The San Jose Sharks are off to a brutal start for the second season in a row, now 0-5-2 through seven games. Such consistent losing results from many issues that need to be fixed, but none are more pressing for the Sharks than their constant penalties. They are in the top five in the NHL in both penalty minutes and total penalties committed and take them at the worst possible times. The constant shorthanded play is weighing on the team and has directly led to multiple losses already this season. They don’t have the talent to overcome these kinds of mistakes, and they can’t expect to win with any sort of consistency unless they clean up the problem.
Penalties Limit Sharks’ Opportunities for Offensive Rhythm
The Sharks are currently last in the NHL in goals per game, which can at least in part be attributed to the enormous amount of time they spend playing shorthanded. In every game this season in which they scored two goals or fewer, they allowed at least four power plays. By repeatedly going on the penalty kill, they can’t establish any kind of consistent offensive momentum.
The Sharks need long stretches of sustained pressure with multiple shots and scoring chances, but they can’t get those if they’re unable to limit their penalties. Look at their Oct. 17 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, in which they committed seven — including two by team penalty minutes leader Jan Rutta — and never generated any sort of consistent flow on offense. They finally got their act together in the third period and committed zero penalties, but by then they had fallen behind by too much.
Their offense needs to stay steady throughout the entire game, not just for a few minutes here and there in between penalty kills. And it’s not like they’re getting much momentum back with power plays of their own — they’re last in the league in penalty differential, a challenge head coach Ryan Warsofsky noted is a vicious cycle given their poor play.
“Until we get the respect back in this league as a team, we’re not gonna get those calls,” he told reporters after a 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (Oct. 22). “We’re just not. That’s just the way it is.”
The Sharks badly need to win at least a few games and return to a place of adequacy to get their season back on track. But as they realize, that won’t happen if they can’t stay out of the penalty box.
Sharks Unable to Maintain Momentum
Frequent penalties are limiting the Sharks’ ability to create productive offense, but they’re also starting to kill any momentum the Sharks do manage to find. In the aforementioned loss to the Ducks, they came frustratingly close to scoring several times before finally tying the game with a third-period goal. They looked to use that goal as a breakthrough to maintain an edge for the rest of the contest, only for Will Smith to commit a tripping penalty just 10 seconds later. Anaheim scored 31 seconds after that, and the Sharks had the game’s momentum completely flipped on them.
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When a team is already struggling to generate offense like the Sharks were against the Ducks, any glimmer of positivity needs to be capitalized upon. Committing a penalty immediately after a goal is quite possibly the worst time to commit one. It was a sign of the Sharks briefly letting their guard down and losing focus. They are already a weaker group than most of the teams they’ll face this season, and they don’t need to be in a situation where they’re playing themselves almost as much as they’re playing their opponents.
Sharks’ Penalty Issues Will Be Major Factor Throughout Season
Early returns suggest the Sharks’ defense and penalty-killing will be about the same or a little better than last season’s units. But they won’t stay that way if they keep committing penalties at the same rate as they are right now. They’re already threatening to collapse under the weight of these issues, and they’ll certainly fall apart much more if the season keeps trending this way. One of their main problems last season was their tendency to let one mistake spiral into many more and lose control of close games. Incessant penalties leading to power-play goals is one example of this phenomenon, meaning they’re at risk of a repeat of last season.
Also like last season, the opening handful of games tells us a lot about how the whole season might go. These penalties are a concern the Sharks will have to address right now because if they don’t, they could be staring down a slog of a campaign.
