Scoring Chances: Game 26 vs. Anaheim

Complete scoring chance summary

On-ice scoring chances for and against

Team scoring chance totals

Head-to-head scoring chances

• We had a bit of a mixup here at FTF HQ so apologies for the lack of a recap last night. Consider this the recap, I guess?
• This was a bizarre game in terms of the discrepancy between scoring chances and shot differential. Protecting a two-goal lead, the Sharks collapsed into a defensive shell for much of the third period and ceded a ton of zone time to the Ducks but largely kept them to the outside. Unfortunately for San Jose, two of Anaheim’s shots from the outside beat Antti Niemi to tie the game.
• I think the Sharks played well enough in their own end in the third but when you spend an entire twenty-minute span chasing the puck in your own zone, these things are liable to happen.
• Both in terms of chances and goals, the Logan Couture and Ryan Getzlaf lines played each other to a draw. That’s generally what you want from the Sharks’ shutdown unit going up against one of the best combinations in the league; San Jose’s depth is generally going to outplay Anaheim’s depth so a draw between the top lines works in the Sharks’ favor.
• The good news is that the Hannan/Stuart pairing was broken up. The bad news is that Hannan/Demers didn’t fare much better as the Sharks were outshot 12-3 and outscored 2-0 when they were on the ice at even-strength. The scoring chance numbers do look better for those two, though. I was sort of surprised Matt Irwin sat this one out as it seemed like he played two very strong games against a couple of powerhouse teams earlier in the week.
• There’s probably going to be some consternation about the power play after it went 0-for-5 in this one and is mired in a bit of a long-term slump in terms of conversion rate but the Sharks generated what pro-rates to 153.7 unblocked shot attempts and 43.9 scoring chances per 60 five-on-four minutes last night, both of which are ungodly numbers. The goals will come eventually.