Check this out...I had noticed this, but the stats surprise even me. Unbelievable...and just when I thought Marian Hossa might break out and have a 60-goal season!
hock:
(CP) - If the early trend continues, NHL goal scorers will have their worst season in history.
Only 4.7 goals a game were scored, on average, in the 87 games played through the first two weeks of the new season. The average was 5.7 after the same number of games one year ago, and keep this in mind: it went down from there - to 5.3 by season's end. The league continues its crackdown on obstruction fouls, and it recently reduced the size of goaltenders' leg pads, but neither has fuelled offences.
There were 20 shutouts in the 87 games compared to six through the same number of games a year ago. There were two scoreless games on the same night for the first time in 69 years. Granted, it doesn't take a lot of goals to make a game entertaining. Some of the best this season have been low-scoring contests. We're merely pointing out a trend. Maybe the trend will reverse itself next week. A suggestion: don't hold your breath.
A season has never ended with fewer than five goals a game being scored on average. The lowest average, 5.2, was recorded in 2001-2002. A decline started after the 5.8 average of 1996-97. It was 5.3 for the next two years and 5.5 in each of the following two years. It was 6.3 in 1995-96, 7.3 in 1986-87 and a staggering 8.3 in 1981-82, when Wayne Gretzky scored 92 goals. Tell youngsters about that and you'll be accused of fibbing.
Who's to blame for the shortage of goals? Coaches can be fingered. A lot of them have their players applying trapping defences to thwart opponents' attacks. It's the surest way to be competitive night after night. It can produce boring hockey but in the struggle of trying to make the playoffs, points are pertinent and pretty is panned.Goaltenders are guilty, too.
The quality of goaltending is so high that, of masked bandits who had appeared in a minimum four games, 21 had save percentages in excess of .900 as of the completion of games played Wednesday night. Rick DiPietro of the Islanders had allowed only three goals on 68 shots before Thursday's game versus Montreal. That's a .956 save percentage through four games. Roberto Luongo of the Florida Panthers was at .955 after stopping 231 of 242 shots in seven games.
Nikolai Khabibulin of the Tampa Bay Lightning was at .950, Andrew Raycroft of the Boston Bruins was at .948 and Sean Burke of the Phoenix Coyotes and Patrick Lalime of the Ottawa Senators each were at .942. Jeff Hackett of the Philadelphia Flyers already had two shutouts. At this rate, arena maintenance crews won't have to replace many red light bulbs this winter.
