xJawn NHL expected goals

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Final / OT · Oct 20, 2026
2026-27 · regular season
The call
MTL 67.4% ✗
expected 2.60–3.72 · SJS won 4–3 in OT
actual xG
2.75–3.32
xG share, predicted → actual
SJS 41% → 45%59% → 55% MTL
Today's puzzle Remember Some Guys — name the skater from the shape of his career. Three clues, one guess a day. Play →
On the ice
Adjusts with rink filters

Strength and score are read from SJS's side, the same minutes at both ends: PP = SJS power play · PK = MTL power play · Leading = SJS ahead · ST = each club's own power play.

SJS attacks◀ all strengths
MTL attacksall strengths ▶
× goal• on net ◦ missed· blocked hover any attempt for the shooter, its xG and everything the model saw
How to read this map

One rink, both teams: SJS attacks the left net, MTL the right. Every attempt is a Gaussian bump of height = its model xG. The controls switch the surface (xG heatmap ↔ vs league) and the markers; vs league compares this game against a typical NHL team-game under the same filter (2026-27 regular season, 283 games), so a 5v5 view is measured against league 5v5.

A strength or score filter is read from SJS's side and mirrored for MTL: “SJS PP” shows SJS's power-play attempts on the left and MTL's shorthanded attempts on the right — the same minutes of the game at both ends. Empty-net attempts are excluded unless you include them. The Player control narrows the map and the rows beneath it to the attempts by either club while one player was on the ice (for a goalie, while he was in net); his own attempts wear a blue ring. vs league switches off while a player is picked — the league baseline is a whole team-game, which one player's slice is not. Hover any attempt for the shooter, the result, its xG, and the inputs behind it: clock, strength, score, shot type, distance, angle, handedness, rush/rebound, what happened just before, and the goalie or the blocker.

What each side produced

all strengths · this game
SJS MTL
bars share a scale within each row · the longer bar is the row's leader
Goalson the map
4 3
Expected goals
2.76 3.31
xG%share of xG
45% 55%
High-dangerattempts ≥ 0.20 xG
2 3
Shots on goal
30 34
Attempts
50 77
xG by period · whole game 1st0.9–1.22nd0.7–1.33rd0.9–0.8OT0.3–0.0

The Sharks beat the Canadiens 4–3 in overtime on the road in a game the chances called about even, SJS 2.8 to MTL 3.3 in expected goals. At 5v5: SJS 2.2, MTL 3.0.

Counts come from the shot table behind the map: empty-net attempts and the shootout are excluded, so the goals here can trail the official final by an empty-netter or the shootout's deciding goal. Same numbers as the post-game cards.

As the game went

all situations · this game
cumulative SJS − MTL xG · bands = power plays · lines = goals
1ST2ND3RDOT+0.5−0.5+1−1+1.5−1.5SJS AHEAD ▲MTL AHEAD ▼
How to read this

One line: cumulative SJS minus MTL expected goals. Above zero SJS is ahead on chances, below zero MTL is. Shaded bands are power plays in the side's colour; vertical lines are goals.

Goals

this game
xG = the chance, before it went in
TeamScorerPeriodTimexG
SJSMacklin Celebrini 1st13:49 0.22
SJSMichael Misa 3rd5:36 0.24
SJSTyler Toffoli 3rd11:09 PP 0.17
SJSMacklin Celebrini OT2:13 PP 0.09
MTLNick Suzuki 1st16:38 0.13
MTLJuraj Slafkovský 2nd1:49 0.33
MTLCole Caufield 2nd14:03 0.17
Who

Skaters

all · whole game · this game
on-ice xG for and against, his own attempts, the net
strength
period
sort
How to read this

Every skater: on-ice xG against to the left of zero, for to the right, his own attempts as the solid bar, a hash at the net. The slim track under the name is ice time. The chart opens sorted by net, best first; pick another key to re-order it, and click the same key again to flip it. A name opens the player's page. Pick a period and every bar re-lays for that period alone on the same scale as the whole game, so the three periods add up to it; a skater who did not play in it fades to the bottom.

