San Jose Sharks Power Play A Sight To Behold

The Sharks power play has been simply lethal this postseason making the opposition pay for any penalty they take.

During the postseason, special teams always play a big role as there is usually very little room at even strength. For the San Jose Sharks, their power play has been down right scary as they’ve used the man advantage to wreak havoc on their opponents.

After scoring five goals in their opening round series win over the Los Angeles Kings, team teal has utilized their power play to help take a two games-to-nothing lead over the Nashville Predators as the series now shifts back to Music City for games three and four.

While Nashville has done a fairly good job of staying out of the box compared with L.A., San Jose has made the Predators pay whenever they get a chance with the man advantage. In this series alone, the Sharks have converted on 3-of-5 opportunities and they’ve all been momentum-changing tallies.

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In Game 1, team teal was trailing by one goal and had really struggled to generate too many Grade-A chances against Pekka Rinne. However, when the Predators took a penalty early in the third, Tomas Hertl would convert less than three minutes into the period to even things up and the Sharks were flying from there.

Then, Logan Couture would provide the eventual game-winner, tipping home a beautiful pass from Joe Pavelski. Couture was just getting started with his work on the power play as he opened the scoring just before the end of the second period in Game 2, banging in a rebound off a rocket from Brent Burns at the point.

The dangerous part of this power play is they can attack in many different ways. They can score off the rush or they can score once they set up shop in the offensive zone.

Also, the Sharks do a great job of generating shots and retrieving their attempts. Through the first two contests, San Jose has generated 14 shots on goal on those five power plays. They’re making a very good defensive team in Nashville look completely helpless when they get an extra attacker.

In their seven-game series against Anaheim, the Predators allowed just four power play goals on 25 attempts to the number one power play team in the regular season. As mentioned earlier, the Sharks already have put three past Rinne on just five attempts as Nashville hasn’t been able to get a handle on what team teal has thrown at them.

Even when San Jose hasn’t scored, they’ve basically controlled the puck for the majority of the two minutes in the attacking end, wearing out the penalty-killers of the Predators. The Sharks are able to use their power play as a momentum boost and continue their attacking style of play.

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As San Jose now hits the road, team teal wants to ensure their power play remains red hot. The Predators will put forth their best effort in Game 3, but one way to counter act that is to convert when a man advantage opportunity arises.

The Sharks own the league’s best power play amongst the teams remaining at 30.8 percent, and if they can continue their success in Music City tonight, another game at the Shark Tank might not be needed.