Youth is being served (but not so much goaltending) in a more offensive National Hockey League, but more goals are coming for many reasons.
So far in the 2021-22 season, 6.24 goals have been scored per game.
Only one other season since 1995-96 had seen a per-game goal average above six, the 2005-06 season, when the NHL came back from the year-long lockout on a mission to make the game more fun and officials cracked down on all manner of obstruction and interference.This latest surge is not driven by power-play goals, although the average NHL power play is scoring 20.9 per cent of the time, a success rate higher than any posted in the last 32 years.
Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin, at the ripe age of 36, is already over the 40-goal mark this season. While it’s a younger, faster game nowadays, veteran skill players like Ovechkin are playing their part in the offensive resurgence.The real story here is the opening up of even-strength play, even with the decrease in penalties.The past few seasons has also seen a small surge in five-on-five shooting percentage. After dipping to 7.5 per cent in 2015-16, it’s up to 8.
Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau, giving his star centre Elias Pettersson some love, notes that many teams are playing ‘a fast game’ now. ‘I think the skill level every year in the NHL gets an awful lot better,’ he says.Look at how the top teams are built now, one said. The likes of Colorado, Tampa Bay, Florida, Toronto and Carolina have focused their energies on building forward lines that can all score and defence pairings that can move the puck and contribute offensively.
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