xJawn NHL expected goals

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FLA 3 – 4 SJS

Florida Panthers at San Jose Sharks

Final / OT · Oct 1, 2026
2026-27 · regular season
The call
FLA 52.1% ✗
expected 3.18–3.05 · SJS won 3–4 in OT
actual xG
4.31–2.97
xG share, predicted → actual
FLA 51% → 59%49% → 41% SJS
Today's puzzle Remember Some Guys — name the skater from the shape of his career. Three clues, one guess a day. Play →
Adjusts with rink filters

Strength and score are read from FLA's side, the same minutes at both ends: PP = FLA power play · PK = SJS power play · Leading = FLA ahead · ST = each club's own power play.

FLA attacks◀ all strengths
SJS attacksall strengths ▶
× goal• on net ◦ missed· blocked hover any attempt for the shooter, its xG and everything the model saw
How to read this map

One rink, both teams: FLA attacks the left net, SJS the right. Every attempt is a Gaussian bump of height = its model xG. The controls switch the surface (xG heatmap ↔ vs league) and the markers; vs league compares this game against a typical NHL team-game under the same filter (2025-26 regular season, 1312 games), so a 5v5 view is measured against league 5v5.

A strength or score filter is read from FLA's side and mirrored for SJS: “FLA PP” shows FLA's power-play attempts on the left and SJS's shorthanded attempts on the right — the same minutes of the game at both ends. Empty-net attempts are excluded unless you include them. The Player control narrows the map and the rows beneath it to the attempts by either club while one player was on the ice (for a goalie, while he was in net); his own attempts wear a blue ring. vs league switches off while a player is picked — the league baseline is a whole team-game, which one player's slice is not. Hover any attempt for the shooter, the result, its xG, and the inputs behind it: clock, strength, score, shot type, distance, angle, handedness, rush/rebound, what happened just before, and the goalie or the blocker.

What each side produced

all strengths · regular season
FLA SJS
bars share a scale within each row · the longer bar is the row's leader
Goalson the map
3 4
Expected goals
4.32 2.97
xG%share of xG
59% 41%
High-dangerattempts ≥ 0.20 xG
2 1
Shots on goal
26 32
Attempts
70 61
xG by period · whole game 1st0.9–0.62nd2.1–1.23rd1.3–0.4OT0.0–0.8

The Sharks beat the Panthers 4–3 in overtime at home despite being out-created 4.3–3.0 in expected goals. That is a finishing-and-goaltending win. The Panthers power play made 2.3 xG on 23 attempts.

Counts come from the shot table behind the map: empty-net attempts and the shootout are excluded, so the goals here can trail the official final by an empty-netter or the shootout's deciding goal. Same numbers as the post-game cards.

As the game went

cumulative FLA − SJS xG · bands = power plays · lines = goals
1ST2ND3RDOT+1−1+2−2FLA AHEAD ▲SJS AHEAD ▼
How to read this

One line: cumulative FLA minus SJS expected goals. Above zero FLA is ahead on chances, below zero SJS is. Shaded bands are power plays in the side's colour; vertical lines are goals.

Skaters

on-ice xG · sorted by net · one game
How to read this

Every skater, sorted by net on-ice expected goals: on-ice xG against to the left of zero, for to the right, his own attempts as the solid bar, a hash at the net. The slim track under the name is ice time.

