Scoring Chances: Sharks can’t convert on ample opportunities

The Sharks didn’t find the back of the net against the Ducks last night, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. I noted in my Morning After post that San Jose posted a wealth of scoring chances, so let’s take a closer look at those.

I know, I know, you’ve seen this image already. I just want to start with this as a base level before taking a deeper look into which chances came on the power play and which came at even strength. Okay? I’m sorry. You can play with this chart yourself here.

As I noted this morning, the Sharks have a lot of action over towards the left side of the Ducks crease. Two of their chances came from inside the crease, while another five came over to the left. The rest of their chances (mostly) came from between the dots.

Here’s a look at the same area but with only even strength scoring chances included. You’ll notice there’s not much of a difference between the two charts, which is a glass half empty or glass half full situation. It’s nice to see the Sharks generate chances in even strength play (since that’s what you’re going to want to count on come playoff time) but with four tries on the power play…you’d like to see more.

I count Patrick Marleau as having four scoring chances overall, three of which came within pretty good range of the net. He’s had a great season so far, which is almost certainly why the whole trade rumor thing is happening. The much maligned Matt Nieto also had a few scoring chances, and that’s while playing on a fourth line that had a very, very bad night.

For reference, here’s a chart of the Sharks scoring chances from their first meeting against the Ducks.

I count 22 scoring chances, only two more than they had against the Ducks last night — and that’s with Logan Couture in the lineup. So again, not a great result for the Sharks against an Anaheim team playing on the second of a back-to-back, but process-wise there’s a lot to like from San Jose’s effort.