PITTSBURGH PA - FEBRUARY 23: Logan Couture #39 of the San Jose Sharks celebrates after scoring a second period power play goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the NHL game at Consol Energy Center on February 23 2011 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
I was watching the Sharks-Ducks game on Saturday and the Sharks announcers - I'm not going to lie, I don't think they know what they're talking about most of the time - said "San Jose has the third-best power-play in the league." Really? Let's look at 5-on-4 performance over the last four seasons:
| Season | Team | Shots/60 |
| 2010-11 | SJ | 71.8 |
| 2008-09 | DET | 64.5 |
| 2007-08 | DET | 61.9 |
| 2008-09 | ANA | 61.7 |
| 2009-10 | SJ | 61.2 |
| 2008-09 | NJ | 60.9 |
| 2008-09 | WSH | 60.2 |
| 2010-11 | ANA | 59.4 |
| 2009-10 | DET | 58.4 |
| 2010-11 | WSH | 58.2 |
Not only does San Jose have the best power-play in the league this season by a massive margin, they're way ahead of the next-best team we've seen since the NHL started tracking this stat in 2007-08. When you're trying to evaluate special teams performance, don't be misled by luck-driven PP shooting percentages like Vancouver's (Edmonton is 3rd in the league in 5v4 shooting percentage, after all) or teams that spent a lot of time at 5v3. The PP is all about directing shots on goal.
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