FLA
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.5220Sam BennettF20:49+1.63Matthew TkachukF22:47+1.55Carter VerhaegheF17:14+1.18Eetu LuostarinenF16:28+0.86Brady TkachukF19:37+0.77Seth JonesD27:43+0.70Lars EllerF14:57+0.68Aaron EkbladD21:33+0.55Sam ReinhartF23:33+0.52Uvis BalinskisD12:52+0.44Sandis VilmanisF12:19+0.38Aleksander BarkovF9:15+0.34Anton LundellF20:43+0.30Bokondji ImamaF5:16+0.13Garnet HathawayF6:03-0.01Radko GudasD13:31-0.05Niko MikkolaD22:42-0.31Dmitry KulikovD17:28-0.68
SJS
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.5220Will SmithF20:09+1.69Macklin CelebriniF22:57+1.56Luca CagnoniD21:17+0.81Igor ChernyshovF12:13+0.46Mason MarchmentF12:44+0.26Michael MisaF11:34+0.05Tyler ToffoliF9:24-0.38Alexander WennbergF21:44-0.54Ivar StenbergF13:35-0.57Nolan AllanD20:44-0.59Jacob TroubaD22:35-0.63Barclay GoodrowF14:09-0.69Kiefer SherwoodF14:01-0.71Darnell NurseD17:07-0.95Collin GrafF16:48-0.95Dmitry OrlovD17:55-1.45Michael KesselringD19:46-1.53Zack OstapchukF11:29-1.57

Lines & pairs

most-used 5v5 units · when they played · on-ice xG
How to read this

The forward lines and defence pairs that actually played together most at 5v5, each with when it was on the ice across the game clock (period and power-play bands behind the strip) and on-ice xG against/for while the whole unit was out.

FLA
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
FORWARD LINESL1Carter VerhaegheSam BennettMatthew Tkachuk11:15+0.55L2Eetu LuostarinenAnton LundellSandis Vilmanis8:16+0.53L3Lars EllerSam ReinhartBrady Tkachuk5:58-0.04L4Aleksander BarkovGarnet HathawayBokondji Imama0:17+0.00DEFENCE PAIRSD1Seth JonesNiko Mikkola15:47+0.05D2Dmitry KulikovAaron Ekblad11:52-0.23D3Radko GudasUvis Balinskis8:44+0.371ST2ND3RDOT011
SJS
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
FORWARD LINESL1Mason MarchmentWill SmithMacklin Celebrini10:36+0.12L2Alexander WennbergCollin GrafIvar Stenberg10:13-0.63L3Tyler ToffoliIgor ChernyshovMichael Misa7:18-0.48L4Barclay GoodrowKiefer SherwoodZack Ostapchuk6:46-0.12DEFENCE PAIRSD1Jacob TroubaNolan Allan16:40-0.51D2Darnell NurseMichael Kesselring15:14-0.67D3Dmitry OrlovLuca Cagnoni13:41-0.741ST2ND3RDOT011

Matchups

5v5 · every skater against every skater, goalies first · hover a cell
FLA won the chances SJS won them full colour = a margin of 0.75 xG or more taller = more time together (full height at 12:00) on together, dead even never on together G = goalie: his row or column is each skater against the whole other team
SchmidVerhaegheBennettTkachukLuostarinenLundellVilmanisEllerReinhartTkachukBarkovHathawayImamaJonesMikkolaKulikovEkbladGudasBalinskisAskarovMarchmentSmithCelebriniWennbergGrafStenbergToffoliChernyshovMisaGoodrowSherwoodOstapchukTroubaAllanNurseKesselringOrlovCagnoniGL1L2L3L4D1D2D3GL1L2L3L4D1D2D3
How to read this

Rows are FLA's skaters, columns SJS's, grouped the way they played: forward lines (L1 = the line that played together most), then defence pairs. Each cell covers the five-on-five time those two players shared the ice. Its colour is the club that out-chanced the other in that time — expected goals for minus against — and the stronger the colour, the bigger the margin. Each cell is also raised: the taller the block, the longer the two shared the ice, up to full height at 12:00 of five-on-five time. A grey cell means they met and it came out even; an open, flat one means they never met at five-on-five.

The first row and column are the goalies. A goalie is in net for every five-on-five second, so a skater's cell against the other side's goalie is all of that skater's five-on-five time against that team — the rest of his row or column added up — and the corner where the two goalies meet is the game's five-on-five. Those cells cover far more time than any pair, so they reach full colour sooner and stand at full height, a wall along each edge of the grid. A goalie change adds a second goalie row or column, each covering his own time.

