Playoff Teams vs. Non-Playoff Teams

As the 2009 NHL Playoffs is set to begin tonight, today’s Numbers Game looks at the statistical comparison between teams that qualified for the playoffs and those that did not.

As expected, playoff teams scored, on average, 0.24 more goals/game in the East and 0.46 more goals/game in the West.  Playoff teams also had better goals against averages, higher power play and penalty kill percentages, and took more shots per game.

Of note, the Rangers, who finished with the 2nd worst G/g in the East (2.44 G/g) and the worst powerplay in the league (13.9%), were well below both the Playoff team and non-playoff team averages. However, those numbers were offset by the fact they had the league’s top penalty kill.

The Thrashers were the only non-playoff team in the East to finish with a goals/game higher than the playoff team average (3.05 G/g), while no teams in the East finished with a goals against average lower than the playoff teams.

In the West, none of the non-playoff teams finished with G/g average higher than the playoff team average and only the 9th place Wild finished with a lower GA/g than the playoff team average.