WTWF: It’s Duck Season

Having feasted upon Sharks and turkeys over the last couple of days, the Winnipeg Jets continue their California business trip and hope that by the end of today, they’ll have enjoyed roasted duck. Thanks to the United States finding a way to turn one meal on a Thursday into an entire extra-long weekend of eating and shopping, the Jets and Ducks will drop the puck at 3 PM CST.

You already phoned in your effort on Monday thanks to the Grey Cup party on Sunday night and you may have even skipped work on Tuesday to take in the parade, so why not just skip out of work early today and enjoy some hockey? Just let your boss know we said it’s ok for you to go. I’m sure he or she will be totally cool with it. If not, you can use the following things that we’re looking out for today as reasons to get out and watch some puck…

The Jets have been notorious this season for winning games despite the fact that they’re constantly being out-shot by opponents while advanced metrics such as Corsi and xGF and xGA suggest that the Jets constantly winning like they have this past month doesn’t exactly make a whole lot of logical sense.

Winnipeg is 10-2-0 this season when they are out-shot by opposing teams which is the best in the league, but it’s not by much. Right behind them in terms of winning percentage while being out-shot are the Anaheim Ducks who are 11-3-1 this season when giving up more than they get themselves. Even more remarkable are the team records for both clubs when they are the ones with the shots advantage. The Jets 5-7-1 when they out-shoot their opponents while the Ducks have yet to even win a game this season when they’ve had such an advantage, going 0-8-4.

Winnipeg is averaging 31.92 shots per game this season while the Ducks are about three behind them with 29.31 per game. Both teams have also struggled to generate high danger scoring chances this season, so don’t be surprised if this is a game played around the perimeter of each zone with both clubs looking to work from the outside in.

 

Thanks to their win in San Jose on Wednesday, the Jets have now won six of their last seven road games, giving them a 9-4-0 record so far this season which is fifth best in that department in the NHL. The Ducks are middle of the road when it comes to home records with a respectable 7-4-2 mark at The Pond.

That all said, the last time the Jets visited Anaheim, it was a visit to forget as the Ducks had a huge second period effort that chased Connor Hellebuyck from the game.

 

There aren’t many teams with a worse power play success rate than the 16.22% mark the Jets currently own going into today’s game, but the Ducks are one of the few that are somehow worse. Much worse. With a 10.29% conversion rate, the Ducks power play sits 30th in the NHL. Not that they’ve had much time to work on it as the Ducks are also 30th in the league in power play opportunities with just 68. The Jets aren’t much better in that area as well having only 74 extra man advantages.

Both clubs also have rather disappointing penalty kill rates this season, with the Ducks just slightly better at 76.74% compared to Winnipeg’s 75% and rank 23rd and 24th in the league respectively.

The big difference between these two clubs on special teams is the disparity in how often they take penalties as opposed to how often they draw them. The Ducks are 30th in the league in power play opportunities with just 68 and while the Jets aren’t much better in that area having only 74 extra man advantages, they at least have done very well to stay out of the box so far this season as they’ve only given up a league low 60 power play opportunities against. Anaheim as you might expect is on the opposite end of that category having given up 86 power plays.