Corsi Analysis: Game Four Flyers V. Sabres
The Flyers beat the Sabres on the strength of a Brian Elliott shutout 3-0 on Tuesday night. The win came at a substantial cost, with the Flyers losing both Phil Myers and Morgan Frost. Each player missed more than a period which sent the lines and defensive pairing into a jumble, and likely had down-stream effects on execution.
First Period
CF:15 CF:14 CF%: 51.72
The opening period was more or less a draw from a corsi perspective with the Flyers holding a single shot attempt advantage. Though they held a slight corsi% advantage, the Sabres felt as though they were in control, testing Elliott through out the period.
The Flyers did a better job of cleaning up rebounds and challenging the opposition’s puck handlers, but the Sabres were still able to create several very dangerous chances.
Second Period
CF:13 CF18 CF%: 41.94
The Flyers seemed to find their stride in early the second period, which included of stretch of five consecutive good shifts. A tripping penalty against Jake Voracek and the injury to Frost seemed to completely halt the momentum. From that point forward, the Sabres dominated corsi, with 25 more shot attempts than the Flyers.
Third Period
CF:11: CA25 CF%: 30.56
Despite outscoring the Sabres 2-0 in the third, the Sabres were the team that were forcing play. The Flyers were able to endure the pressure before taking advantage of their opponent’s aggression to score an odd man rush as has been the case so many times this year.
Brian Elliott made several key saves in the third on his way to the shutout. If Elliott had not brought his “A” game the result could have easily been a Flyers loss.
Corsi Winner
BUF Tobias Rieder CF: 16 CA:6 CF% 72.73
Rieder spent the night paired with Cody Eakin (CF% 72.00%). Rieder was effective at forechecking and gave Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl fits all night, but did not generate much in high quality opportunities outside of a Gustafsson turnover in front of the net. While generating better quality offense would be desirable, it was actually pretty close to a picture perfect night for a bottom six line, statistically speaking.
Corsi Loser
PHI Scott Laughton CF: 3 CF:15 CF%: 15.00
Scott Laughton had a rough night from a corsi perspective. He was hemmed in by Cody Eakin and Rieder for most of the night, and when he wasn’t, he was rewarded by matching up with Eichel and Hall. Oddly, from a corsi perspective, Laughton played much better against Eichel, CF% 25 than Eakin CF% 8.33%. It was as If Laughton was happy to concede low danger chances to the Eakin line, and was trying to smother the more dangerous Eichel line.
Conclusion CF:39 CA:57 CF% 40.63 %
The Flyers were opportunistic and took full advantage of Brian Elliott’s superb performance. It appears that injuries did hamper them significantly in the game, as there was a drastic swing in corsi immediately after Frost’s departure. It is possible that the loss of Frost and Myers forced them to focus exclusively on defense.
In looking at the corsi numbers with context, it could be inferred that the Sabres played an even first period and then pulled away as the game went on, like game 3. Adding the information about the Flyers’ injuries, it makes a Sabres’ victory appear as a near certainty. But maybe not so certain after all.
In reality, Brian Elliott was the difference in the 3-0 Flyers win, making all the big saves. Once they gained the lead they traded shots against in exchange for time running off the clock. The Flyers weathered the storm and closed out the Sabres.