Scoring in the NHL is just about where it was last season—teams are averaging 2.74 goals per game in 2014-15, which is what they averaged in 2013-14. The number was 2.72 in 2013 and 2.73 in 2011-12. This is what the NHL has become, despite the league's best efforts to tweak rules to increase scoring.
The alarming number, assuming you have the ability to be alarmed by sports numbers, is 3.08.
That number represents the average number of power plays an NHL team is averaging per game in 2014-15.
Why is it alarming? That's the lowest number since...well, maybe ever. Hockey-Reference.com only tracks the statistic as far back as the 1963-64 season, and this is as low as it's been in more than 50 years.
While the number is only slightly lower than recent years, it's still as low as ever. This represents a potential problem when the postseason begins next week.
This lower number of power-play opportunities, as much as the optimist who sees the good in everyone wants to believe, is not because NHL players have a firmer grasp of the rules and are thus taking fewer penalties. NHL players hav ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Dave Lozo
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