Analytics with Alison: Playing with an Empty Net

At various points in any hockey team's season, a head coach is going to pull their goaltender. Doing so is an offensive strategy usually employed when your team is trailing. The objective being to get an additional skater on the ice in the hopes that this gives you a better chance of scoring. And goalies aren't just being pulled,
they are being pulled earlier and earlier in different matchups because research has revealed that the more time you give your team to try to score, the more likely they are to do so
.

But of course, research isn't necessarily where the mind goes if you're watching a game you're invested in and one net on the ice is empty. So, we wanted to ask the question,
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, which teams are pulling the goaltender most frequently, and how do they (and their opponents) fare as a result.
Let's dig in.
It can feel discouraging to see an opponent score an empty-net goal against your team, so the natural question is "does this ever work the way we want it to?" Thanks to data from MoreHockeyStats.com, we can answer the question.
The chart below shows how many times each NHL team has pulled their goaltender this season as well as how many times they have scored, and how many times they've been scored upon. (Note that not every empty net results in a goal for either team). We also have "success rate" which is looking at the net number of goals scored (goals for minus goals against) divided by total empty-net opportunities. The teams are sorted by success rate in descending order.

We see that the Kraken have played with an empty net more than any other team except for Minnesota and five times they've put the puck in their opponent's net as a result. It's interesting that Minnesota has the most instances of empty-net play and that they are also the only team to come out with a positive success rate overall. It's also interesting to note that just two teams this season have yet to score a goal with their own net empty: Ottawa and Boston.
What about looking at this the other way? Which teams are most successful when their opponent has an empty net? Here's the same information we looked at before, but this time, from the perspective of when your opponent's net is empty.

No one has seen an empty net at the other end of the ice more this season than the Avalanche, but there are more than a few teams right behind them in total count of empty-net opportunities. The Kraken have had 19 instances of playing against a team with no goaltender, and while it may not be as many total opportunities as other teams get, Seattle is the third most successful in terms of taking advantage of such a situation.

There isn't one team this year that hasn't yet scored an empty-net goal.
Teams from all over the standings fall at different spots in success rate both in playing with, and against, an empty net. Overall, yes, if you play with an empty net, goals against are going to happen. But goals for can happen, too. And if your team is trailing on the scoreboard, if you're willing to take the risk, it can be worth it to pull your goaltender.