Though the current season is just past the halfway point, there have already been 62 penalty shots, more than any full season in NHL history. But while visiting teams were more likely to take penalty shots this season, home-team shooters have been more likely to make them.
Visiting teams took 36 of the 62 shots awarded through Jan. 11. But they made only 11, a 30.1 percent success rate. Home-team shooters were successful on 12 of their 26 chances (46.2 percent).
Edmonton's Ryan Smyth was the only player to score on more than one penalty shot -- he was 2-for-2, and is now 3-for-3 in his career. Nashville's Steve Sullivan was the League leader with four tries. He was 0-for-3 before scoring against Chicago's Craig Anderson on Jan. 8, his first goal in seven career penalty shots. Colorado's Joe Sakic, who scored on a penalty shot against the Rangers in New York on Dec. 18, improved to 4-for-4, the most successes without a miss by any active player.
Sullivan's goal was also the third penalty shot faced by Anderson in a two-game span -- he stopped Vancouver's Alexandre Burrows but was beaten by Jarkko Ruutu in the third period of a 3-2 loss to the Canucks three nights earlier. Anderson's team, the Chicago Blackhawks, have faced a league-high six penalty shots. Nikolai Khabibulin faced the other three, stopping two.
The best at stopping penalty shots this year? Florida's Roberto Luongo, who is 4-for-4 this season and is now 8-for-8 in his career. Dallas' Marty Turco has stopped all three penalty shots he faced and is 6-for-7 overall.
Phoenix's Curtis Joseph has seen two penalty shots this season, increasing his career total to 16, the most among active goaltenders. He has allowed four goals, one this season.
No carryover -- Luongo may have the best save percentage among active goaltenders when it comes to penalty shots, but that success hasn't carried over to shootouts. The Florida goaltender has a 1-2 record in shootouts, allowing three goals on 11 shots, a .727 percentage (the league average is .671).
Sakic has struggled even more on shootouts. While he's perfect on penalty shots in regulation time, the Colorado captain is 0-for-3 in shootouts.
No comebacks -- Why are the Carolina Hurricanes enjoying the best season in franchise history? One reason is that the 'Canes excel at keeping their opponents down when they get the jump on them. Carolina scored first 21 times in its first 42 games (50 percent). But the Hurricanes won 20 of those 21 contests, a 96-percent success that's the best in the NHL (teams that score first generally go home with about 66 percent of the available points). The only game in which Carolina scored first and lost came more than three months ago, when the Hurricanes led 1-0 but lost, 3-2, in the New York Islanders' home opener on Oct. 8.
Relief at last -- Columbus goaltender Pascal Leclaire stopped 28 of 29 shots on Wednesday nights in the Blue Jackets' 6-1 home victory over Pittsburgh -- and it must have seemed like a night off. In the Jackets' seven previous games, dating to the Christmas break, their goaltenders had faced 294 shots, an average of 42 a game. Despite the barrage, Columbus was 4-2-1 in those seven games.
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The numbers prove that as Rick Nash goes, the Blue Jackets go, writes John Kreiser.
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The Blue Jackets also recorded a couple of firsts last weekend. Their 3-2 shootout loss in Colorado on Jan. 7 marked the first time in nine visits to the Pepsi Center that they earned as much as a point -- they're 0-8 plus the shootout loss. One night later, the Jackets beat the Coyotes 5-2 for their first win in 10 visits to Phoenix.
Missed you -- The Blue Jackets' improved play since the Christmas break coincides with the return of their best young player. Rick Nash missed 26 of the Jackets' first 31 games with knee and ankle injuries. Columbus was 9-22-0 when he returned on Dec. 17. Since then, they're 5-5-2, including 5-2-1 in their last eight games. Nash is 10-5-15 in those 12 games, and has 12 points (7-5-12) in the eight games since Christmas.
One stops, one continues -- The Montreal Canadiens still can't beat their former provincial rivals in their new home. Wednesday night's 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche gave the former Quebec Nordiques a 6-0-1 record against the Canadiens since they moved to Denver in 1995. Overall, they're 10-2-3 since the move.
The Canadiens did end one of Colorado's streaks: Montreal held the Avalanche without a goal in the first period for the first time in 12 games, dating to Dec. 20. However, the Avalanche still leads the NHL with 64 goals in the opening period; Los Angeles is second with 56.
Even-strength problems -- The Chicago Blackhawks ended a 10-game losing streak on Jan. 10 with a shootout victory in Washington, then dropped their 11th in 12 outings the next night at home to Philadelphia. But though the Hawks are runaway leaders in power plays against with 317, their problems during their slump have come at even strength.
Chicago has been outscored 47-23 (including the shootout goal) during the 12 games, Most of the damage has come at even strength. The Hawks have been outscored only 7-5 on the power play (and 3-1 shorthanded) during the slide, but 37-16 at even strength. Before the losing streak began on Dec. 18, the Hawks were even (63-63) in non-power play situations.
Finally -- The New York Islanders rewarded new coach Brad Shaw with a 3-2 victory over Calgary on Thursday night, a game in which they did something they hadn't done in 13 days -- play with a lead. Before Mark Parrish's power-play goal with 7:44 remaining put the Isles ahead of Calgary, they hadn't led a game since the third period of their Dec. 30 game in Ottawa, when the Senators overcame a two-goal deficit to beat New York, 4-3. The Isles went nearly six full games between leads, though they did beat Florida in overtime on Jan. 4, a game they never led until Parrish scored the game-winner in OT.
