year-to-date team stats, january, 2011

8-3-1 in the month of january should help a teams' standing in the conference...and that's what it did for the buffalo sabres...does it help their playoff chances after an atrocious start and an rather average november and december?...sure...but it's still too early to tell whether or not it will be enough to propell them into a solid stretch-run...we'll delve into that aspect a little deeper next week...

for now?...two takes on the sabres chances to make the playoffs at this juncture, the first from sportsclubstats.com...back in early november i checked out their chances at the site...no surprise, really...if i remember correctly it was somewhere around 3%...now it's up to 17.6%...

it's a complicated formula that has the sabres most likely to finish 9th thru 11th, with a decent chance to finish 7th or 8th...meh, whatever...not to dismss it completely, but with over 30 games to play, there are still plenty of variables that can affect the standings--injuries to their team, or another team, what they do or don't do at the trade deadline, the affect this move or non-move has, etc...

the other take is via tsn.com's jamie bell...he uses the all-star break in the post-lockout nhl as the definitive point in the season...he looks at who the playoff teams were at the break and concludes that those in a playoff position at the time have a pretty good chance of hitting the post-season...

for example, of the 16 teams in playoff position at the break last season, 15 made it...the most movement ever was the 2008/09 season when "only" 13 of the 16 made it...buffalo being one of the teams that dropped out...

interesting read...pretty sure we've got some time to kill...

anywho, since my "sources" tell me there's no movement yet on the "mega roomers,"  we'll just stick to the facts and take a look at where the sabres rank year to date in the league and where they stood previously...


wins:

• january--23rd (23)...(#1, philly--33)
• december--26th (15)...(pitt--25)
• november--26th (9)
• october--27th (3)

points:

• january--23rd (51)...(#1, philly--71)
• december --26th (34)...(pitt, det--53)
• november--25th (21)
• october--28th (8)

eastern conference standing:

• january--10th--(#1, philly)
• december--12th...(pitt)
• november--11th
• october--14th

northeast division standing:

• january--3rd...(#1, boston)
• december--4th...(boston)
• november--4th
• october--5th

goals/game:

• january--16th (2.71)...(#1, philly--3.46)
• december--21st (2.57)...(det--3.45)
• november--25th (2.40)...(col--3.52)
• october--22nd (2.50)...(tampa--3.50)

shots/game:

• january--3rd (33.3)...(#1, sjs--34.1)
• december--5th (33.2)...(sjs--33.5)
• november--4th (32.7)...(sjs--35.6)
• october--5th (33.2)...(sjs--35.6)

goals against/game:

• january--20th (2.94)...(#1, bos--2.14)
• december--23rd (2.92)...(bos--2.03)
• november--23rd (2.92)...(mtl--1.96)
• october--23rd (3.17)...(bos--1.38)

shots against/game:

• january--18th (30.4)...(#1, lak--27.4)
• december--11th (29.4)...(tbl--27.3)
• november--11th (29.4)...(stl--26.8)
• october--10th (28.5)...(stl--25.8)

powerplay:

• january--12th (18.7%)...(#1, chi--25.6%)
• december--23rd (16.2%)...(van--25.3%)
• november--26th (13.4)...(van--29.3)
• october--20th (13.0%)...(sjs--31.8)

penalty kill:

• january--17th (81.6%)...(#1, pitt--88.5%)
• december--15th (81.6%)...(mtl--87.8%)
• november--20th (81.6)...(pit--90.5)
• october--27th (74.7)...(bos--93.1)

faceoffs:

• january--27th (47.2%)...(#1, van--55.8%)
• december--26th (48.0%)...(van--56.8%)
• november--27th (47.9)...(van--56.9)
• october--27th (47.7)...(sjs--56.4)

an interesting note, the powerplay jumped without the "services" of derek roy anchoring it (and to an extent, tim connolly)...hmmmmm (it's still early, but worth noting)