DeBoer emphasizes deflections, ugly goals to boost offense

For the duration of Pete DeBoer’s coaching stint in San Jose, no team was better at deflecting shots on goal.

The Sharks ranked first in that statistic from the start of the 2015-16 season until DeBoer was fired Dec. 11, 2019, and also led the NHL with 76 deflected goals, 19 more than the next-closest team.

After the Golden Knights crashed out of the Western Conference Final due in large part to a prolonged scoring slump, it should come as no surprise that DeBoer spent the first week of training camp emphasizing the importance of deflections and creating traffic in front of the crease.

“When we look back at the bubble experience, we did a lot of things really well. What we didn’t do well particularly at the end in the last two rounds was stick the puck in the net,” DeBoer said. “We can’t just simply chalk that up to great goaltending on the other side. That’s a piece of it, but we didn’t make it difficult enough on the other team’s goalies, either.”

The Knights had no problem generating scoring opportunities last season and produced 54.8 percent of the shot attempts at five on five, which led the NHL. They also ranked first in expected goals and high-danger chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

Most of their production came in transition, as the Knights produced the third-most chances off the rush at five on five, according to ThePointHockey.com.

But the finishing was an issue, as the Knights too often were content to fire shots from the perimeter that were easily turned away or blocked. In the regular season, they ranked 13th in goals per game (3.15), though that number improved to 3.45 per game after DeBoer took over as coach Jan. 15.

The lack of a deflection or greasy goal was magnified in the postseason when the Knights were unable to generate off the rush. In their final eight playoff games, they averaged 1.5 goals and went 2-6.

They went 138:40 without scoring against Vancouver and nearly blew a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals, then were eliminated by Dallas in the Western Conference Final, with all four losses by one goal.

Max Pacioretty, who led the team in goals during the regular season, was held without a goal in the final eight playoff games. Jonathan Marchessault didn’t score in his final 11 games, and linemate Reilly Smith registered one goal in his final 11 appearances.

Mark Stone (one goal in final nine games) and William Karlsson (one in final eight games) also went into lengthy slumps.

“We know what we can do. It’s just bring it out on the ice,” Marchessault said. “At the end of the day, we have to find a way to score goals. We didn’t do that. I mean, that’s just the way it went.”

The Knights spent a portion of practice Wednesday working on deflections and taking away the opposing goaltender’s eyes. The message will continue from DeBoer through the season opener Thursday against Anaheim.

“Something we’re learning here in camp is we got to get to the net. Provide screens,” forward Dylan Sikura said. “That’s something I think I can do better in my game is get to the net, get tip-in goals. Goals in the crease and the dirty areas, that’s where most of them are scored in the National League level.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.