-3 W, VAN 4-3 W) A difficult stretch where VGK played very good hockey.

The Feb. post Stone Addition (FLA 6-5 SO W, ANA 3-0 W, VAN 3-0 W, CGY 2-1 W, VAN 6-2 W, CGY

Of the remaining 15 games for VGK, 8 are away & 7 are home games.

8 games are against teams currently in playoff positions. Of those 8 games, 4 games are in division (Cgy, Cgy, SJS, SJS) the other 4 games are in conference (Dal, Wpg, StL, Min).

The 4 games against division rivals include 1 home game (Cgy, tomorrow) and three away (Cgy, SJS, SJS all three are on the second part of a back to back).

The 4 games in conference include 2 on the road (Dal & StL) and 2 at home (WpG & Min). And we know how well we play against Min.

The other games are away at Van, Avs & Kings. Home vs. EDM, Det, EDM & Ari.

VGK has 2 games next week (@Cgy & @Dal) with 4 days off between th

VGK is 19-15-2, good for 40 points and 4th in the division. The competition is heating up with 7 points separating the five teams in the hunt for the division title. VGK has played 2 more games than most and only 1 more than the Ducks.

With 27 home and 19 road games left, the second easiest schedule remaining in the division (SJS has the easiest), it will come down to which VGK team shows up the rest of the season. The team that played the first 20 games or the team that has shown up the last 16, injuries and all.

This Season:

Total 19-15-2; W% 0.527/ Pt% 0.555

Road 9-12-1; W% 0.409/ Pt% 0.432

Home 10-3-1; W% 0.714/ Pt% 0.750

For perspective, VGK won the division last year wit

All things being equal, with VGK being in the second Wild Card spot (Edm is one point behind for that spot and play tonight) it is looking like strong performances will be needed from here on out.

With 35 points today and 50 games remaining, a 60% Win% would give them 95 points to end the season; 66.5% would give them 101 points.

To repeat what we did last year and finish with 109 points, which won the division and gave us home ice in the first two rounds of the playoffs they would need a win% of 74%.

So on the Positive side I see the following:

Stastny is back

We play LA 4 more times in the next three to four weeks

Schedule is much more home friendly in the new year. (23H/17A)

Much f

James Neal lead the VGK w/ 5 goals.

Following Neal were Engelland, Schmidt, Lindberg and Nosek; each w/ 1 goal.

Assists had a four way tie between Schmidt, Leipsic, Perron and would you believe Sbisa; each with 2.

McNabb, Eakin, Haula, Garrison, Bellemare and Smith each had 1.

Leading the team in penalties were bad boys Reilly Smith and Jon Marchessault each with 4 minutes.

Leading the team in Shots were Haula, Neal and Perron each w/ 11.

So at this point last year Smith had an assist and Marchessault and Karlsson had 0 G, 0 A, combined for a +4, 4 PIM with 15 total shots on goal....

Lindberg and Nosek were a more promising pair.... I call that perspective....