Digging through stats can be a pain, but it's rewarding when you learn or corroborate something genuinely interesting.
David Perron is shooting at a career-low rate. Considering he's crossing 30 soon, it's sensible to worry about age-related decline.
However, a deep dive revealed that Perron is shooting from a far more significant distance than he has in the past. Does that mean Perron can't get to his spots on the ice anymore...or is he positioning himself differently?
I caught up with Perron for a fascinating talk about advanced stats and how he's adapted to his linemates.
HockeyBuzz: I don't know how much you pay attention to this, David, but you're not shooting as much as you have in recent seasons. And we talked about it before, you've talked about you're playing with James a lot, you're passing to him a lot.
One thing I wonder, if it's related or not, your average shot distance is farther than it's ever been. It's a big difference. So I wonder, is it a positioning thing, where you're setting up in different places than you have in the past?
David Perron: Yeah, definitely on the power play, right? I'm on the half-wall, I'm a little further out when I shoot the puck. You're right that I tend to pass more this year.
I don't remember too many chances recently where I was in the slot with a clear shot on net. But I feel like I can set up a few guys every night.
It involves everyone on the line. I have a lot of assists too. In the past, I would hear about it a little more if I didn't shoot enough. It's not something that the coaches have brought up to me here. I feel like they're really happy with my game.
I'm just trying to generate offense with my forecheck. A lot of the times, I'm in the corner working hard, getting the pucks back, trying to find someone, so I'm not going to shoot from the corner as much.
HB: I certainly don't mean it as a criticism, but more as a curiosity.
DP: Yeah, it's a good point for sure.
Even my advanced stats, as far as Corsi, is a little bit lower than basically all my other years.
I feel like our line is good at possession of the puck. But Corsi is how much you shoot on net. It's called a possession stat, but it's not necessarily.
I feel like we have good possession, but because I try to find the passing lanes, I don't shoot everything at net. Maybe that affects my Corsi a little bit?
But it doesn't matter, we have success. I feel good about it.
HB: You specifically noted the power play, but is your positioning different on 5v5 too?
DP: I'm just a different role on that line. I take pride in finding guys in open ice and creating space for them. I take pride in finding those spots for them. I tell them all the time to get open because I'm going to do everything that I can to find them. Of course, it's less shots for me.
The guys on the line that I'm playing on right now are really good shooters. Someone's got to do it, if you don't ever create offense, how are you going to score goals? We've scored a lot of goals this year.
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The narrative was that there was no way Vegas could lose Gerard Gallant and Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault's return to Florida, but it took some late James Neal heroics to get them into OT, where they fell 4-3.
Winning Play
Tied 2-2 and with the Golden Knights taking control of the game, one of the best lines in hockey took over -- and I'm not talking about Marchessault-William Karlsson-Smith:
Keith Yandle picks up the William Carrier turnover and attacks. Intelligently, William Karlsson covers the wide man, Jonathan Huberdeau. But Huberdeau is just a little more clever:
Yandle might have known about Aleksander Barkov's presence regardless. But from that point on, the Golden Knights can't sort out coverage -- Marchessault doesn't take anybody -- and the free man Evgenii Dadonov puts away the rebound.
The Panthers did benefit from a non-call. Carrier was a little slow to get over to the bench to change with Marchessault because he was unhappy about this play:
It looks like Barkov got away with a trip. So Carrier certainly has a case, but you can't help but wonder if just playing through it would have got Marchessault on the ice a little sooner, which might have helped coverage.
Pluses
The Marchessault line has received a lot of publicity recently, and deservedly so. But Neal-Erik Haula-David Perron have been at top of their game since the bye week -- they've actually outscored their more celebrated counterparts 5-4 at 5v5 in the last four games. That's not the only place where they've done well:
Marchessault and company have seen a steady stream of tough match-ups recently, from Connor McDavid to Barkov, and it appears that the Neal line has benefited. That's a good thing. If the Marchessault line can take on a lot of the presumptive first-line duties, and the Neal line can scarf up the leftovers...well, that's a good team.
Good patience by Haula, wait for speed from rear (Neal). Then Hunt recognizes he has to cover for attacking Neal, who works some one-on-one magic pic.twitter.com/1WPw0e5OSY
That said, Subban did not lose the Golden Knights the game. He actually kept them in it with a number of excellent saves. On the whole, while Vegas took control of the contest after the opening frame, they were less focused than usual on coverages.
The Knights will try to complete a successful road trip with a victory over Carolina this Sunday afternoon.
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