San Jose Sharks

Sharks fall to Preds; Powerless play haunts them again
March 12, 2017, 1:11 AM ET [1 Comments]
Steve Palumbo
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When the San Jose Sharks score the games first goal - they are very hard to beat. On Saturday afternoon they scored the games first goal and then they got beat.

Meh.

The Nashville Predators completed its California road trip with a 3-1 victory over the Sharks at the Tank. The win ended the Preds four-game losing streak and was only San Jose's second loss in the last seven games.

San Jose maintains its seven-point lead in the Pacific despite the setback.

Power play didn't come to play...

The Sharks knocked off the Washington Caps on Thursday thanks in part to a pair of power play goals. That reversed a trend in which the Sharks struggle to get anything going with the man advantage. On Saturday afternoon they were shutdown again.

Nashville even added its league-leading 10th shorthanded goal to ice San Jose and secure the 'W." The Sharks are just 4 for 32 on the PP since Feb. 12th and have been held without a PP goal in 8 of 11 games.

San Jose dropped to 24th in the league at 16.9%. The lack of pop from the power play is an unsettling trend this season and they might want to button that up before the second season begins.

There's no offense in that defense... or is there?

Paul Martin scored the Sharks lone goal in the game. That's like finding one of those really good curly fries in your bag of regular fries....doesn't happen often.

Besides Brent Burns, the Sharks have had very little offense come from the back end. In 330 combined games by the rest of the defense, they have only managed to muster up 16 goals. Mind you Burns has 27 all by his lonesome. That is an average of .048 goals per game for members of the D NOT named Brent Burns.

Take away Burns and that number is pretty low. Include the bearded bullet's goals and the 43 goals from the defense blows away the competition.

As a team, the East leading Capitals have a grand total of 20 goals from the blueline. The second place Anaheim Ducks are slightly better with 28 goals.

What's the point of all of this? Nothing really. I just like looking into this stuff and sharing what I find.

One last thing...in case you haven't noticed - Burnsy does not have a goal in eight consecutive games. His last goal game in an two-goal effort against Arizona way back on 2/18. Now that's scary.

Logan Couture is really good. Like really, really good...

I notice that fans of other teams really gets their kicks from taking cheap shots at Logan Couture. Physical attributes asides, the guy is a heck of a hockey player. I enjoy watching guys with his particular skill set. Couture can create a shot from any position on the ice and he has the unnatural ability to make something out of nothing.



In his eighth NHL season, Couture is finding the net when his team needs offense the most. Nearly 26% (6) of his 23 goals have been scored in 5 v. 5 close game situations. And he's proving himself as a power play threat. The 27-year-old leads his team with 10 PPG's this season. And he's very consistent. Logan's scored at least 21 goals in six of his eights seasons and when he's hot the Sharks are hot.

Up Next...

There will be no rest for the weary for San Jose. The Dallas Stars visit the Tank on Sunday. Good news is there won't be a whole lot of time to dwell on the defeat. The bad news is...there's no bad news because the Stars stink.