San Jose power play is winning key against LA Kings

LOS ANGELES – The San Jose Sharks’ top power play unit often zips the puck around the offensive zone with fluidity.

Center Joe Thornton acts as setup men for the group, trying to find Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture or Patrick Marleau for powerful one-time finishes.

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Often a man-advantage ends with one of the four with his stick in the air on a follow-through off a Thornton feed and the red light on behind a goaltender. If the goaltender makes the initial save, another player is around the net to put home a rebound. 

“This power play has been good for a decade,” said coach Peter DeBoer. “I think (former coach) Todd McLellan and his staff get a ton of credit for that. I think the fact that you’ve got five or six components there that have been together for five or six years, I think is a great luxury to have.”

In Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose’s power play went 1-for-4. They scored another goal one second after their PP expired. Winning the special teams battle in the first game was a major reason why the Sharks hold a 1-0 series lead over the Kings. 

“It’s something that’s been one of our strong points for sure and you obviously want to use your assets as best you can. You want to capitalize as best you can and make plays,” said forward Joel Ward, who is on San Jose’s second power play unit. “For us it’s just if you don’t score just try to gain momentum. Like any other team you want to get on the power play and make it count and make something positive out of it.”

San Jose came into the series with an offensive advantage on the power play, while the Kings were a better 5-on-5 team. San Jose had the third-best power play this year at 22.5 percent. The Sharks drew the fifth-most power plays in the NHL at 275. The Kings ranked first in the NHL in CF% 5-on-5 according to War on Ice. San Jose was eighth. 

“We feel good with our power play and our penalty kill I’m sure they do too. You have to make those count,” Burns said.

Ward played with Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s most dominant power play weapon, over four seasons with the Washington Capitals. The way they operated with the Caps was similar to the Sharks, with slick playmakers trying to find open finishers ready to blast their shots.

“You have a lot of different pieces,” Ward said. “When I was in Washington it was a pretty good power play too. It’s a lot of similar pieces in that spot, just different individuals, but really pretty similar pieces of guys moving around and making plays and then you have a couple of hard hitters.” 

In recent postseasons, the Kings have been hit-or-miss on the penalty kill. It was dominant on their 2012 Stanley Cup run at 92.1 percent. In their 2014 Cup run they ranked ninth out of 16 playoff teams at 83.3 percent.

Between defenseman Drew Doughty, center Anze Kopitar, the Kings have two of the more talented penalty killers in the NHL. But really for LA moving forward, it comes down to trying to play more disciplined. The Sharks can’t score if they don’t have the man-advantage. If the Kings stay out of the penalty box, their advantage 5-on-5 will be magnified.

“If there’s no penalties tonight, then you know what? There’s somebody’s power play last night that was probably 30 percent, if there’s no penalties tonight, you know what? We’re still both at zero,” coach Darryl Sutter said.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper