Wild March Report Card: Inconsistent & Outplayed, Yet a Winning Month

3 years ago  /  The Hockey Writers  /  Read Time: 4 minutes 17 seconds

• The Wild have been dominant at 5-on-5 this season, albeit the numbers fell in the second half of the month of March which resulted in unfavorable underlying numbers compared to usual.
• When examining the numbers, the Wild ranked in the bottom ten of the league in three different categories, but also ranked top ten in four.CF%GF%xGF%SCF%HDCF%SV%SH%44.69 (28th)54.10 (10th)48.57 (21st)45.74 (24th)51.82 (7th).932 (6th)9.68 (6th)Minnesota Wild Statistics in March at 5-on-5 Via Natural Stat Trick.
• The Wild ranked 28th league-wide with a 44.69 Corsi for percentage (CF%) which is a metric that looks at shot attempts (goals, shots on net, misses, blocks, etc).
• The Wild’s 54.10 goals for percentage – 33 goals scored compared to 28 from the opposing team’s – ranked 10th league-wide.
• The Wild’s 48.57 expected goals for percentage ranked 21st league-wide at 5-on-5 in the month of March which is very poor, especially for a team that has been built on being dominant at 5-on-5.
• They were expected to allow 29.63 goals which was the eighth-worst mark in the league which is the polar opposite of a normal month.
• Their 45.74 scoring chances for percentage ranked 24th in the league.
• The Wild did finish seventh league-wide in high-danger chances for percentage which is positive.
• If the Wild can return to their defensive dominance and still create a high rate of high-danger chances, they’re in good shape moving forward.
• The biggest question surrounding the team is if they can continue to finish at a high rate as they heavily outperformed their expected goals.

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