31 Takes: Karlsson, Burns doing about as well as you’d expect

Coming into the playoffs, it was a pretty good bet that Pete DeBoer would lean heavily on his two Norris-caliber defensemen.

To this point, Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns have played a huge chunk of San Jose’s total available minutes. We’re talking about 433 for Karlsson and 381 for Burns, of a total possible 952-plus, with 75ish of overlap. They’re playing — and often playing together — in all situations, because that’s the benefit of having two defensemen who are just this good, but it’s nonetheless a heavy workload.

And in those minutes, the Sharks have scored 43 goals (3.49 per hour, very good). The problem is that they’re also both pretty mediocre when it comes to pushing the puck in the right direction, generating the majority of shot quality when they’re on the ice, and so on. That means they’ve also been on the ice for 40 goals against (3.25 per hour, not great).

Is this some kind of affirmation that they don’t prioritize defense, like the Drew Doughtys of the world might suggest? Well, possibly. But also keep in mind that given all the minutes they play in every situation, most of their opponents are all going to be the very best players the Golden Knights, Avalanche, and Blues can put over the boards.

Moreover, you have to remember that there was the little stretch in the middle of that Vegas series where Martin Jones totally melted down and San Jose allowed 16 goals in three games as a result. It’s probably a little too forgiving to absolve Burns and Karlsson — or any other outfield player on the roster — of blame for every single goal. Nonetheless, let’s just note that of those 16, either or both of them were on the ice for 14 (Karlsson for six, Burns for three, both for five). Dismal.

Let’s further acknowledge they were also on the ice for four of six San Jose goals in those three games, too. In fact, for the whole postseason, one or both of them have a point on 24 of San Jose’s total 49 goals. Of their combined 28 points in the postseason, 23 were primaries (goals or first assists). Incredible number, even if they weren’t both defensemen, who compile fewer primary points than forwards by nature.

And to start the Western Conference final, these two guys were running the show offensively. Karlsson was on the ice for the first, and both he and Burns were on for second (for which they got the first and second assists thanks to a pair of savvy passes). Burns was on for the rest solo.

But even including that rough stretch against Vegas, in a total 78 percent of San Jose’s ice time, they’ve been on the ice for 84 percent of their shot attempts, 86 percent of their expected-goals, and 88 percent of their actual goals. At the other end, it’s the same percentage of TOI (obviously) but 79 percent of conceded attempts, 85 percent of conceded xG, and 87 percent of conceded goals. Pretty even. But again, some of that was Jones meltdown and some of it definitely wasn’t.

So much like the Sharks as a whole, apart from those three games, these guys have basically played lights-out hockey. It’s not just a plus-minus thing (though those are obviously great numbers) but it’s also the fact that DeBoer can rely on them to play 26 or 29 minutes a night, with no real concern what happens in the other 10 or so per game neither is on the ice.

They need to tighten it up, for sure, but there are enough qualifiers that you can’t really fault them for mostly finishing even on the balance — plus-0.1 expected goals, plus-3 actual — against elite talent on mostly great playoff teams for two-plus rounds.

The third pair has been kinda all over the place in this postseason, because DeBoer gets to use them extremely strategically (Braun is getting run over because he’s a shutdown guy, while Joakim Ryan is only being put in limited and advantageous situations). This is, again, the benefit of having two guys you know can crush even the best opponents when they’re given the opportunity and because they’re playing 80-plus percent of the team’s ice time, you get to have fun, mix-n-match pairs in other situations as needed.

I said it in September: This is the exact reason you go out and get Karlsson when you already have Burns. Because they play the same side, you get to never-not have one of them on the ice if you need. DeBoer would be totally justified if, when it was absolutely crucial, he never played another defenseman on the right side. Burns, Karlsson, Burns, Karlsson all night. They can handle that kind of workload, and excel with it.

And that alone might be enough to get the Sharks three more wins in this series, and push them to yet another Cup final.

31 Takes: Playoff Edition

Boston Bruins: Second game in a row where it’s looked like these two teams shouldn’t even be allowed to share the same ice. Apart from a pair of garbage-time goals to break up the bloodbath, this series has basically been all Boston since the end of the first period in Game 1. In fact, before Carolina scored to make it 6-1, the Bruins had scored all of the previous 10 goals in the series. Like, come on. There’s nothing to even discuss.

Carolina Hurricanes: Not much more to say about this series than, “If the other team’s media is talking about how their side ‘broke’ your goalie, you’re in a lot of trouble.” Curtis McElhinney is gonna get the start in Game 3, you’d think, but he certainly should have appeared earlier in this series than that.

San Jose Sharks: How ABOUT that second line, eh? Massive night from Timo Meier, obviously. And boy it’s starting to look like that Gus Nyquist pickup was crucial to getting the depth offense going. He’s up to 10 points in these playoffs (though only one goal on 17 shots) with strong underlyings. When you keep in mind that the Blues needed more than seven games’ worth of hockey to beat a one-line team in Dallas, it makes sense that the second line for the Sharks speedbagged them.

St. Louis Blues: I don’t buy the idea that the Blues hung Jordan Binnington out to dry. They faced just 11 high-danger chances in all situations and that obviously includes the 5-on-3 power play the Sharks scored on. He just wasn’t that good (four goals allowed on 1.75 expected at full strength) and got outdueled by Martin Jones. Come on.

Gold Star Award

Oh I forgot to mention above that Logan Couture had two goals and a primary assist and the Sharks out-attempted St. Louis 28-10 in all situations when he was on the ice, so that was a good night at the office.

Minus of the Weekend

Alex Pietrangelo got absolutely run over in Game 1. Just an awful night against the Kane-Pavelski-Hertl line, as well as healthy doses of both Karlsson and Burns. This is what separates the pretty good top-pair guys from the elite ones, gang.

Play of the Weekend

Early in the game I decided that there probably wouldn’t be a better goal than Joe Pavelski’s triple-tap on Saturday. Then Timo Meier did this, so…

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User “Llamamoto” is trying to help only.

To EDM: 12th overall pick, Jared Spurgeon

To MIN: 8th overall pick, Jesse Puljujarvi, Kris Russell

Signoff

I can give you the name of a good gum-and-hair man.

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