Linemates share the ice, so a line against a line reads as a block. The margin is a total, not a rate: a long matchup has room to build a big gap and a thirty-second one does not — which is what the height is there to show: a tall, strong cell is the game's story; a short, strong one is a moment. Hover (or tap) any cell for the exact time together, the xG each way, attempts and goals. One game — a strong cell is what happened, not what would happen again.

Goals

xG = the chance, before it went in
TeamScorerPeriodTimexG
FLAEetu Luostarinen 2nd17:10 PP 0.61
FLAEetu Luostarinen 3rd5:01 0.04
FLAMatthew Tkachuk 3rd5:18 0.10
SJSMason Marchment 1st14:20 0.01
SJSWill Smith 2nd5:52 SH 0.13
SJSWill Smith 2nd10:37 PP 0.62
SJSLuca Cagnoni OT3:14 0.13

The prediction, scored

Before puck drop the engine made FLA a 52.1% favorite, expecting a 3.18–3.05 game — SJS won 3–4, so the call missed. Every number in this section was issued before the game and is never re-graded.

pred. xGactual xG pred. 5v5actual 5v5 pred. STactual PP
FLA 3.184.31 1.801.95 1.382.28
SJS 3.052.97 1.370.90 1.541.32

Predicted 5v5 / special-teams portions come from the predicted map's strength splits (one shared scale per team pins the all-strengths total to its expected goals), so they don't sum exactly — the remainder is 4v4, 3v3, and other mixed states. The actual columns are the card's own counts (empty-net attempts excluded); the actual PP column is power-play xG only, the same bucket the predicted map's special-teams view draws.

The pregame score grid

The likeliest finals the engine saw before the game, with what actually happened marked — ■ FLA · ■ SJS.

Likeliest finals (FLA–SJS)probability
3–3 7.1% what happened — regulation ended tied; SJS won in OT
2–2 6.6% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
4–4 4.3% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
4–2 4.1%
2–4 3.8%
4.2%4.8%013.3%14.5%120.9%21.9%222.0%22.2%317.6%17.0%411.3%10.5%56.1%5.4%62.8%2.4%71.7%1.3%8+

Scoreline odds are the engine's own grid: each team's goals as a Poisson count, with the fitted adjustment for how often games end tied after regulation (ρ = 0.35), so these odds and the headline win probability come from the same numbers. The OT/SO layer is a separate fitted model and is already inside the headline win probability.

The pregame read

The engine made FLA a 52.1% favorite — SJS controls 49.0% of the predicted xG. Of FLA's 3.18 expected goals, 1.80 should come at 5v5 and 1.38 on the power play; SJS projects 1.37 at 5v5 and 1.54 on the power play. The logistic challenger put the home side at 44.5%, Elo at 48.4%.

Where the engine expected the goals

The predicted surface, issued before puck drop — not this game's shots (those are the card's map above). FLA attacks the left net, SJS the right; each end multiplies where the attacking team generates xG this season by where its opponent concedes it, scaled so each end totals the engine's expected goals. Actual shots lays the game's unblocked attempts on top: × goals, • on net, ◦ missed.

Tale of the tape

How each team fares on its own, season to date: per-game xG rates with league rank (of 32). Rank 1 is best on every row — orange ranks sit in the top third of the league, gray in the bottom third.

FLASJS
3.10 (11th) Offense
xG for / game
2.24 (29th)
2.40 (6th) Defense
xG against / game
3.71 (31st)
1.26 (1st) Power play
PP xG / game
0.79 (11th)
1.10 (31st) Penalty kill
PP xG conceded / game
1.07 (30th)

Season-to-date form as of the site's latest build, shown for context — the ratings the engine actually used were its own as-of-game-day state. Replay this matchup in the lab →