GDT: Make some “What Happens in Vegas” jokes as the Leafs take on the Golden Knights

Let’s watch some hockey!

It’s game time at 7 p.m., as Malcolm Subban leads the Knights out on the ice to face the Leafs.

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Game Preview: Maple Leafs vs. Golden Knights

VGK has a great power play, supposedly, it is said. I’ll grant you they have some impressive players, and they pass well, and

Good god.

That splodge, two of them, really, that looks like the caramel vat at the ice cream factory exploded near the net, that’s Vegas’s very Golden shots for on the PP. The Leafs can handle that though, right? What’s that you say? You’ve been hearing PK success stats?

The big grape jelly explosion, huh and on the right side, too, that’s good. The caramel is bad. I wonder, just idly, if the Leafs might be getting bad goaltending on the PK because that’s not terrible shot quality against. We’re in luck too because the shot location problem has been mostly fixed, the fixes are live on most data sites, and Evolving Hockey says Frederick Andersen has the sixth worst Goals Saved Above Expectation on the PK. That’s for goalies who have faced at least 50 unblocked shots. So happy to bring that news.

If I peek at all the goalies, I’m shocked to see that Michael Hutchinson is not actually worse. But then this is unrated, so he’s winning by never playing. If you look at measures (not raw save percentage, come onnnn) that account for shots faced and time on ice, they’re each as bad as the other with Andersen about 10th worst in the league.

As an aside, Curtis McElhinney, who is a historically terrible PK goalie and who the smug Tampa Bay Lighting signed, has been, in fact, terrible on the PK.

So. Goalies, bad, Leafs sort of meh to mildly not great on the PK itself. Either way, it’s meant scary times, and lots of them, since the Leafs buy their penalty box time at Costco (not a product placement).

What do you do during the Leafs PK?

When the Leafs are on the PK tonight, I’m going to...