The San Jose Sharks hope to get their road trip back on track Tuesday when they face the Carolina Hurricanes, and part of that will likely have to involve breathing some new life into their anemic power play.
The Sharks are 2-for-16 with the man advantage over their last five games, including going 1-for-7 on Saturday in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. Entering Monday, the Sharks were 23rd in the NHL in power play percentage (17.5), down from 12th at the start of November (21.6%).
The Sharks desperately need their power play to produce, considering they’re in the bottom half of the NHL in 5-on-5 scoring, with 53 goals in 30 games this season.
“Had some decent looks, but it’s just not good enough,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the power play after Saturday’s game. “It’s not a threat. We have no attack. We don’t shoot enough pucks to create some chaos … and that’s 5-on-5, too. You see (the Panthers), they shoot everything.
“And that was our message (before Saturday’s game). We didn’t do it, so we’ve got to go back and look at it.”
Down by a goal early in the second period Saturday, a Sharks power play opportunity with Matthew Tkachuk in the box for roughing went nowhere. Down by three goals in the third period, the Sharks had three more chances with the man advantage and produced four combined shots on goal.
San Jose did score with the man advantage late in the third period, with Tyler Toffoli scoring his 11th of the season with 1:25 left in regulation time. But the outcome, realistically, was no longer in doubt at that point, as the Sharks lost their second straight game on the road.
The Sharks’ first power play unit on Saturday featured Toffoli, Alexander Wennberg, Mikael Granlund, William Eklund, and Macklin Celebrini, and the second unit had Klim Kostin, Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund, Jake Walman, and Timothy Liljegren.
The Sharks might shake up the personnel on both of their power plays units for Tuesday’s game, as some new looks might be in order. Whatever combinations the Sharks use on Tuesday, turning things around will not be easy. Going into Monday, the Hurricanes had the fourth-best penalty kill in the NHL at 83.5%, with an 85.7% success rate at home.
In addition to their elite penalty kill, the Hurricanes are averaging 3.74 goals per game, fourth most in the NHL. Forward Martin Necas entered Monday tied for the league lead in points with 42.
The Sharks, by the time Tuesday’s game ends, will have faced the four highest-scoring teams in the NHL — Washington (4.04 goals per game), Tampa Bay (3.92), Florida (3.75), and Carolina (3.74) — right in a row.
So, any additional offense would be welcomed.
“I thought we had some chances, but at the end of the day, I think we need to shoot more pucks, retrieve more pucks and get to the net,” Toffoli said. “I think that’s where all the goals are scored, and if you look around the league, that’s the recipe for success for the most part.”
SMITH CLEARS: Forward Givani Smith cleared waivers on Monday.
The Sharks placed the seldom-used Smith on waivers on Sunday as he had zero points in just six games with the team this season. Smith’s last game came on Nov. 25, when he had 6:42 of ice time against the Los Angeles Kings.
Smith, 26, is in the second and final year of a $1.6 million contract he signed with the Sharks in 2023.
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The Sharks (10-15-5) could soon welcome two players back to the active roster. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is nearing a return after missing training camp and every regular season game with an upper-body injury. Forward Barclay Goodrow recently began skating again after being placed on injured reserve on Nov. 28, also with an upper-body ailment.
