The San Jose Sharks were one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL last year, putting 249 pucks over the goal line, but for some reason they couldn't translate a high scoring offense into a top power play.
Only the Philadelphia Flyers (294) had more power play opportunities than the Sharks (Washington tied San Jose with 291). The Sharks did, however, lead the league in power play shots with 508. When a top scoring team receives the second most power play chances in the league you would expect big results. Instead, what you were given was a mediocre display of extra-man activity that resulted in the Sharks placing 20th in the league on the power play with a 17.2% success rate.
A 20th overall PP ranking wouldn't be shocking if the Sharks hadn't scored the 5th most goals in the NHL, but they did. It was also the first time since 2007-2008 that the Sharks PP dipped below 20%, leaving even more room to wonder what went wrong with the man-advantage during the regular season.
That 17.2% number is extremely impressive when compared to the Sharks power play success in the post-season against the LA Kings where the number dips to 12.5% with the man advantage. Certainly a soured power play can’t shoulder all of the blame for the Sharks playoff collapse but it doesn't help. When an already meager success rate takes a nose dive at the most important time of year it usually leads to trouble, especially if the PK suffers as well.
During the regular season the Sharks held a nice penalty kill percentage of 84.9%, good enough for 6th in the league, but, much like their power play, it took a dive during the post season as well. San Jose saw a top tier PK turn into a special teams nightmare against L.A. as they sported a 75.0% success rate with a man down. Special teams success is an important part of the game and the Sharks played both sides of the coin without a pulse in the 13/14 playoffs.
Recent Stanley Cup winners have enjoyed success on at least one side of special teams during the playoffs, either a dominant penalty kill or a threatening power play. San Jose had neither during the post-season and it surely was a significant contributing factor in their collapse.
Game three of the Kings series is where the wheels started to come off for special teams play, and for the series as a whole. After going 100% on the penalty kill in the first two games, completely dominated by the Sharks, that PK number dropped to 75% or lower for four of the last five games of the series as the Kings posted PP markers in each contest. The Sharks power play was 3/13 (23.1%) in the three Sharks wins against L.A. but found the well dry up going 1/19 (5.3%) in games four to seven.
Even with an increase in PP Shots/game to 8.43 (from 6.20 in the regular season) the Sharks couldn't find success with a man up. As the special teams walls came crumbling down so too did the series. The Sharks were able to combat a mediocre power play during the regular season with a solid penalty kill but couldn't quite find the same combination when all the chips were down.
Overall the Sharks special teams play wasn't one of the brighter spots on the 2013-2014 season and it’s one of the things that Todd McLellan and his staff need to work on as they bring back basically the same roster that they left off with in April.
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