Maybe I'm just playing the enabler here, but the guys over at American Hockey Fan have served up another request...
Well, I don't know about all time records, but the online stats at NHL.com go back to the 2001-2002 season, and here are the teams which have participated in the most one-goal games within a given season:
As you can see, yes, the Devils are racking up a ton of 1-goal games this season. Perhaps the most interesting thing I found when compiling these numbers, however, is the rise of 1-goal games over the last two years. Since I've got five years of data across thirty teams, that gives me 150 team-years of information. Out of those 150 team-years, all of the top 32 in terms of total one-goal games played have occured either this year or last! I'm not sure why that's the case, so feel free to pipe in with your own guesses below...
UPDATE: Scratch the bit at the end about the last two years having an absurd level of One Goal Games. What would have been a tie in the pre-lockout years (and thus not recorded as a One Goal Game) is now being decided by shootout. That's what I get for stitching together a post in 15 minutes...
First off, I haven't been wildly impressed with [now-former Devils coach Claude]
Julien's coaching. And before you point to the standings, let me assure you that if you'd been watching them all year, you wouldn't be too impressed either. This team has had to work WAY too hard to get where they are. I don't care to look up the stats (Forechecker?), but the number of one-goal games they've played this year has got to be some kind of record.
Well, I don't know about all time records, but the online stats at NHL.com go back to the 2001-2002 season, and here are the teams which have participated in the most one-goal games within a given season:
| Team | GP | 1GG W | 1GG L | 1GG OT | 1GG W% | Tot 1GG | Year |
| VANCOUVER | 79 | 29 | 11 | 7 | 0.617 | 47 | 2007 |
| NEW JERSEY | 80 | 31 | 7 | 8 | 0.674 | 46 | 2007 |
| BOSTON | 82 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 0.304 | 46 | 2006 |
| CALGARY | 82 | 24 | 10 | 11 | 0.533 | 45 | 2006 |
| MINNESOTA | 80 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 0.568 | 44 | 2007 |
| ANAHEIM | 79 | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0.5 | 44 | 2007 |
| EDMONTON | 82 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0.5 | 44 | 2006 |
As you can see, yes, the Devils are racking up a ton of 1-goal games this season. Perhaps the most interesting thing I found when compiling these numbers, however, is the rise of 1-goal games over the last two years. Since I've got five years of data across thirty teams, that gives me 150 team-years of information. Out of those 150 team-years, all of the top 32 in terms of total one-goal games played have occured either this year or last! I'm not sure why that's the case, so feel free to pipe in with your own guesses below...
UPDATE: Scratch the bit at the end about the last two years having an absurd level of One Goal Games. What would have been a tie in the pre-lockout years (and thus not recorded as a One Goal Game) is now being decided by shootout. That's what I get for stitching together a post in 15 minutes...