The Sharks' best player on Thursday night's Game 1 win against the Anaheim Ducks is still looking for his first playoff point.
Brent Burns and Evander Kane found the back of the net, but second-year forward Timo Meier was arguably San Jose's most productive skater at even strength. He was second on the team in five-on-five shot attempts (seven), unblocked shot attempts (five), and shots on goal (four) on Thursday, just one behind Burns in each of those categories despite playing nearly eight fewer minutes of five-on-five ice time, according to Corsica Hockey.
He, like Burns, accounted for half of the Sharks' five-on-five shots while he was on the ice (eight), and was the only player to produce half of the team's shot attempts (14) in his five-on-five ice time. Despite that, he (and his linemates) still couldn't score on Thursday.
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Meier's been snake-bitten in six career postseason games, despite driving play in the right direction. Of the San Jose players that have played in at least two playoff games over the last two years, only Tomas Hertl (2.17 percent) and Jannik Hansen (2.38 percent) have a lower on-ice shooting percentage than Meier (3.12 percent). Yet, no Shark has been more individually productive in terms of generating shots and quality looks in the playoffs, and only a few players in the league have.
To equalize for ice time, the table below lists where Meier ranks individually in shot attempt rate (iCF/60), unblocked shot attempt rate (iFF/60), shot rate (iSF/60), and expected goals rate (iXGF/60) among skaters that have played a minimum of 50, five-on-five minutes over the last two postseasons.
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Courtesy of Corsica Hockey |
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iCF/60 |
23.02 |
2nd |
|
iFF/60 |
17.49 |
2nd |
|
iSF/60 |
12.89 |
4th |
|
iXGF/60 |
1.27 |
6th |
It's only a six-game sample size, but each of those rates are higher than Meier's in the regular season, so it's likely only a matter of time before the points start to follow. His play, as well as the rest of the third line's on Thursday, may have even prompted the Ducks to make lineup changes.
San Jose Sharks
Anaheim defenseman Andy Welinski spent most of his five-on-five ice time with Marcus Pettersson and against San Jose's bottom six forwards in Game 1. Welinski posted the following corsi-for percentages against Meier, as well as his linemates Chris Tierney and Kevin Labanc: 27.27 percent (out-attempted 8-3), 25 percent (out-attempted 12-4), and 16.67 percent (out-attempted 10-2), according to Natural Stat Trick.
So Welinski comes out of the lineup for Game 2, and veteran blueliner Kevin Bieksa draws in, based the Ducks' line rushes at the morning skate on Saturday. If Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle chooses to deploy his new third pairing against San Jose's third line, Meier, Tierney, and Labanc could very well still get the better of the matchup, as Bieksa and Pettersson have posted a 39.22 corsi-for percentage together this season, according to Corsica Hockey.
Meier may yet pick up his first playoff point, too.