Shot Differential Chart for Leafs vs. Jets 1/5/12

Hello fellow Leafs fans. Been trying to think of an idea to get started with writing about the Leafs and hockey in general for a while, and I figured what better way that to shamelessly borrow an idea from the stat wizards over at Arctic Ice Hockey. I've been reading their stuff since before the Jets moved to the 'Peg and always liked how in depth they get with their stats while still making them understandable to us normal folk. When I first saw what Bettmans Nightmare has been calling a BW Chart, I thought it was a great way to visualize the flow of the game.

Those those of you that may not read AIH and have not seen the charts I'm referring to, here is an example of their chart for Leafs vs. Jets, 1/5/12 (disregard the error in the chart title). I decided to use this as a measuring stick for my own chart, which of course would have Leafs on top and Jets on the bottom, where they belong. The chart done by Arctic Ice Hockey also shows Leaf goals as black vertical lines, Jets PK as red shading, and Jets PP as green shading (this is something that I'm working on getting into my own charts, so any Excel ninjas out there can leave a tip in the comments if they know how).

To better explain the chart I've decided to post 3 charts, one of Leafs shots, one of Jets shots, and the final one of shot differential. Originally on Arctic Ice Hockey there was just a chart showing total shots for both teams, but I prefer the shot differential chart which they've been using for the last few of their games.

Shot chart for WPG.

Shot chart for TOR

Shot differential.

By this chart, you can see that Toronto leads in shots for most of the game. Especially after the TOR goal at 4:21 into the game, the Leafs stay on the right side of the puck for the whole game.

Coming up next will be the Leafs vs. Wings game, where (fingers crossed) my charts will show goals and PP/PK time, which adds much more depth to the data in the chart and explains much more of the game.

In the meantime, you can find me commenting on PPP as TheCeej, or follow me on Twitter.