I'm sure you all read and cogitated JP's recent statistical breakdown of the Capitals' blueline. The post contained an impressive amount of Behind the Net statistics, which help qualify a player's contributions on a more significant level than many traditional hockey statistics. This FanPost is meant to be a tutorial of sorts regarding how these statistics are calculated. For more information about these advanced statistics, check out the excellent FAQ on the Behind the Net SBN blog. There is another FAQ on the main BtN website as well. They are definitely worth a read for your personal edification.

If you are like me, you were at one point confused by what these metrics meant, how they were derived, or what the units of measure were. When I first discovered Japers' Rink, I had no idea what stats like GAON/60 or TOI/60 meant. The FAQs linked above do a good job explaining what these stats mean, but I never managed to find any resources out there that clearly and concisely showed how to calculate these metrics. Rather than put others through the same painful learning curve, I decided to demonstrate and annotate the process here.

I imagine there are different levels of familiarity with this subject. Many of you already know what this stuff, and that is fine. Just humor me. On that note, allow me to play the role of Professor Bradley for a moment and explain the "forces of hockey [stats]."

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Possibly overshadowed by the Nylander drama yesterday, J.P. posted a great article about the Caps' penalty +/- so far this season.  The game situation analyzed in the article was strictly 5-on-5 ice time. This made me curious as to what the penalty situation looked like on the power play and the penalty kill. Being a "look it up myself" kind of guy, I consulted the indispensable Japers' Rink Penalty Tracker (or Japrin Pentra as I've come to call it. Kind of sounds like a religious text or something). Thanks to DMG and J.P. for maintaining it.

What I found in the Penalty Tracker was that the Caps have taken six penalties while on the power play (my research says seven) and none on the penalty kill (my research says one). 

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Today in Caps Clips, J.P. announced the start of the Japers' Rink Penalty Tracker. I, among others, suggested it would be interesting to see the penalties broken down by the zones in which they occur. I decided to put my money where my mouth is, so I did the research myself using NHL.com's Full Play-By-Play game reports. The following table includes penalties broken down into offensive, defensive, and neutral zones. The table does include fights but does not include too-many-men penalties. Here are my results:

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