NHL Team Record When Scoring First 2019-20

Leaders: Record When Scoring First, 2019-20

1stCarolina Hurricanes31 Games83.9%
2ndPittsburgh Penguins32 Games78.1%
3rdToronto Maple Leafs31 Games77.4%
4thVancouver Canucks31 Games77.4%
5thVegas Golden Knights34 Games76.5%
6thEdmonton Oilers39 Games74.4%
7thSt. Louis Blues39 Games74.4%
8thFlorida Panthers35 Games74.3%
9thTampa Bay Lightning41 Games73.2%
10thNashville Predators37 Games73.0%

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 2019-20, 31 teams qualify for this board; the median is 67.6% and Carolina Hurricanes leads at 83.9%.

Record When Scoring First leaderboard

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

2019-20

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, 2019-20, All situations
#	Team	Win %	Games	W-L-OTL	Home	Away	Last 10	Blown leads	Blown %	Pts %	% of games	Pctl
1	Carolina Hurricanes	83.9%	31	26-3-2	77.8%	92.3%	100.0%	5	16.1%	87.1%	45.6%	100
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	78.1%	32	25-4-3	75.0%	83.3%	75.0%	7	21.9%	82.8%	46.4%	97
3	Toronto Maple Leafs	77.4%	31	24-5-2	84.6%	72.2%	75.0%	7	22.6%	80.6%	44.3%	92
4	Vancouver Canucks	77.4%	31	24-6-1	90.0%	54.5%	66.7%	7	22.6%	79.0%	44.9%	92
5	Vegas Golden Knights	76.5%	34	26-6-2	81.3%	72.2%	100.0%	8	23.5%	79.4%	47.9%	87
6	Edmonton Oilers	74.4%	39	29-7-3	68.2%	82.4%	71.4%	10	25.6%	78.2%	54.9%	82
7	St. Louis Blues	74.4%	39	29-2-8	73.9%	75.0%	80.0%	10	25.6%	84.6%	54.9%	82
8	Florida Panthers	74.3%	35	26-5-4	75.0%	73.3%	20.0%	9	25.7%	80.0%	50.7%	77
9	Tampa Bay Lightning	73.2%	41	30-9-2	81.0%	65.0%	42.9%	11	26.8%	75.6%	58.6%	73
10	Nashville Predators	73.0%	37	27-6-4	82.4%	65.0%	83.3%	10	27.0%	78.4%	53.6%	70
11	Washington Capitals	72.7%	33	24-4-5	58.8%	87.5%	50.0%	9	27.3%	80.3%	47.8%	67
12	Dallas Stars	71.9%	32	23-5-4	83.3%	57.1%	60.0%	9	28.1%	78.1%	46.4%	62
13	Winnipeg Jets	71.9%	32	23-8-1	66.7%	78.6%	100.0%	9	28.1%	73.4%	45.1%	62
14	Philadelphia Flyers	71.8%	39	28-7-4	83.3%	53.3%	100.0%	11	28.2%	76.9%	56.5%	57
15	Colorado Avalanche	69.8%	43	30-6-7	54.5%	85.7%	75.0%	13	30.2%	77.9%	61.4%	53
16	Minnesota Wild	67.6%	34	23-7-4	75.0%	57.1%	83.3%	11	32.4%	73.5%	49.3%	50
17	Arizona Coyotes	66.7%	36	24-10-2	71.4%	60.0%	50.0%	12	33.3%	69.4%	51.4%	43
18	Columbus Blue Jackets	66.7%	36	24-5-7	77.3%	50.0%	50.0%	12	33.3%	76.4%	51.4%	43
19	Calgary Flames	66.7%	30	20-7-3	61.5%	70.6%	75.0%	10	33.3%	71.7%	42.9%	43
20	New York Islanders	63.9%	36	23-8-5	66.7%	60.0%	40.0%	13	36.1%	70.8%	52.9%	37
21	Boston Bruins	63.4%	41	26-7-8	60.0%	66.7%	100.0%	15	36.6%	73.2%	58.6%	33
22	Buffalo Sabres	62.9%	35	22-11-2	70.6%	55.6%	50.0%	13	37.1%	65.7%	50.7%	30
23	New York Rangers	62.5%	40	25-11-4	60.0%	65.0%	42.9%	15	37.5%	67.5%	57.1%	23
24	Chicago Blackhawks	62.5%	32	20-7-5	61.1%	64.3%	100.0%	12	37.5%	70.3%	45.7%	23
25	San Jose Sharks	62.5%	32	20-9-3	66.7%	54.5%	50.0%	12	37.5%	67.2%	45.7%	23
26	Los Angeles Kings	59.0%	39	23-11-5	73.7%	45.0%	85.7%	16	41.0%	65.4%	55.7%	17
27	Anaheim Ducks	58.3%	36	21-11-4	57.1%	60.0%	66.7%	15	41.7%	63.9%	50.7%	13
28	Montreal Canadiens	55.3%	38	21-11-6	48.0%	69.2%	50.0%	17	44.7%	63.2%	53.5%	10
29	Ottawa Senators	51.9%	27	14-11-2	64.7%	30.0%	50.0%	13	48.1%	55.6%	38.0%	7
30	New Jersey Devils	48.4%	31	15-6-10	27.8%	76.9%	66.7%	16	51.6%	64.5%	44.9%	3
31	Detroit Red Wings	36.7%	30	11-17-2	46.7%	26.7%	50.0%	19	63.3%	40.0%	42.3%	0

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Frequently asked questions

Which team leads the NHL in Record When Scoring First in 2019-20?

Carolina Hurricanes leads with 83.9%. The median of the 31 qualified teams is 67.6%.

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?