Sharks plan to stick with what works
This AP article has some good quotes as far as what San Jose expects to do against the Red Wings during their second round playoff matchup.
“We did a pretty good job with the power play in the four games we had against them,” said Joe Thornton, who had six assists in the Sharks’ five-game dispatching of Nashville in the first round. “Obviously the postseason is different, but hopefully we’ll have some confidence from our success.”
…
“They’ll pick a matchup that they think can help them, and we’ll be rolling all four lines,” Wilson said. “We’ll make it tough for them. If we work hard 5-on-5, we’re going to draw penalties, and our guys have to convert them.”Wilson plans no major changes to that struggling power play, preferring to believe his club can recapture its dominance from the regular season. Thornton, who typically runs the show with his devastating passes from the boards, spoke of only minor adjustments to the Sharks’ strategy.
The Sharks drew 30 penalties against the Predators, which averages out to 6 power plays per game. However they only converted 2 of those power plays into goals. So if they have a similar number of opportunities with the power play the key factor will be Detroit’s penalty kill.
In the four matchups between the two clubs in the regular season, each team scored 5 even-strength goals. That works out to 1.25 even-strength goals per game. The Wings had better success controlling San Jose’s power play in JLA than they did at the HP Pavilion.
San Jose Power Play
In Detroit: 2-9 (22.2%)
In San Jose: 11-22 (50%)
Here were Calgary’s power play stats against Detroit during the regular season.
Calgary Power Play
In Detroit: 1-6 (16.7%)
In Calgary: 5-10 (50%)
Ron Wilson is correct that his squad has done a good job in 5 on 5 play in forcing Detroit to commit penalties. One other thing to keep in mind, though, is that the Sharks and Wings haven’t met up in over 3 and a half months. In contrast Detroit and Calgary had played twice since the Wings last played the Sharks, with the last meeting being less than a month before their first round matchup.
And in case there was any question, yes, Ron Wilson takes himself way too seriously. He has since at least the age of 8. Here is a little story he told in the article I linked above.
[Wilson’s] father, Larry, and his uncle, Johnny, both won Stanley Cups while playing for the Red Wings. But Wilson was a Toronto Maple Leafs fan from his youth, and he refused to sit on Gordie Howe’s lap when he visited the Red Wings’ locker room as a precocious 8-year-old in the spring of 1964.
“Dave Keon was my hero,” Wilson said of the former Maple Leafs captain. “Gordie Howe — I hated him. He tried to give me a Pepsi, so I had that, but I wouldn’t sit on his lap.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Wilson is still that precocious little 8 year old. Good on ya, Ron. You go on with your bad self.
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