Heading into the series, San Jose Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer likely had two particular goals in mind:
1) Contain Connor McDavid
2) Force an inexperienced Edmonton Oilers team to take penalties
Through three games, McDavid has failed to pick up an even-strength point (he does have a short-handed goal and a power-play assist, though) and the Oilers have taken 30 penalty minutes.
"If we mapped out the first three games and had controlled McDavid and had almost five power plays a game, we'd expect a better outcome," DeBoer told Jason Gregor of the Edmonton Journal.
The Sharks are just 1-for-16 with the man advantage so far in the series. They were without Joe Thornton, who quarterbacks the power play from the half-wall, for the first two games of this series and 14 of those power-play opportunities. Nonetheless, a 6.25 percent success rate is unacceptable, especially against an Oilers penalty kill that ranked 17th in the regular season.
The problem has been their inability to solve Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot, who has reeled off two straight shutouts. For the Sharks, solving Talbot all starts with getting their power play back in sync.
After all, you can only keep McDavid quiet for so long. It's only a matter of time before he begins to single-handedly take over games.
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