They good
"10. The first 16 Stats of the season started with some gushing over the Devils and their potential to be a sleeping giant. New Jersey was just 4-3-0 then, but the Devils underlying numbers screamed juggernaut. Since then, the Devils have gone 17-1-1. Ummmmm… yeah, not a bad call!
The thesis for New Jersey’s juggernaut status was based on the team’s monstrous five-on-five results, namely a 64 percent expected goals ratio in all situations. It was only seven games, but teams that play that well for seven games were a rarity. And almost all of them were elite teams.
The Devils now have 26 games of data under their belt and their incredible underlying numbers still haven’t gone away. In all situations, the team has earned 61 percent of the expected goals and now have the actual goals to match at nearly 63 percent.
Naturally, it’s time to do the same study as the one at the start of the season — only this time with more data. I looked at every team’s expected and actual goal rates since 2007-08, 25 games at a time. Here is the full list of teams who have been above 60 percent in actual and expected goals over a 25-game stretch.
San Jose Sharks, 2013-14
Colorado Avalanche, 2020-21
Florida Panthers, 2021-22
New Jersey Devils, 2022-23
That’s it. That’s the list. Seven other teams — three of which won the Stanley Cup.
Juggernaut."
Streaks build neat little narratives, but the narrative for Marner should’ve already been written.
theathletic.com
