Coaches look at all different aspects of the game - and you can too!

The Champions Hockey League offers Advanced Statistics for each and every game and this season Advanced Statistics are better than ever giving you the unique chance to dive deep into the world of Expected Goals, Expected Wins, Game Flow and Game Impact charts, Heatmaps and much more!

We saw a total of 297 goals in 48 games across Game Days 1-4 and in this article, we'll take a closer look at all the action and highlight a few of our favourites games.

Taking into account each team’s created chances, we can estimate who is expected to win a given game and to what percentage. This is statistically computed based on hundreds of past games and results. The result in the form of the Expected Win statistic represents what percentage of games teams won in the past with the same number of Expected Goals for and against.

Rouen beat Skellefteå

The Rouen Dragons pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the four Game Days when they beat Swedish powerhouses Skellefteå AIK on the road. Goaltender Matija Pintarič made an impressive 31 saves as the reigning French champions held on to the 1-0 score for over 50 minutes of game time.

What made the win even more impressive was the fact that they managed to defy their sub-30% Expected Win to steal the three points.

The Expected Goals Story Widget allows you to follow the course of a game and see when a team began to have success. All shots on goal (dots), goals (team logos), and collated Expected Goals values are mapped out, divided into periods. Any period of dominance in the game can be noted by a steep rise of the xG line. If the line plateaus, that means that the team in question was having difficulties generating high-quality scoring chances.

Two 6-7 games!

Both Game Day 1 & 2 each saw their own extremely high-scoring game. First to break the 13-goal barrier were Oceláři Třinec vs Rapperswil-Jona Lakers who scored six each in regulation before Rapperswil took the extra point with the OT winner.

The Expected Goals Story widget is the best way to see how a back-and-forth game like this played out and reveals how Rapperswil's steep rise in form in the final period really got them back into the game.

The Faceoffs Comparison widget is simple, yet really important in understanding a game's dynamic. Each faceoff circle on the ice is represented by a pie chart indicating what percentage of faceoffs each team won.

The second 6-7 game was between the Stavanger Oilers and the Växjö Lakers and was a very close affair, as the reigning Norwegian and Swedish champions had to be split in a shootout to decide the winner.

The Faceoffs Comparison shows that home team Stavanger were very strong on faceoffs and that gave them a huge advantage in controlling the game.

The Game Flow visualisation compares the shot attempts of both teams over the entire game. The coloured curves indicate how many shot attempts a team has had in each minute. The teal stroke (= shot attempts difference) shows which team had more shot attempts (and who was dominating on the ice at that point), and by how many.

One-sided game or a battering?

The Game Flow visualisation proves that even a game as one-sided as Red Bull Munich's Game Day 4 clash with HC Košice, which ended 9-2 for the home team, doesn't mean the visitors were completely down and out for the full 60 minutes

The Slovak side may have generated a mere 33 shots and 1.25 Expected Goals but actually managed to control parts of the game, especially in the opening minutes of the second period.

xG estimates the probability of scoring off each shot. Each shot is divided into one of three groups – High Danger, Mid Danger, and Low Danger – based on the probability that a shot from that area results in a goal. The probability of scoring off each shot is mathematically calculated from tens of thousands of shots registered from past games. It mostly depends on the location of the shots and several other factors. Its value reveals how many goals are scored from similar shots on average.

Hattrick Hero

Munich's Ben Smith may have racked up a mighty 1.59 Expected Goals, but he overperformed with his three goals. The 35-year-old ex-NHLer did, however, rack up over 3x more xGs than any of his teammates and became the first player of the 2023/24 season to score a hattrick.

Take a look at all three of his goals in the compilation below!

Don't forget - Advanced Statistics are available for each and every Champions Hockey League game and you can find them in the tracking section on the game page.

Also, if you're interested in more statistics, head to our X, formerly Twitter, social media account where we post some of our favourite statistical finds after each Game Day.