SJS
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.50Dmitry OrlovD17:33+0.25Tyler ToffoliF12:18+0.22Mason MarchmentF15:06+0.04Macklin CelebriniF23:07+0.03Collin GrafF15:50-0.03Darnell NurseD20:20-0.05Will SmithF18:50-0.10Kiefer SherwoodF16:14-0.12Igor ChernyshovF17:02-0.12Ivar StenbergF17:44-0.17Nolan AllanD16:52-0.18Zack OstapchukF10:51-0.23Barclay GoodrowF11:32-0.31Michael MisaF14:09-0.33Sam DickinsonD20:15-0.45Ty DellandreaF11:37-0.48Jacob TroubaD23:08-0.55Michael KesselringD20:31-0.56
0.50.5111.51.50Dmitry OrlovD15:01+0.36Mason MarchmentF12:19+0.06Collin GrafF13:03+0.06Darnell NurseD17:44+0.06Tyler ToffoliF11:11+0.05Will SmithF15:28-0.09Nolan AllanD16:52-0.18Zack OstapchukF9:13-0.23Barclay GoodrowF9:42-0.24Macklin CelebriniF18:11-0.28Kiefer SherwoodF13:47-0.29Igor ChernyshovF15:54-0.30Ivar StenbergF13:36-0.31Michael MisaF13:31-0.33Ty DellandreaF10:57-0.45Michael KesselringD18:26-0.57Sam DickinsonD17:55-0.61Jacob TroubaD19:10-0.62
0.250.250.50.50Kiefer SherwoodF1:09+0.17Igor ChernyshovF1:08+0.17Tyler ToffoliF1:07+0.17Jacob TroubaD1:04+0.17Macklin CelebriniF3:18+0.15Michael MisaF0:38-0.00Ivar StenbergF2:49-0.02Will SmithF2:48-0.02Mason MarchmentF2:47-0.02Dmitry OrlovD2:32-0.11
0.250.250Zack OstapchukF1:38+0.00Michael KesselringD1:24+0.00Sam DickinsonD1:19+0.00Kiefer SherwoodF1:18+0.00Macklin CelebriniF0:14+0.00Ty DellandreaF0:40-0.03Barclay GoodrowF1:50-0.07Jacob TroubaD2:43-0.10Darnell NurseD2:36-0.10Collin GrafF2:18-0.10
MTL
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.50Phillip DanaultF15:44+0.84Juraj SlafkovskýF17:16+0.77Nick SuzukiF21:03+0.59Alexandre TexierF13:10+0.58Zachary BolducF14:55+0.57Alexandre CarrierD22:13+0.56Oliver KapanenF10:30+0.48Cole CaufieldF19:36+0.44Kaiden GuhleD22:51+0.39Kirby DachF10:15+0.26Lane HutsonD25:46+0.21Jake EvansF13:59+0.16Noah DobsonD21:44-0.00Adam EngstromD12:56-0.09Arber XhekajD13:14-0.12Chris KreiderF15:28-0.58Alex NewhookF16:21-0.72Josh AndersonF16:13-0.95
0.50.5111.51.50Juraj SlafkovskýF15:01+0.67Nick SuzukiF17:02+0.66Alexandre CarrierD19:36+0.65Phillip DanaultF13:20+0.59Alexandre TexierF11:26+0.58Cole CaufieldF15:44+0.51Kaiden GuhleD20:03+0.48Oliver KapanenF8:51+0.48Zachary BolducF12:45+0.46Lane HutsonD21:24+0.28Kirby DachF10:15+0.26Jake EvansF11:32+0.25Adam EngstromD12:16+0.08Noah DobsonD18:52+0.05Arber XhekajD12:36+0.02Chris KreiderF13:46-0.58Alex NewhookF12:56-0.67Josh AndersonF14:46-0.89
0.250.250Lane HutsonD2:29+0.10Cole CaufieldF2:18+0.10Juraj SlafkovskýF2:15+0.10Zachary BolducF2:10+0.10Nick SuzukiF2:08+0.10Alex NewhookF1:52+0.00Alexandre TexierF1:44+0.00Chris KreiderF1:42+0.00Oliver KapanenF1:39+0.00Noah DobsonD1:31+0.00Kaiden GuhleD0:11+0.00Josh AndersonF0:01+0.00
0.250.250.50.50Phillip DanaultF2:20+0.25Josh AndersonF1:26-0.06Noah DobsonD1:21-0.06Alex NewhookF1:18-0.06Alexandre CarrierD2:37-0.09Kaiden GuhleD2:37-0.09Jake EvansF2:27-0.09Arber XhekajD0:38-0.14Adam EngstromD0:40-0.17

Lines & pairs

all · whole game · this game
most-used units · when they played · on-ice xG lines are by strength · 5v5 shown
strength
period
sort
How to read this

The units that actually played together most at the chosen strength — forward lines and defence pairs at 5v5, the whole group on the ice on the power play or the kill — each with when it was on the ice at that strength across the game clock (period and power-play bands behind the strip) and on-ice xG against / for while the whole unit was out, at that strength only. Sorted by time together; pick another key to re-order, and a name opens the player's page. Pick a period and the strip veils the rest of the game while the bars re-lay for that period alone, on the whole game's scale.

SJS
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
MTL
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF

Matchups

5v5 · this game
every skater against every skater, goalies first · hover a cell
order
SJS won the chances MTL won them full colour = a margin of 0.75 xG or more taller = more time together (full height at 12:00) on together, dead even never on together G = goalie: his row or column is each skater against the whole other team
DobesSuzukiCaufieldSlafkovskýKreiderAndersonNewhookDanaultTexierBolducEvansDachKapanenCarrierGuhleDobsonHutsonXhekajEngstromGL1L2L3L4D1D2D3GL1L2L3L4D1D2D3NedeljkovicSmithCelebriniChernyshovSherwoodMisaStenbergToffoliMarchmentGrafGoodrowDellandreaOstapchukTroubaDickinsonNurseKesselringOrlovAllan
How to read this

Rows are SJS's skaters, columns MTL's, grouped the way they played: forward lines (L1 = the line that played together most), then defence pairs. Each cell covers the five-on-five time those two players shared the ice. Its colour is the club that out-chanced the other in that time — expected goals for minus against — and the stronger the colour, the bigger the margin. Each cell is also raised: the taller the block, the longer the two shared the ice, up to full height at 12:00 of five-on-five time. A grey cell means they met and it came out even; an open, flat one means they never met at five-on-five.

