Power play has been a one-hit wonder so far
SAN JOSE >> Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi stated the obvious after the Sharks’ power play broke through with three goals Thursday night. Things worked out remarkably well with Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns skating on different units.
Both defensemen are super creative, produce a high volume of offense and are used to playing the role of quarterback on
the power play.
Through the Sharks’ first six games, they struggled to hit the right notes on stage together.
On Saturday, the power play was 0 for 1 as Burns and Karlsson headed separate units again in a game the Sharks defeated the New York Islanders 4-1. For the complete story, please see mercurynews.com.
In some ways, it’s like putting Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen in the same band: who sets the rhythm? Who dictates the style of play? Are they crying the blues or playing facemelting metal licks?”
Head coach Pete DeBoer doesn’t see a problem in that set up.
“I’d want to be at that show, wouldn’t you?” the Sharks coach joked after the Sharks morning practice Saturday.
Apparently, the prices on StubHub are through roof. But DeBoer is getting free tickets to the Karlsson-Burns show and he expressed similar feelings about that collaboration.
“For sure it’s a challenge, but it’s a great challenge. It’s a challenge you want,” DeBoer said. “The more great players the better. We’ll get it figured out.”
After Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres, DeBoer refused to credit the Karlsson-
Burns split for the power play’s breakthrough performance. With a talented arsenal of scorers that also includes Couture, Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier, DeBoer envisions a scenario where the power play could be in flux on a regular basis.
Instead of naming a fixed band, he’s planning to move things around in accordance with the hot hands. On Thursday, he found the right mix. The 3 for 7 performance moved the Sharks power play from 27th in the NHL at 9.5 percent to 20th at 17.8 percent entering Saturday’s game.
“I don’t think there’s one answer to any of these things. It’s going to be a moving target, and nightly, we’ll shuttle things around,” DeBoer said.
“I think it does work between the two of them. You guys are trying to create an issue that isn’t there — there is no issue.”
Karlsson also knocked down the idea that he and Burns are still looking for chemistry.
“You can be creative even when you don’t have the puck,” Karlsson said. “I don’t think it involves just having the puck all the time. For me, it’s going to be easy to figure out what I have to try and do to be successful when he has the puck and what I need to do to be successful when I have the puck.
“At the end of the day, all that matters is scoring goals and winning games.”
Burns declined to comment on the matter.
One area where the notes could strike the right chord for this dynamic duo is Karlsson’s ability to make space and Burns’ quick release from the right point. At times, the Sharks offense struggled to create open looks for Burns last season as defenses looked to take him out of the equation. That should be less of a problem on the power play this year when Karlsson is on the ice with him.
“There’s going to be a lot of things that we’re going to try and figure out. It’s a long year,” Karlsson said. “There’s a lot of moving parts and there’s going to be a lot of changes. We have the arsenal to switch it around a lot and find new solutions for whatever the moment requires.”
• Sharks defenseman Joakim Ryan got into his first NHL fight Thursday, tussling with Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian in a line brawl after the game ended. After Brenden Dillon started mixing it up with Jake McCabe, Bogosian jumped in, leaving Ryan with no choice but to get involved.
It was Ryan’s first fight since the AHL Barracuda’s epic brawls with the Stockton Heat during the 201617 season.
“I was just trying to pull him off,” Ryan said. “He got up and was ready to go. I just realized I was in one.”
Ryan, a middleweight, wasn’t necessarily looking to take on a heavyweight in his first NHL bout. Listed at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Ryan gave up four inches in height and 40 pounds in weight to Bogosian, who’s dropped the gloves in 17 NHL fights during his 10year career, according to hockeyfights.com.
“I just did what I could to stay alive,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “He really only caught me with one at the end there. But it wasn’t straight to the face or anything, kind of to the side of the face.”
So in a way, Ryan ropea-doped Bogosian ala Muhammed Ali vs. George Foreman at the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.
“I don’t know if I’d classify it as that,” Ryan joked. “I did what I could.”
Either way, the league’s toughest fighters now know that Ryan isn’t to be messed with. Who’s up next on his list?
“I don’t know,” Ryan joked. “Maybe (Dustin) Byfuglien or something.”