xJawn NHL expected goals

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Final · Oct 28, 2026
2026-27 · regular season
The call
COL 69.8% ✓
expected 2.47–3.75 · COL won 2–5
actual xG
2.31–3.93
xG share, predicted → actual
NJD 40% → 37%60% → 63% COL
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 NJD's side, the same minutes at both ends: PP = NJD power play · PK = COL power play · Leading = NJD ahead · ST = each club's own power play.

NJD attacks◀ all strengths
COL 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: NJD attacks the left net, COL 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 NJD's side and mirrored for COL: “NJD PP” shows NJD's power-play attempts on the left and COL'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
NJD COL
bars share a scale within each row · the longer bar is the row's leader
Goalson the map
2 5
Expected goals
2.31 3.93
xG%share of xG
37% 63%
High-dangerattempts ≥ 0.20 xG
1 4
Shots on goal
22 45
Attempts
44 80
xG by period · whole game 1st0.4–0.62nd0.9–2.13rd1.1–1.2

The Avalanche beat the Devils 5–2 at home, and the chances agreed: COL out-created NJD 3.9–2.3 in expected goals. The Avalanche power play made 1.1 xG on 9 attempts.

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 NJD − COL xG · bands = power plays · lines = goals
1ST2ND3RD+1−1+2−2NJD AHEAD ▲COL AHEAD ▼
How to read this

One line: cumulative NJD minus COL expected goals. Above zero NJD is ahead on chances, below zero COL 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
NJDConnor Brown 1st12:21 SH 0.06
NJDConnor Brown 3rd15:35 0.16
COLGabriel Landeskog 2nd10:58 PP 0.47
COLNazem Kadri 3rd2:45 0.16
COLParker Kelly 3rd3:47 0.05
COLNathan MacKinnon 3rd12:00 0.24
COLJaden Schwartz 3rd12:30 0.14
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.

NJD
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.50Amadeus LombardiF11:51+0.15Jesper BrattF16:45+0.02Luke EvangelistaF17:28-0.06Nico HischierF16:55-0.09Cody GlassF12:12-0.10Jack HughesF20:37-0.11Brenden DillonD16:53-0.19Connor BrownF14:10-0.23Anthony ManthaF13:52-0.23Jonas SiegenthalerD20:23-0.36Arseny GritsyukF16:24-0.41Jesper BoqvistF10:54-0.47Declan ChisholmD17:10-0.54Timo MeierF14:06-0.63Dougie HamiltonD17:23-0.68Brett PesceD19:19-0.79Evan RodriguesF16:03-1.22Luke HughesD23:38-1.23
0.50.5110Cody GlassF10:27+0.17Amadeus LombardiF11:51+0.15Brett PesceD17:22+0.13Connor BrownF12:20+0.04Jonas SiegenthalerD18:09-0.18Jesper BrattF13:13-0.20Arseny GritsyukF14:03-0.20Jack HughesF16:08-0.21Brenden DillonD16:06-0.25Jesper BoqvistF10:54-0.47Luke EvangelistaF13:28-0.50Timo MeierF12:03-0.50Declan ChisholmD16:10-0.53Nico HischierF12:09-0.54Evan RodriguesF11:53-0.55Anthony ManthaF11:37-0.57Luke HughesD17:16-0.58Dougie HamiltonD15:06-0.83
0.250.250.50.50.750.750Jack HughesF4:03+0.56Luke EvangelistaF3:46+0.56Nico HischierF3:39+0.56Dougie HamiltonD0:56+0.34Anthony ManthaF1:57+0.33Luke HughesD3:24+0.22Jesper BrattF3:22+0.22Jonas SiegenthalerD0:11+0.00Timo MeierF1:48-0.01Evan RodriguesF1:43-0.01Arseny GritsyukF1:26-0.01Declan ChisholmD1:00-0.01
0.250.250.50.50.750.75110Brenden DillonD0:47+0.06Jesper BrattF0:10+0.00Nico HischierF0:47-0.12Jonas SiegenthalerD1:30-0.18Dougie HamiltonD1:04-0.18Arseny GritsyukF0:55-0.20Connor BrownF1:50-0.27Cody GlassF1:45-0.27Jack HughesF0:13-0.47Evan RodriguesF2:11-0.66Luke HughesD2:39-0.87Brett PesceD1:57-0.93
COL
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.5220Artturi LehkonenF18:33+1.38Martin NecasF19:35+1.36Nathan MacKinnonF19:00+1.32Devon ToewsD24:42+1.02Nazem KadriF15:06+0.90T.J. HughesF13:09+0.70Jaden SchwartzF10:53+0.55Sam MalinskiD21:11+0.50Cale MakarD25:51+0.50Brent BurnsD17:49+0.33Brock NelsonF16:38+0.19Fedor SvechkovF13:31+0.13Parker KellyF14:13+0.13Logan O'ConnorF13:39+0.09Gabriel LandeskogF12:29+0.05Josh MansonD4:06+0.02Brett KulakD22:42-0.07Nicolas RoyF11:26-0.09
0.50.5111.51.50Nathan MacKinnonF15:43+0.93Devon ToewsD19:28+0.90Artturi LehkonenF14:12+0.89Martin NecasF15:47+0.77Cale MakarD19:58+0.50Nazem KadriF11:28+0.43Brent BurnsD16:26+0.42Sam MalinskiD19:24+0.39Parker KellyF11:53+0.25T.J. HughesF10:05+0.23Fedor SvechkovF13:31+0.13Logan O'ConnorF12:41+0.09Jaden SchwartzF10:06+0.08Nicolas RoyF10:54+0.04Josh MansonD4:06+0.02Brett KulakD21:02+0.02Brock NelsonF11:55-0.05Gabriel LandeskogF11:36-0.42
0.250.250.50.50.750.750Brock NelsonF1:33+0.66Martin NecasF3:10+0.58Artturi LehkonenF0:52+0.58Devon ToewsD0:48+0.58Nazem KadriF3:05+0.47Cale MakarD3:09+0.47T.J. HughesF3:04+0.47Gabriel LandeskogF0:53+0.47Jaden SchwartzF0:47+0.47Nathan MacKinnonF2:24+0.39
0.250.250.50.50Sam MalinskiD1:14+0.00Logan O'ConnorF0:58+0.00Nathan MacKinnonF0:20+0.00Martin NecasF0:05+0.00Brett KulakD1:40-0.09Brent BurnsD1:23-0.09Artturi LehkonenF2:56-0.09Parker KellyF2:20-0.12Nicolas RoyF0:32-0.12Brock NelsonF3:10-0.43Devon ToewsD3:53-0.47Cale MakarD2:44-0.47

