The Red Wings' power play cools off, there's instability in the Wild's net and the Oilers' back end is chaotic.
theathletic.com
The vibes should be goal-worthy for Auston Matthews
Seven goals in eight games is a fine start for Matthews. When accounting for ice time, his pace is top 20 in the league. But he has goals in just three games so far this season.
Matthews raced out with back-to-back hat tricks to open the season. He’s only mustered one goal since, last Tuesday against the
Washington Capitals.
It’s not for a lack of trying. Matthews’ shot volume has been relatively consistent compared to years past, and he’s improved the quality of his shots. According to
MoneyPuck, Matthews’ average shot distance in all situations this year is 20.4 feet. It’s a lot closer than last year’s 27.2 feet, or 2021-22’s 27.9. Right now, it measures up as the closest average shooting distance of his career, ahead of 2020-21’s 22.4 feet. Considering the quality of his shot locations to start the season, it’s no surprise that MoneyPuck’s model has him off to a career-best individual expected goal rate of 2.32 per 60.
But one noteworthy trend in the wrong direction: Matthews’ shots are actually going on net slightly less than usual — 67.9 percent of the time — when his attempts tend to go on goal upward of 70 percent of the time.
After a down year in the goal column by Matthews’ standards, the center
should bounce back this season, especially if he continues to put up such high-quality chances. But whether he can continue driving this close to the net or whether his sweet spot is actually a little further out is going to be a trend to watch moving forward,