SAN JOSE – There isn’t a single team statistic in the NHL more revealing of overall performance than five-on-five scoring.
Just look at last season, when the Sharks finished 24th in the NHL with a 46.9 percent goals-for percentage. Neither they, nor any of the six teams that finished below them made it to the postseason.
Pete DeBoer has naturally put a priority on improving the Sharks’ five-on-five play in his first season as head coach. The result after 37 games? The exact same place they finished with last season, 24th in the NHL, with an even lower percentage (45.8 percent). The Sharks have been outscored 72-61 during five-on-five play.
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DeBoer, though, isn’t overly upset with how the Sharks have performed in that regard so far. Although the team has struggled to get contributions from many of its depth players, the coach sees that aspect of the team improving.
“From a [standpoint] of chances for to chances against, I think we’re in a good place,” DeBoer said. “I think some of the depth guys’ five-on-five game is really starting to improve. I met individually with [Matt] Nieto and [Tommy] Wingels, I think in the last 15-to-17 games they’ve really started to come. I think Tomas Hertl has started to come in some spurts. I definitely see some improvement. We’re not sticking the puck in the back of the net, which I think skews some of the way we’ve been playing.”
“I think our five-on-five goaltending has to be better, along with some other things. There’s always areas of improvement, but I think that we’re close to being where we want it to be. Individually, there are some guys starting to understand what we’re looking for and the expectation, and are getting better. They’re not where we need them to be yet, but they’re getting better.”
DeBoer was also blunt in assessing the Sharks’ lack of depth scoring as in issue in years past. That was an annoyance Todd McLellan last season, when the former coach was handed a roster with far too much dead weight to accomplish anything significant.
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“Let’s be honest, it’s been a problem here recently, getting depth and getting four lines of contributions from people,” he said. “That’s not something that’s been part of this team’s game for a while here. Of course it’s different. I think bringing [Dainius] Zubrus in has helped, having [Joonas] Donskoi come out and make the team has helped. Getting some guys slotted in, and getting [Logan] Couture back has helped slot some people a little bit lower.
“We talked to our guys, when we go in against Winnipeg (on Saturday night, a 4-1 loss) and we’ve got Hertl and Wingels and Nieto and those type of guys on your third line and you’re looking at the matchups on the board, that should be an advantage for us. It wasn’t on that night. How come it isn’t an advantage for us? It should be. We’ve got to fix that going forward.”
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The Sharks were without Couture for practice on Wednesday, but he’s expected to suit up for the Red Wings game on Thursday. It will be his third game since returning from arterial bleeding in his right thigh.
“We had two tough practice days the last two days, so we just want to give him a day off,” DeBoer said Wednesday.
The Sharks’ lines against the Red Wings are likely to be as follows:
Melker Karlsson – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Joel Ward
Matt Nieto – Tomas Hertl – Tommy Wingels
Joonas Donskoi – Dainius Zubrus – Mike Brown
The Red Wings are 11-6-6 in their last 23 games since they hosted the Sharks on Nov. 13, a 3-2 San Jose win that was Pavel Datsyuk’s season debut.
“I think they were finding their way at that point, and they seem to have found their groove,” DeBoer said. “It’s amazing when Datsyuk came back that all of a sudden they started to win games. That’s the NHL. I think you want to survive those types of injuries but when you look around the league, when Datsyuk is out, Detroit struggles. When [Carey] Price is out, Montreal struggles. That’s a reality of the league.
“I like the fact that we’re healthy now for the most part, and want to stay that way and play to our potential.”