xJawn NHL expected goals

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VAN 2 – 3 FLA

Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers

Final / OT · Oct 15, 2026
2026-27 · regular season
The call
FLA 67.9% ✓
expected 2.54–3.65 · FLA won 2–3 in OT
actual xG
3.14–3.67
xG share, predicted → actual
VAN 41% → 46%59% → 54% FLA
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 VAN's side, the same minutes at both ends: PP = VAN power play · PK = FLA power play · Leading = VAN ahead · ST = each club's own power play.

VAN attacks◀ all strengths
FLA 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: VAN attacks the left net, FLA 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 (2026-27 regular season, 118 games), so a 5v5 view is measured against league 5v5.

A strength or score filter is read from VAN's side and mirrored for FLA: “VAN PP” shows VAN's power-play attempts on the left and FLA'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
VAN FLA
bars share a scale within each row · the longer bar is the row's leader
Goalson the map
2 3
Expected goals
3.14 3.67
xG%share of xG
46% 54%
High-dangerattempts ≥ 0.20 xG
5 2
Shots on goal
17 39
Attempts
40 72
xG by period · whole game 1st0.9–1.72nd0.8–0.63rd1.4–0.9OT0.0–0.5

The Panthers beat the Canucks 3–2 in overtime at home in a game the chances called about even, VAN 3.1 to FLA 3.7 in expected goals. The Canucks power play made 0.9 xG on 12 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 VAN − FLA xG · bands = power plays · lines = goals
1ST2ND3RDOT+0.5−0.5+1−1+1.5−1.5VAN AHEAD ▲FLA AHEAD ▼
How to read this

One line: cumulative VAN minus FLA expected goals. Above zero VAN is ahead on chances, below zero FLA 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.

VAN
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.5220Tom WillanderD17:10+0.94Jamie OleksiakD15:26+0.66Max SassonF11:40+0.64Brendan GallagherF8:34+0.46Liam OhgrenF14:15+0.40Elias PetterssonF21:36+0.34Jonathan LekkerimakiF17:42+0.24Brock BoeserF22:18+0.20Jake DeBruskF16:53+0.18Linus KarlssonF10:38+0.06Marco RossiF13:35+0.00Drew O'ConnorF13:06-0.18Filip HronekD28:38-0.59Victor ManciniD13:30-0.59Zeev BuiumD19:24-0.91Paul CotterF15:39-0.96Elias PetterssonD22:35-1.00Filip ChytilF18:30-1.20
FLA
against for own net ice time
0.50.5111.51.5222.52.50Matthew TkachukF21:59+1.23Brady TkachukF19:59+1.10Sam BennettF19:55+1.00Seth JonesD26:16+0.92Sam ReinhartF22:17+0.56Carter VerhaegheF19:55+0.52Eetu LuostarinenF13:56+0.47Aaron EkbladD22:21+0.33Anton LundellF16:14+0.25Sandis VilmanisF12:47+0.16Sam LaffertyF5:37-0.17Gustav ForslingD23:15-0.21Niko MikkolaD20:56-0.22Lars EllerF17:10-0.31Uvis BalinskisD11:08-0.43Bokondji ImamaF5:30-0.50Dmitry KulikovD12:26-0.63Garnet HathawayF9:47-1.04

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.

VAN
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
FORWARD LINESL1Jake DeBruskElias PetterssonJonathan Lekkerimaki14:14+0.52L2Brock BoeserFilip ChytilPaul Cotter13:04-0.64L3Linus KarlssonMarco RossiLiam Ohgren9:49-0.07L4Brendan GallagherDrew O'ConnorMax Sasson7:37+0.46DEFENCE PAIRSD1Filip HronekElias Pettersson20:43-1.26D2Jamie OleksiakTom Willander13:10+0.70D3Victor ManciniZeev Buium12:00-0.581ST2ND3RDOT022
FLA
on ice power play penalty kill xGA xGF
FORWARD LINESL1Sam BennettMatthew TkachukBrady Tkachuk13:49+0.59L2Lars EllerCarter VerhaegheSam Reinhart11:01+0.20L3Eetu LuostarinenAnton LundellSandis Vilmanis9:49+0.16L4Garnet HathawaySam LaffertyBokondji Imama4:24-0.15DEFENCE PAIRSD1Aaron EkbladGustav Forsling19:17-0.08D2Seth JonesNiko Mikkola18:28-0.13D3Dmitry KulikovUvis Balinskis9:35-0.591ST2ND3RDOT01.751.75

Matchups

5v5 · every skater against every skater, goalies first · hover a cell
VAN won the chances FLA 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
MeriläinenDeBruskPetterssonLekkerimakiBoeserChytilCotterKarlssonRossiOhgrenGallagherO'ConnorSassonHronekPetterssonOleksiakWillanderManciniBuiumSchmidBennettTkachukTkachukEllerVerhaegheReinhartLuostarinenLundellVilmanisHathawayLaffertyImamaEkbladForslingJonesMikkolaKulikovBalinskisGL1L2L3L4D1D2D3GL1L2L3L4D1D2D3
How to read this

Rows are VAN's skaters, columns FLA'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
VANLiam Ohgren 1st7:23 0.13
VANElias Pettersson 1st17:06 0.23
FLABrady Tkachuk 3rd11:11 0.01
FLABrady Tkachuk 3rd19:47 PP 0.07
FLABrady Tkachuk OT2:23 0.16

The prediction, scored

Before puck drop the engine made FLA a 67.9% favorite, expecting a 2.54–3.65 game — FLA won 2–3, so the call landed. Every number in this section was issued before the game and is never re-graded.

pred. xGactual xG pred. 5v5actual 5v5 pred. STactual PP
VAN 2.543.14 1.481.95 0.780.93
FLA 3.653.67 2.082.34 1.480.81

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 — ■ VAN · ■ FLA.

Likeliest finals (VAN–FLA)probability
3–3 6.4% tied after regulation — OT/SO decides
2–2 6.3% what happened — regulation ended tied; FLA won in OT
2–4 5.1%
1–3 4.4%
1–4 4.0%
8.1%2.6%020.2%9.5%125.4%17.2%221.3%20.7%313.5%19.1%46.9%14.2%53.0%8.8%61.1%4.6%70.5%3.3%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 67.9% favorite — FLA controls 58.9% of the predicted xG. Of VAN's 2.54 expected goals, 1.48 should come at 5v5 and 0.78 on the power play; FLA projects 2.08 at 5v5 and 1.48 on the power play. The logistic challenger put the home side at 69.9%, Elo at 68.1%.

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). VAN attacks the left net, FLA 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.

VANFLA
2.39 (30th) Offense
xG for / game
3.29 (5th)
3.57 (29th) Defense
xG against / game
2.69 (12th)
0.54 (28th) Power play
PP xG / game
1.34 (1st)
1.00 (28th) Penalty kill
PP xG conceded / game
1.01 (29th)

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 →