San Jose Sharks: A Deceiving Night In Pittsburgh

The San Jose Sharks did not have a time against Pittsburgh.

The struggles at 5v5 continued for the San Jose Sharks as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Penguins.

If you looked strictly at all-situations perhaps it doesn’t seem so bad. Unfortunately, that’s not telling the whole story of the game.

The 42-31 shot victory for the San Jose Sharks masks the 29-26 slight edge that happened at 5v5. That’s right, special teams masked another struggling performance in the game state that happens to be the majority of the contest.

This game was not ‘closer than the score’ as some might suggest. The Sharks special teams units gave them a chance to ride a 50% possession night at 5v5 into the win column. Martin Jones had other ideas, though, with his .846 save percentage at 5v5. Added to Jones’ grotesque save percentage is a goose-egg in 5v5 shooting percentage.

This team has a great powerplay, so it should be expected that they thump the opposition in shot attempts while having an extra man on the ice. It’s all for not when you get a performance in the cage like they did tonight.

The entire contest wasn’t a letdown when you consider Joe Thornton out and losing Vlasic for a bit of the game. Managing to split the possession with a red hot Penguins team should be considered a win, though.

Give Matt Murray credit, he played a heck of a game. It’s hard to win when you shoot 0% at evens. Unlucky continues for San Jose in the PDO department.

Pluses

Melker Karlsson had the hardest zone starts and finished with a 54.17% CF at 5v5.

Vlasic returning in game.

Powerplay dominance.

Penalty kill dominance.

Next: Tavares In Teal? Probably Not.

Minuses

• Couture, Labanc and Meier were heavily sheltered (all 80% OZS or more) and turned in a 42%-47% possession score.
• Jones, obviously.
• Joel Ward killing penalties still. He’s literally the worst penalty killing forward San Jose has with Ryan Carpenter gone (min 30 TOI PK).