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.

NJD
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
COL
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF

Matchups

5v5 · this game
every skater against every skater, goalies first · hover a cell
order
NJD won the chances COL 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
BlackwoodLehkonenMacKinnonNecasKellyO'ConnorSvechkovNelsonLandeskogRoyKadriSchwartzHughesToewsMakarBurnsKulakMansonMalinskiGL1L2L3L4D1D2D3GL1L2L3L4D1D2D3AllenBrattHughesGritsyukMeierHischierEvangelistaBrownGlassLombardiManthaRodriguesBoqvistPesceHughesDillonChisholmHamiltonSiegenthaler
How to read this

Rows are NJD's skaters, columns COL'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 COL a 69.8% favorite, expecting a 2.47–3.75 game — COL won 2–5, so the call landed. Every number in this section was issued before the game and is never re-graded.

pred. xGactual xG pred. 5v5actual 5v5 pred. STactual PP
NJD 2.472.31 1.791.66 0.600.59
COL 3.753.93 2.712.78 0.891.11

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 — ■ NJD · ■ COL.

Likeliest finals (NJD–COL)probability
3–3 6.2% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
2–2 6.0% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
2–4 5.2%
1–3 4.5%
1–4 4.3%
2–5 3.9% what happened
8.7%2.3%021.1%8.8%125.8%16.3%221.0%20.3%312.9%19.3%46.4%14.8%52.7%9.4%61.0%5.1%70.4%3.8%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 COL a 69.8% favorite — COL controls 60.3% of the predicted xG. Of NJD's 2.47 expected goals, 1.79 should come at 5v5 and 0.60 on the power play; COL projects 2.71 at 5v5 and 0.89 on the power play. The logistic challenger put the home side at 72.2%, Elo at 65.1%.

Why COL 69.8%
win chance× expected goals
5v5 play +4.8 COL ×1.09 · NJD ×0.99
schedule +4.8 COL ×1.05 · NJD ×0.94
finishing +4.4 COL ×1.07 · NJD ×0.97
home ice +3.6 COL ×1.08 · NJD ×1.00
goaltending +1.2 COL ×0.99 · NJD ×0.96
special teams +0.0 COL ×1.00 · NJD ×0.99

Win chance is in points toward COL (bars right of the line push toward COL, left toward NJD). 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 2.89 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). NJD attacks the left net, COL 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.

NJDCOL
3.45 (3rd) Offense
xG for / game
3.20 (6th)
2.37 (1st) Defense
xG against / game
2.64 (7th)
0.93 (3rd) Power play
PP xG / game
0.85 (11th)
0.49 (1st) Penalty kill
PP xG conceded / game
0.57 (3rd)

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 →