The San Jose Sharks are fighting a power play against an avalanche penalty in Colorado; Preserving Brent Burns

Craig Custance Behind the bench: in the spirit of the greatest hockey coaches, Mike Sullivan talked about the tactical back-and-forth of the special teams in a playoff series:

"There is always this game of cat and mouse with the coaches. More in a series. It's a kind of read-reaction. This often happens in special teams. Most of the adjustments involve special teams, whether a team makes a special breakthrough or a numerical superiority. "

This cat-and-mouse game came to life in this series, as the San Jose Sharks' power-play escape was continually frustrated by the Colorado Avalanche's goal shot.

"I do not think we've been very good in this series," said Logan Couture about the power play of Games 1 and 2. "We did not participate cleanly."

In games 1 and 2, the Sharks have relied heavily on the five-man "swing", which looks like this:

Eight of the 12 groups of Brent Burns or led by Erik Karlsson at 5 to 4 used this training. They tried only two passes. However, San Jose only had seven entries in the controlled zone in 12 attempts.

In Game 3, however, the Sharks reversed the Avalanche script. Eight of the 13 groups led by Burns or Karlsson used the pass. There were no "swings" for five men. San Jose has 11 entries in the controlled zone in 13 attempts.

Here is an example of missing game 3:

"We have controlled the entrance to the area," Kevin Labanc said of the third game.

As could be expected, Colorado has adapted: their first teammate (F1), instead of attacking Karlsson (65) on the side and leaving the back open for the pass, is hidden behind Karlsson, trying to cross the pass.

This is an example of game 5:

It is a languid Gabriel Landeskog (92) who reflects each Karlsson gesture. While Karlsson won the zone, the Sharks preferred a pass for Karlsson at the speed of Tomas Hertl coming from behind.

We are not finished! This is how San Jose reacted:

Instead of a strong push towards the center, Karlsson went deliberately to the right lane. This forced Colorado's F1 (Matt Nieto, 83) to stay with Karlsson, opening the middle and left lanes for both drop options, Hertl (48) and Timo Meier (28).

Since Avalanche knows that Hertl is the man of choice in this scenario, Karlsson dropped him to Meier. Note that Nieto is shaded towards Hertl, perhaps waiting for a pass.

Karlsson bet on Nieto, slowing the speed of F1. Meier came in and handed the puck to Labanc (62), who dropped it to the point. Now it's Hertl's turn to choose Nieto; Karlsson goes around and pulls him.

In the third period, Colorado countered:

Same configuration, but it seems that the Avs played Labanc, Meier's pass option, tighter, encouraging Meier to play the hero.

Anyway, the Sharks had the last word, bringing back the "swing" to five players at the entrance to the power play area that would lead to Hertl's tying goal.

The interesting activity of Hertl is that he essentially chose the penalty attack in Colorado for Karlsson.

According to the Czech center, it was not a play: "We must do [creative] play, move.

As they say, the need is the mother of the invention.

Who starts the power play?

In the first three games of this series, Burns has initiated four power games by himself and Karlsson three. They started a set.

However, at Games 4 and 5, an interesting trend emerged. Burns started zero power games by himself. Karlsson started at five, while they teamed up for two together.

By Natural Stat Trick, Karlsson played a team record at 9:08 at 5-in-4 in games 4 and 5; Burns only scored 4:41.

Now, consider that Burns was charged, along with Marc-Edward Vlasic, to observe Nathan MacKinnon. In the fifth game, Burns scored a team-high at 12:34 to 5-on-5 against MacKinnon. Karlsson saw MacKinnon for only 2:46.

Does Peter DeBoer preserve Burns by giving Karlsson the essential work for the benefit of men?

"Exactly," DeBoer suggested, when he was asked the question the next morning.

Remember that Karlsson worked a lot for defense in December and January. What is it possible to use two winners of the Norris Trophy interchangeably?

"Great luxury," said DeBoer. "We are a different team when these two guys are in good health."