2014 Sochi final anomaly - three 1st goals only.

[PrimumHockeyist]

Canada won the final Gold medal game 3-0 with goals from Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, and Chris Kunitz each scoring their first goal of the tournament. That must be very unusual - a final-game outcome where all the goal scorers score their first goals.

I'm wondering if there's any way to draw a decent sketch comparison to NHL data.

My guess is that final playoff games of any time would provide the best pool of data. It would be interesting to see how many games that adds up to, and how many times there have been three or more players who match the Toews, Crosby, Kunitz feat by the same criteria - first goals of the playoffs in each scorer's case, only scorers in said final playoff game.

I'm guessing that this is too much of a pain to figure out, but I do wonder if isolating final playoff games is a suitable way of trying to get some sort of handle on how rare the Sochi trio might be.

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[Bear of Bad News]

If we have to rely on NHL comps, I'd say that it's more (but not entirely) similar to getting one's first goal of a playoff series in the final game of the series (as opposed to their first goal of the playoffs in the final playoff game).

 

[PrimumHockeyist]

If we have to rely on NHL comps, I'd say that it's more (but not entirely) similar to getting one's first goal of a playoff series in the final game of the series (as opposed to their first goal of the playoffs in the final playoff game).

Yes and thanks, I should have been clearer. confining it to series is the more realistic test, i would think. given the disparity in sample sizes.

After I wrote this I was the OP here I thought that it may be helpful to allow the opposing team to score goals in the final playoff game's losing effort. I'm thinking that we have to bend over a bit to hope for a Sochi match in this case. So, with or without the shut out, how many times does this happen, where ALL of the winning teams goals are first-time goals in a given series.

Maybe one day we will know, but in the meanwhile I think we can predict the conclusion which is that the Sochi trifecta is likely very rare (if not unprecedented).