Score away–home after each goal; season totals in parentheses.
Shot quality
Expected goals (xG) rate every unblocked shot by how often shots like it go in, from where it was taken,
the shot type, the strength and what happened just before it. How it works
VAN 31%Deserve to win69% NJD
VAN
NJD
1.79
Expected goals
2.84
2
Goals (no shootout)
1
1.07
Expected goals, 5 on 5
1.70
40
Shot attempts
60
29
Unblocked attempts
43
15
Shots on goal
26
Game notes
What stood out as the game went on, from the play-by-play and the shifts. Time on the bench is
counted in 5-on-5 play outside the penalty box; the note says the player sat, not why. Goals saved are against the
shots' expected goals (xG).
3rd Period
4:34
NJD
Deserve to win
Deserve to win · NJD takes the lead, 63–37%
VAN had led since 1:01 of the 1st, by as much as 81%
17:52
NJD
Pulled goalie
Pulled goalie · Pulled Markstrom, down 2–1
With 2:08 left
Shot map
VAN shoots ←Bigger circle: higher xG; filled: goal→ NJD shoots
About these numbers
xG comes from hockeystats.io's own model, a gradient-boosted tree model trained on every unblocked shot
from the 2021-22 to 2025-26 regular seasons using the NHL's public play-by-play. Each shot's value is the
share of similar shots that became goals. A team's xG is the sum over its shots; "deserve to win" asks how
often the team would outscore its opponent if every shot went in at exactly that rate. Blocked shots count
as attempts but have no xG (the NHL records where they were blocked, not where they were taken), so the map
leaves them out.
An expected-goals take on Dom Luszczyszyn's Game Score: goals and assists, the quality of a
player's own shots, shot quality for and against while they were on the ice at 5v5, penalties, faceoffs and puck plays,
all in goals; goalies by goals saved above expected. From the NHL play-by-play and shift charts.
