Through the first four games, the Caps line of Andre Burakovsky, Nicklas Backstrom, and TJ Oshie has been stellar. At 5-on-5, they’ve scored two goals, allowed none, and posted a 56.4 shot attempt percentage, all while taking the bulk of the work against the opponent’s top line.
Burakovsky hasn’t registered a goal yet in four games, which isn’t a big deal, but Barry Trotz has identified an issue in the winger’s game early in the season.
Trotz said Burakovsky (0g, 2a) has been "pressing" a bit at times. "I would like to see him hit the net," the coach said. #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 12, 2017
Trotz is right. Through four games, Burakovsky has been one of the worst forwards in the NHL when it comes to getting his shot attempts on net.
Four games isn’t worth getting too concerned over in terms of what’s going to happen in the future. But, that doesn’t change the fact of what has happened.
As of Thursday afternoon, 256 forwards have skated at least 20 minutes and attempted at least five shot attempts at 5-on-5. On average, 58.7 percent of the shots attempted by these forwards have been a shot on goal (the rest have gone high, wide, or been blocked).
Among this group, Burakovsky ranks 246th, with just 28.6 percent (four out of 14) of his shot attempts being a shot on goal.
See that red bar almost all the way to the right side of the x-axis? That’s young Andre.
Looking back to last season, being unable to get his shots on net looks like it could be an ongoing issue for Burakovsky. Last season 48.7 percent of Burakovsky’s shot attempts at 5-on-5 were a shot on goal, ranking 343rd out of 352 forwards who skated at least 500 minutes.
So yeah, this is a thing with Burakovsky’s game.
Headline image: Cara Bahniuk
Stats from Natural Stat Trick
