It’s a pretty safe bet that the San Jose Sharks didn’t spend a lot this week’s practice time working on special teams.

After all, they finished the regular season with a 24.2 percent success rate on the power play (third best in the league), and were equally adept at killing off those pesky penalties (83.3 percent, fifth best).

One area that needed some urgent attention this week was their play in even-strength situations.

The Sharks went 1-2 in their last three regular-season games. They scored one even-strength goal during those three games.

The victory came in a shootout, against the Colorado Avalanche.

“Our five-on-five for the second half has been the key issue,” Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said after a 4-3 season-ending loss to the Kings. “Hopefully we can get a rebirth of energy and get our legs going again in the playoffs and get excited again.”

The situation is actually worse than how Boyle made it sound, if that’s possible.

April 11: The Sharks are 0 for 20 on even-strength shots, scoring all three goals on the power play. Kings 4, Sharks 3.

April 9: The Sharks convert one of 28 shots in even-strength situations. Coyotes 4, Sharks 1.

April 7: Sharks beat Colorado, 1-0, in a shootout after a 0-for-20 night while playing even strength.

April 5: The Sharks are 1 for 21 on even-strength shots and need two power-play goals to beat the Ducks, 3-2, at Honda Center.

April 4: The Sharks take 24 even-strength shots but score on just one of them, losing to the Ducks, 5-2.

April 2: The Sharks get one goal out of 16 even-strength shots in a 2-1 victory over Edmonton.

“We haven’t scored many goals five on five here lately and one of the things we wanted to accomplish (against the Kings) was create some turnovers on the forecheck,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “I thought we did that at points better than we have in the last week or two and that’s one positive sign.”

There are also some negative signs.

The last time the Sharks scored more than one even-strength goal in a game was on March 28 in a 3-2 victory over Phoenix. The goals were scored by Jody Shelley (his second of the season) and Tom Cavanagh (his first).

Despite the lack of offensive flow, the Sharks don’t seem to be worried. Or maybe they’ve just been studying the pre-playoff quotes to throw at the media.

“You could say we’re losing the games before the playoffs,” said defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic. “The (regular) season is over so you start fresh. Everybody starts 0-0 and no matter how you go into it, it’s how you start it. You’ve got to be ready.

“We had chances the last couple of games. We just haven’t executed. I think we’ll be ready. It’s not an off and on switch but I think we’ll be ready.”

If they’re not ready, the smell of an upset will certainly be in the air.

[Source: Ducks.FreedomBlogging.com]

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