While we are not officially at the halfway point of the NHL season yet, the Christmas break is a time to pause and take stock of how teams are performing.  With that in mind I figured I’d return to my exploration of how the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals are fairing in terms of generating scoring chances (and high-danger chances) for and limiting scoring chances (and high-danger chances) against.

All stats are 5 vs 5 score adjusted and were obtained from war-on-ice. They account for games played through December 23, 2015.

Montreal Canadiens

Record: 20-13-3, 43 points, 1st place Atlantic Division

Scoring Chances:

SCF Per Game = 20.83

SCA Per Game = 19.92

SCF% = 51.45%

High-Danger Chances:

HSCF Per Game = 8.71

HSCA Per Game = 8.10

HSCF% = 52.17%

New Jersey Devils

Record: 17-13-5, 39 points, 4th place Metropolitan Division

Scoring Chances:

SCF Per Game = 16.34

SCA Per Game = 16.63

SCF% = 48.90%

High-Danger Chances:

HSCF Per Game = 6.39

HSCA Per Game = 6.63

HSCF% = 47.83%

New York Rangers

Record: 20-12-4, 44 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division

Scoring Chances:

SCF Per Game = 18.81

SCA Per Game = 21.39

SCF% = 45.81

High-Danger Chances

HSCF Per Game = 8.63

HSCA Per Game = 10.77

HSCF% = 44.84%

Washington Capitals

Record: 25-6-2, 52 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division

Scoring Chances:

SCF Per Game = 21.37

SCA Per Game = 21.02

SCF% = 50.32

High-Danger Chances:

HSCF Per Game = 8.42

HSCA Per Game = 7.88

HSCF% = 51.33%

Thoughts

• Washington still looks pretty strong, particularly in generating high-danger chances for and limiting high-danger chances against.
• Montreal misses Carey Price – they have the best percentages in both SCF% and HSCF%.  Mike Condon did a great job during Price’s first stint on IR but the talent-gap is starting to show.
• New Jersey and New York rely a lot (and a probably a bit too much) on Cory Schneider and Henrik Lundqvist.