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Meltzer's Musings: Will Flyers Improve in Shootouts? |
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Whether you love or hate the shootout (and I'm most certainly in the latter camp), it's become a reality of the post-lockout NHL during the regular season. It's also been a thorn in the Flyers' side more than it has been a help. Last season, the Flyers had to win the Atlantic Division via tiebreaker because the Pittsburgh Penguins went 10-3 in shootouts and gained 7 points that way over the Flyers (3-7 in shootouts). If the Pens had even one additional overtime or shootout loss over the course of the season, they would have overtaken Philly in total points and won the Division.
Of course, if not for the Flyers' shootout win over the Rangers on the final day of the 2009-10 regular season, the eventual Cup Finalist would have missed the playoffs. That season marked the only time the Flyers have had a winning record (4-3) in shootouts since it was adopted in 2005-06.
2005-06: 4-6
2006-07: 1-6
2007-08: 3-6
2008-09: 4-6
2009-10: 4-3
2010-11: 3-7
All-Time : 19-34
While, as they say, past performance does not predict future results, there is at least reason to be hopeful that the Flyers will be able to pick off a few extra points in shootouts in 2011-12 than they did last year. For one thing, Ilya Bryzgalov has generally done a better job at stopping pucks in these situations than recent Flyers goalies.
Working backwards from last season, here's a look at how Bryzgalov has fared in shootout (and penalty shot) situations:
2010-11: 32 shootout attempts plus 3 penalty shots, 11 GA (.685 SV%)
2009-10: 62 shootout attempts plus 2 penalty shots, 17 GA (.806 SV%)
2008-09: 20 shootout attempts and 0 penalty shots, 10 GA (.500 SV%)
2007-08: 29 shootout attempts plus 1 penalty shots, 9 GA (.700 SV%)
2006-07: 13 shootout attempts and 0 penalty shots, 6 GA (.538 SV%)
2005-06: 0 shootout attempts plus 2 penalty shots, 1 GA (.500 SV%)
All-Time : 110 saves on 164 attempts, .670 save percentage
By comparison, last year Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 8 of 17 shootout attempts and was scored on twice in two penalty shot attempts (.421 save percentage) while Brian Boucher stopped 12 of 20 penalty shot attempts (.600 SV%) last year and 3 of 7 (.429 SV%) the previous year.
In 2009-10, Ray Emery stopped 7 of 9 shootout attempts and was scored against on a penalty shot. Michael Leighton was actually 5-for-5 in shootouts in 2009-10.
Martin Biron (22 saves on 43 attempts, .511 save percentage) did not fare particularly well in shootouts/penalty shots during his time in Philadelphia. Antero Niittymaki (45 saves on 67 attempts, .671 SV%) performed much better but was often victimized by a lack of scoring by the Flyers shooters. Most notably, Niitty came out on the losing end of a shootout against the Rangers in 2006-07 where he thwarted 12 consecutive attempts but the Flyers shooters could not solve Henrik Lundqvist.
Looking at the Flyers' new additions up front, here is a look at their performance in past NHL shootouts.
Jaromir Jagr -- 5-for-22, 22.7%
2005-06: 2-for-8 (Rangers involved in 11 shootouts)
2006-07: 3-for-9 (Rangers involved in 14 shootouts)
2007-08: 0-for-5 (Rangers involved in 17 shootouts)
Jakub Voracek -- 3-for-12, 25.0%
2008-09: 1-for-3
2009-10: 2-for-6
2010-11: 0-for-3
In addition, Wayne Simmonds has gone 2-for-5 so far in his career. Max Talbot has not taken a shootout attempt in his career to date.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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