Zug vs Rapperswil-Jona - Game 3

Death, taxes and both teams scoring on high-danger passes

In what we thought would be a pretty unbalanced serie, Rapperswil still has a chance to reach the finals as it won the third game. Yes, 9 other teams are probably playing some golf right now, while this wonder team is still in. Wild ride, uh? The best part for Rappi here? They have been playing some quality hockey, either defensively or offensively. If we have a quick look at the series expected goals after three games, it’s 8.82-8.64 for … Rapperswil. Not totally undeserved to see them play a fourth game and maybe push for a fifth.

In comparison to a pretty open Game 2 that had a 4.33-3.63 advantage for Rappi in terms of expected goals, a 12-11 advantage in terms of high-danger chances for Rappi, a 6-2 advantage in rebounds for Rappi, this game was way tighter with only 3 high-danger chances for each team and only one rebound. Even though Zug generated nearly 70% of the shots in this game, they didn’t generate as much quality chances in proportion.

Before the third period, where the score effect really started to kick in, the xG count was pretty close for each team. Both scored their goals on … high-danger passes, with two coming from below the goal line on nice plays from Schweri and Kovar.

In the third period, Zug pushed while Rapperswil mainly waited. As you can see in the Game Flow chart below, Rappi didn’t generate much during the period. The jump in xG at the end of the game comes from Rowe’s shot blocked while Genoni was out. Overall, Rappi did a great job at preventing Zug to obtain many quality chances.

As we can see in the Shots map below, the game looks quite close in terms of quality chances. Rappi generated as much in terms of high-danger passes plays and rushes, while Zug generated more on walk-in (skating into the slot) and Royal-Road plays.

On the power-play, Zug did only generate one high-danger play, with a pass from Hofmann to Simion on a rush play. Otherwise, Rappi was able to keep Zug’s shots on the perimeter.

Despite the face that Rapperswil was able to limit the amount of high-danger chances for Zug, with nearly a goal saved above expectations Nyffeler still had a very strong game by only conceding a goal to Hofmann on a behind-the-net pass from Kovar and had an 80% Shot Control%.

On the other side of the rink, Genoni had a random start as he got beat on two high-danger plays from Rapperswil.

From Zug’s side, Kovar’s line was quite dominant in this game and managed to score their only goal, while the fourth line didn’t have their best game. Schlumpf also seems to struggle a bit in the last two games.

On Rapperswil’s side, the Cervenka’s line was not as dominant as in Game 2, but still created a lot in the offensive zone, but didn’t connect on some high-danger plays. As for Rowe’s line, it keeps getting better throughout this serie.

In terms of individual scoring chances, there’s no surprise to see Hofmann leading the way for Zug, followed by Diaz with 11 shots and Shore who got some pretty good scoring chances and missed and 2v0 chance 28 seconds after the beginning of the game. Kovar had a great game, taking 2 shots and being the primary passer on 7 of his teammates’ shots.

On Rapperswil’s side, Rowe had the highest ixG of his team, but mainly thanks to his shot directed at the empty-net at the end of the game. Instead, Cervenka should be seen as the one generating the most. Forrer also had a strong game, like his line, generating 2 shots and being the primary passer on 4 of his teammates’ shots.

With Rapperswil heading home for the fourth game, the serie might even get tighter. With a one of the deepest roster and a healthy one, Zug needs to generate more to reach the final.

Find more statistics tracked by Thibaud on his Tableau’s page here: https://public.tableau.com/profile/thibaud.chatel#!/vizhome/NLAPlayoffs2021/GameReport

Or some more statistics on NL Ice Data here: nlicedata.com