Do professional hockey teams with a two-goal lead lose more often than they should?

Jack Brimberg and W.J. Hurley

International Journal of Operational Research, 2012, vol. 15, issue 2, 226-233

Abstract: There is a popular notion that hockey teams blow two-goal leads more often than they should. Hockey experts argue that teams with a two-goal lead tend to revert to a more defensive style of play and do so at their peril. We subjected the claim to National Hockey League data from the 2010 season and found that teams in such a predicament do not lose more often than they should. A possible explanation for the two-goal myth derives from the availability heuristic suggested by Kahneman and Tversky.

Keywords: operations research; sports research; professional hockey teams; two-goal lead; statistics; probability; losing teams; two goals; National Hockey League; ice hockey; goals scored; leads lost. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijores:v:15:y:2012:i:2:p:226-233

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