BOSTON \u2014 How do we quantify how the Boston Bruins beat the San Jose Sharks on Saturday?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the obvious, scoreboard, 6-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarts with protecting our net front,\u201d head coach Ryan Warsofsky said, of four of the six goals surrendered.<\/p>\n
Sharks tools<\/p>\n
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov<\/a> put a finer point of emphasis: \u201cWe [don\u2019t] battle, [don\u2019t] win the battles when we have to. We\u2019re not playing more hungry for the battles, for the puck, and [lose] focus sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n One Stathletes\u2019 micro-stat underscores all this: The Sharks gave up seven rebound shots last night. That\u2019s their worst total of season.<\/p>\n Just for comparison, the Utah Mammoth give up 1.25 Rebound Shots Against Per Game, best in the NHL, followed by the New Jersey Devils (1.73), Dallas Stars (1.9), and Carolina Hurricanes (1.92). These are, as of now, some of the better teams in the league.<\/p>\n The San Jose Sharks, however, are among the worst teams in this department: Their 3.42 Rebound Shots Against Per Game is fifth-worst in the NHL, better than only the Columbus Blue Jackets (3.44), Calgary Flames (3.5), Philadelphia Flyers (3.62), and Vancouver Canucks (3.75).<\/p>\n That\u2019s, uh, not the company that you want to keep in this league.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a small sample size, but the Sharks will either have to get better in this potentially fatal flaw\u2026or they\u2019ll have to outscore their problems.<\/p>\n Pacific Division leader Edmonton Oilers, for example, are just ahead of San Jose at 3.18 Rebound Shots Against Per Game. But they also have Connor McDavid<\/a> and Leon Draisaitl<\/a> and Evan Bouchard<\/a>, the leading scorers in the league so far.<\/p>\n But the San Jose Sharks? They can win this way, and they have been so far, but it\u2019s probably not going to last.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about winning puck battles, as not all puck battles are created equal. As Orlov suggested, it\u2019s about winning the battles that matter.<\/p>\n Stathletes has a Puck Battles micro-stat, and it\u2019s useful, but it doesn\u2019t separate a puck battle by location, say in front of the net or at the point.<\/p>\n