Special Teams
The Sharks only scored one point on special teams in their regular season debut. That came off spectacular highlight reel short handed goal by Tomas Hertl. Although scoring a man down is always a positive sign, the Sharks woes on the power play continued against the Ducks. The Sharks went 0/3 with the man advantage, and were only able to generate 2 scoring chances.
During their first power play San Jose experimented with EK65 down on the right side boards, with Burns taking point where he is more comfortable. It failed to produce consistent zone pressure even with the extra space on the ice. Coach Pete DeBoer tried different configurations as the game went on but the team still wasn’t able to create scoring chances with consistency.
Luckily San Jose had a day off yesterday, which gave them time to practice their power play. We all shouldn’t worry too much about their lack of success so far. Special teams chemistry that gets better with time, and the addition of EK65 was a positive but big shake up for a team that has been playing together for so long.
The Mercury News Curtis Pashelka noted that the team was working out different power play units.
Couple different #SJSharks power play units at the moment
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 4, 2018
PP1 -- Hertl, Pavelski, Couture, Burns, Karlsson
PP2 -- Thornton, Kane, Meier, Labanc, Vlasic
During yesterdays practice the coaching staff decided to take Joe Thornton of the power play unit and replace him with Hertl. Jumbo seemed a little sluggish during his first game back which is to be expected from someone coming off two knee surgeries. But having Hertl on that unit is an interesting wrinkle. He was extremely impressive on opening night and seems to be this teams most impactful forward on special teams.