The more Sharks games I watch, the more dumb things Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda say. Tonight, the Sharks gave up four power-play goals in the first two periods, so of course they’ve got a really bad penalty-kill, right?
The Sharks have given up 52.6 shots per 60 minutes at 4-on-5 this season. We need to regress that to the mean – say 50% (probably more) – which puts the Sharks at 51.6 shots/60. The average playoff team is at roughly 50.2 this season. In the playoffs, teams typically play a man down six minutes per game. Even if the Sharks played the maximum number of playoff games – 28 – those extra 1.4 shots (51.6 – 50.2) will amount to less than half a goal.
Am I counted among "the people who predict these things"? Because I think the Sharks will basically appear to be a league-average PK team in the playoffs…Something that will make people who expect the Sharks to be #1 in the league at everything very nervous.
