Warsofsky Shares What’s Special About Each Sharks Penalty Killer

You can blame me.

On Dec. 2, the San Jose Sharks’ penalty kill was killing penalties at a historic rate. As of that Friday, they were killing at a league-leading 91.6 percent rate: Since that stat has been tracked since 1977-78, no PK had ever topped 90 percent by the end of the season, the 2011-12 New Jersey Devils coming closest at 89.6.

That day, after practice in Ottawa, I spoke with first-year assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky and PK stalwarts Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic about the Sharks’ PK success. Warsofsky runs the San Jose kill and has put his touch on the NHL’s second-best unit last season.

“For forwards, for us on top, there’s a cut-off point where we pressure down in zone, and that’s different. Last year, we would pressure all the way down to the goal line, now we stop at the hash marks and pass it off to the d-men,” San Jose Sharks captain Couture explained. “The neutral zone changed a little bit. The stands [at the blueline] are a little different now. Teams come with a lot of speed, we kind of morphed into a 3-1 instead of the 1-3 stand.

“Everything else has kind of stayed the exact same.”

The next night, the San Jose Sharks gave up three power play goals to the Ottawa Senators in a 5-2 loss. The following game, the Sharks gave up two power play goals to the Buffalo Sabres in a 6-3 defeat. The next game, the Sharks gave up two power play goals to the Vancouver Canucks in a 6-5 OT loss.

Whoops.

Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area