Talkin’ Bout Faceoffs
By Ryan Pike
9 years agoWe’re five games into the series, and much as we earlier checked out the Corsi and Fenwick breakdowns for the two clubs, let’s revisit the face-off numbers for the primary centers for each teams.
The big fancy table after the jump!
THE WHOLE SERIES
| Sean Monahan | Mikael Backlund | Matt Stajan | Josh Jooris | Markus Granlund | Overall (all draws) | |
| Henrik Sedin | 28 taken 18-10 VAN | 17 taken 12-5 VAN | 43 taken 24-19 CGY | 5 taken 4-1 CGY | 2 taken 2-0 VAN | 53.9% |
| Nick Bonino | 37 taken 23-14 VAN | 12 taken 10-2 CGY | 13 taken 8-5 CGY | 2 taken 2-0 CGY | 3 taken 3-0 CGY | 48.0% |
| Bo Horvat | 15 taken 8-7 VAN | 11 taken 6-5 VAN | 8 taken 6-2 CGY | 5 taken 5-0 VAN | 3 taken 2-1 CGY | 56.0% |
| Brad Richardson | 8 taken 5-3 VAN | 6 taken 3-3 tie | 10 taken 6-4 CGY | 3 taken 2-1 CGY | 2 taken 2-0 VAN | 42.9% |
| Linden Vey | 2 taken 2-0 CGY | 1 taken 1-0 VAN | n/a | 2 taken 2-0 CGY | n/a | 16.7% |
| Overall (all draws) | 41.7% | 51.0% | 61.5% | 54.2% | 50.0% |
Man, Monahan is struggling right now. Whether he’s up against Sedin or Bonino, he gets beaten down. On the other hand, just about every other player is either even or at least has a couple players they match up really well against. Jooris for Granlund was functionally a lateral move, but he’s the only right-handed center on the team, and it makes sense to have him for penalty killing rather than relying on the relatively untested Granlund, who has historically been a little worse at face-offs.
If the Flames win this series, give a big stick-tap to Matt Stajan, who may be the series MVP. Why? His face-off numbers are the best in the series, and he’s the only guy that can consistently beat Henrik Sedin in draws. In fact, he has a clear edge in every single match-up with the Canucks – the only player who enjoys such an edge.
On the other side, yes, Henrik Sedin is amazing, but Bo Horvat is pretty damn solid himself in terms of draws, and he’s been one of the best Canucks all series long.
Long story short: expect to see a ton of Stajan against Sedin and Backlund against Bonino tomorrow evening.
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