NHL Team Record When Scoring First 2018-19

Leaders: Record When Scoring First, 2018-19

1stCalgary Flames41 Games87.8%
2ndNashville Predators40 Games87.5%
3rdTampa Bay Lightning46 Games84.8%
4thColumbus Blue Jackets42 Games78.6%
5thCarolina Hurricanes43 Games76.7%
6thWashington Capitals42 Games76.2%
7thSt. Louis Blues48 Games75.0%
8thDallas Stars43 Games74.4%
9thBoston Bruins46 Games73.9%
10thToronto Maple Leafs42 Games73.8%

The full ranked table, with filters, follows.

What Record When Scoring First measures

Win percentage in games where the team scored the opening goal. League-wide, the team that scores first wins about two games in three. All 32 teams, regular season, with the number of games behind each figure. Wins divided by games in the situation; W-L-OTL beside it. Blown leads are the games with the lead at that point that the team did not win (losses in regulation, overtime or a shootout).

Year to year this split repeats at r = 0.44 (252 team-seasons, 2017-18 to 2025-26), against r = 0.60 for overall points %. That is moderate, and most of it is team quality: a good team wins more in every split.

Scoring first is worth a lot on the night, but how well a team converts it mostly restates how good the team is. Use the overall points % and goal differential boards first. In 2018-19, 31 teams qualify for this board; the median is 69.0% and Calgary Flames leads at 87.8%.

Record When Scoring First leaderboard

Season2026-27 2025-26 2024-25 2023-24

2018-19

2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18

Year to year this split repeats at r = 0.44 (252 team-seasons, 2017-18 to 2025-26), against r = 0.60 for overall points %. That is moderate, and most of it is team quality: a good team wins more in every split.
The Home, Away and Last 10 columns (where shown) count only those games, so each holds a fraction of the season sample: a split of a few games is noise, not a trend.
We have no live or period odds history, so we can’t compare these records to the market after vig. This is a description of what happened, not a bet.

NHL Team Record When Scoring First, 2018-19, All situations
#	Team	Win %	Games	W-L-OTL	Home	Away	Last 10	Blown leads	Blown %	Pts %	% of games	Pctl
1	Calgary Flames	87.8%	41	36-4-1	90.0%	85.7%	100.0%	5	12.2%	89.0%	50.0%	100
2	Nashville Predators	87.5%	40	35-4-1	90.0%	85.0%	100.0%	5	12.5%	88.8%	48.8%	97
3	Tampa Bay Lightning	84.8%	46	39-4-3	86.4%	83.3%	75.0%	7	15.2%	88.0%	56.1%	93
4	Columbus Blue Jackets	78.6%	42	33-7-2	80.0%	77.8%	71.4%	9	21.4%	81.0%	51.2%	90
5	Carolina Hurricanes	76.7%	43	33-7-3	70.0%	82.6%	75.0%	10	23.3%	80.2%	52.4%	87
6	Washington Capitals	76.2%	42	32-9-1	75.0%	77.8%	83.3%	10	23.8%	77.4%	51.2%	83
7	St. Louis Blues	75.0%	48	36-8-4	74.1%	76.2%	87.5%	12	25.0%	79.2%	58.5%	80
8	Dallas Stars	74.4%	43	32-9-2	85.7%	63.6%	100.0%	11	25.6%	76.7%	52.4%	77
9	Boston Bruins	73.9%	46	34-7-5	75.0%	72.7%	85.7%	12	26.1%	79.3%	56.1%	73
10	Toronto Maple Leafs	73.8%	42	31-7-4	73.7%	73.9%	40.0%	11	26.2%	78.6%	51.2%	70
11	Vancouver Canucks	72.7%	33	24-6-3	75.0%	69.2%	75.0%	9	27.3%	77.3%	40.2%	67
12	Montreal Canadiens	70.5%	44	31-7-6	80.0%	62.5%	66.7%	13	29.5%	77.3%	53.7%	62
13	San Jose Sharks	70.5%	44	31-8-5	66.7%	75.0%	0.0%	13	29.5%	76.1%	53.7%	62
14	Colorado Avalanche	70.0%	40	28-6-6	75.0%	65.0%	71.4%	12	30.0%	77.5%	48.8%	55
15	Los Angeles Kings	70.0%	30	21-6-3	76.9%	64.7%	50.0%	9	30.0%	75.0%	36.6%	55
16	Winnipeg Jets	69.0%	42	29-9-4	69.6%	68.4%	50.0%	13	31.0%	73.8%	51.2%	50
17	Minnesota Wild	69.0%	29	20-6-3	66.7%	71.4%	100.0%	9	31.0%	74.1%	35.4%	47
18	New York Islanders	68.9%	45	31-9-5	60.0%	80.0%	100.0%	14	31.1%	74.4%	54.9%	43
19	Philadelphia Flyers	65.6%	32	21-6-5	75.0%	56.3%	0.0%	11	34.4%	73.4%	39.0%	40
20	Vegas Golden Knights	64.3%	42	27-11-4	68.0%	58.8%	50.0%	15	35.7%	69.0%	51.2%	37
21	Arizona Coyotes	61.7%	47	29-14-4	73.1%	47.6%	28.6%	18	38.3%	66.0%	57.3%	33
22	Buffalo Sabres	61.5%	39	24-9-6	77.3%	41.2%	33.3%	15	38.5%	69.2%	47.6%	30
23	Chicago Blackhawks	60.5%	43	26-8-9	59.1%	61.9%	42.9%	17	39.5%	70.9%	52.4%	27
24	Pittsburgh Penguins	59.6%	47	28-11-8	65.2%	54.2%	60.0%	19	40.4%	68.1%	57.3%	23
25	Anaheim Ducks	59.0%	39	23-10-6	59.1%	58.8%	71.4%	16	41.0%	66.7%	47.6%	20
26	Edmonton Oilers	57.5%	40	23-13-4	61.9%	52.6%	25.0%	17	42.5%	62.5%	48.8%	17
27	Detroit Red Wings	56.8%	37	21-11-5	55.6%	57.9%	77.8%	16	43.2%	63.5%	45.1%	13
28	New Jersey Devils	54.3%	46	25-15-6	65.4%	40.0%	75.0%	21	45.7%	60.9%	56.1%	10
29	Florida Panthers	53.8%	39	21-11-7	68.4%	40.0%	75.0%	18	46.2%	62.8%	47.6%	7
30	Ottawa Senators	51.2%	43	22-18-3	63.6%	38.1%	66.7%	21	48.8%	54.7%	52.4%	3
31	New York Rangers	43.2%	37	16-10-11	42.9%	43.8%	50.0%	21	56.8%	58.1%	45.1%	0

About our data sources →All NHL leaderboards →

Frequently asked questions

Which team leads the NHL in Record When Scoring First in 2018-19?

Calgary Flames leads with 87.8%. The median of the 31 qualified teams is 69.0%.

How is Record When Scoring First calculated?

Wins divided by games in the situation; W-L-OTL beside it. Blown leads are the games with the lead at that point that the team did not win (losses in regulation, overtime or a shootout). Regular season only, from the NHL's official game data.

How reliable is Record When Scoring First?