from Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

The Penguins won just 24 of the 54 faceoffs they took Thursday night in Denver.

They still beat Colorado, 4-1, so losing all those draws clearly wasn’t a major factor in the outcome.

And while that might seen a bit counter-intuitive — logic says that winning more faceoffs than it loses would be a plus for any NHL team — statistical evidence suggests the opposite is true....

Going into the Friday night games, four of the league’s six best faceoff teams were sitting outside the playoffs, while five of the six worst clubs on draws were in the postseason.

Fact is, no fewer than five of the top six faceoff teams were not in the playoffs before Boston nudged past Philadelphia Thursday night and into the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.

Of the group most proficient on draws, the Bruins and Anaheim entered the weekend holding spots in the postseason field, but Colorado, Detroit, Vancouver and Carolina did not.

“That’s really interesting,” Penguins center Matt Cullen said. “It’s kind of the opposite of what you would expect, really.”

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