The first row and column are the goalies. A goalie is in net for every five-on-five second, so a skater's cell against the other side's goalie is all of that skater's five-on-five time against that team — the rest of his row or column added up — and the corner where the two goalies meet is the game's five-on-five. Those cells cover far more time than any pair, so they reach full colour sooner and stand at full height, a wall along each edge of the grid. A goalie change adds a second goalie row or column, each covering his own time.

Linemates share the ice, so a line against a line reads as a block. The margin is a total, not a rate: a long matchup has room to build a big gap and a thirty-second one does not — which is what the height is there to show: a tall, strong cell is the game's story; a short, strong one is a moment. Hover (or tap) any cell for the exact time together, the xG each way, attempts and goals. One game — a strong cell is what happened, not what would happen again.

The model

The prediction, scored

🔒 pregame · this game

Before puck drop the engine made MTL a 67.4% favorite, expecting a 2.60–3.72 game — SJS won 4–3, so the call missed. Every number in this section was issued before the game and is never re-graded.

pred. xGactual xG pred. 5v5actual 5v5 pred. STactual PP
SJS 2.602.75 1.592.19 0.810.40
MTL 3.723.32 2.412.96 0.950.10

Predicted 5v5 / special-teams portions come from the predicted map's strength splits (one shared scale per team pins the all-strengths total to its expected goals), so they don't sum exactly — the remainder is 4v4, 3v3, and other mixed states. The actual columns are the card's own counts (empty-net attempts excluded); the actual PP column is power-play xG only, the same bucket the predicted map's special-teams view draws.

The pregame score grid

🔒 pregame · this game

The likeliest finals the engine saw before the game, with what actually happened marked — ■ SJS · ■ MTL.

Likeliest finals (SJS–MTL)probability
3–3 6.4% what happened — regulation ended tied; SJS won in OT
2–2 6.0% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
2–4 5.1%
1–3 4.2%
1–4 3.9%
7.6%2.4%019.5%9.0%125.1%16.6%221.5%20.5%314.0%19.2%47.3%14.6%53.2%9.2%61.2%4.9%70.5%3.6%8+

Scoreline odds are the engine's own grid: each team's goals as a Poisson count, with the fitted adjustment for how often games end tied after regulation (ρ = 0.35), so these odds and the headline win probability come from the same numbers. The OT/SO layer is a separate fitted model and is already inside the headline win probability.

The pregame read

🔒 pregame · this game

The engine made MTL a 67.4% favorite — MTL controls 58.9% of the predicted xG. Of SJS's 2.60 expected goals, 1.59 should come at 5v5 and 0.81 on the power play; MTL projects 2.41 at 5v5 and 0.95 on the power play. The logistic challenger put the home side at 69.0%, Elo at 67.1%.

Why MTL 67.4%
win chance× expected goals
schedule +5.0 MTL ×1.05 · SJS ×0.94
5v5 play +4.5 MTL ×1.08 · SJS ×0.99
home ice +3.7 MTL ×1.08 · SJS ×1.00
goaltending +2.8 MTL ×1.00 · SJS ×0.93
finishing +0.9 MTL ×1.03 · SJS ×1.02
special teams +0.2 MTL ×1.02 · SJS ×1.02

Win chance is in points toward MTL (bars right of the line push toward MTL, left toward SJS). Each win-chance number is one-at-a-time: that piece reset to league average (neutral ice, a typical night's rest) on both sides and the game re-priced; the pieces interact, so they don't add up to the call. The multipliers are exact: a league-average team on neutral ice, on a typical night's rest, would expect 2.88 goals in this game, and each side's expected goals is that times its column of multipliers. Special teams reads small because the engine's power-play terms fit near zero, not because special teams don't matter.

Where the engine expected the goals

🔒 pregame · this game

The predicted surface, issued before puck drop — not this game's shots (those are the card's map above). SJS attacks the left net, MTL the right; each end multiplies where the attacking team generates xG this season by where its opponent concedes it, scaled so each end totals the engine's expected goals. Actual shots lays the game's unblocked attempts on top: × goals, • on net, ◦ missed.

Context

Tale of the tape

season to date

How each team fares on its own, season to date: per-game xG rates with league rank (of 32). Rank 1 is best on every row — orange ranks sit in the top third of the league, gray in the bottom third.

SJSMTL
2.70 (26th) Offense
xG for / game
3.05 (14th)
3.74 (32nd) Defense
xG against / game
3.09 (18th)
0.74 (19th) Power play
PP xG / game
0.68 (21st)
1.12 (32nd) Penalty kill
PP xG conceded / game
1.00 (30th)

Season-to-date form as of the site's latest build, shown for context — the ratings the engine actually used were its own as-of-game-day state. Replay this matchup in the lab →