The Last Ten Games

So, my main goal in this was to see if there was any pattern to how teams performed in the last 10 games. If some teams stepped it up while others dropped the ball. I didn’t want individuals on teams to play a massive role. IE just going off of one year might have played too much testament to the players, and I wanted to try to distinguish it from organization to organization.

It was a bit difficult and I am not sure how well I did it. But what I went for was points earned in the last 10 games. Take that number and divide it by 20, the total points possible. So a team that goes 3-3-4 earns 50% of points possible. I then take this number, and compare the teams points over 72 games (So total season points – last 10 games). I divide this by 144 (82*2 = 164 (total points available in a season) – 20). This gives a % of points earned throughout the season. Subtract %2 from %1 and we see how many more or less points a team is earning in the last 10 games of a season. Make sense? Kind of at least?

The graph below contains your favourite NHL team so you can check them out. The top three most consistent are Chicago (.02 difference over 3 seasons), Vancouver (-.02) and Phoenix (.02).

Florida, Philadelphia and Colorado are the three least clutch teams, dropping the most points in the last 10 games compared to the season. The each earn 14, 17 and 21% less points (respectively) in the last 10 games compared to the season.

The winners in stepping it up for a playoff race (or ruining a draft chance) are Anaheim, Carolina and St-Louis with a positive difference of 15, 20 and 21% (respectively) in the last 10 games.

Make what you will of these stats. And feel free to discuss what you think of the accuracy of my formula (s) (suggest a better one!?)