SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks, one month into the season, rank last in the NHL in both scoring goals and allowing shots, and it’s not a particularly close competition in either statistical category.
The Sharks took a tangible step to try to address at least one of those weaknesses Monday, recalling their AHL affiliate’s leading scorer, forward Danil Gushchin.
The Sharks lost 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, marking the 11th time in 15 games this season they’ve scored one goal or less. San Jose also lost 5-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, halting any momentum they might have created by beating the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers earlier in the week.
Going into Tuesday’s home game against the Florida Panthers, the Sharks (2-12-1) are averaging just 1.20 goals per game, over a goal less than the 31st-place team in that category, the Washington Capitals (2.30).
Gushchin, 21, was leading the San Jose Barracuda with nine assists and 13 points in 11 games this season. In two games with the Sharks last season, Gushchin had a goal and an assist.
“He’s played a more complete game. He’s obviously producing offensively,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of Gushchin. “We liked him when he was here last year and liked him in camp. So this was his opportunity.”
“A lot of offense, a lot of skill and creativity,” Sharks forward William Eklund said of Gushchin. “He’s a great player.”
The Sharks need sources of offense wherever they can find them.
Already without injured top-six forwards Logan Couture and Alexander Barabanov, the Sharks also played without Anthony Duclair the last two games as he was out with an unspecified, non-COVID illness.
Duclair did not practice with the Sharks on Monday but was at the facility and watched the end of the team’s skate in workout gear. It wasn’t immediately known whether he would be available to play Tuesday against his former team at SAP Center.
Other Sharks forwards have barely dented the scoresheet in recent weeks. Mike Hoffman is scoreless in 12 games, Filip Zadina has one point, a goal, in his last 12 games and Mikael Granlund has one point in seven games since his return from injury.
Gushchin, a third-round draft pick by San Jose in 2020, likely will not solve all of the Sharks’ offensive woes, but perhaps he can provide a spark to those around him, as he practiced Monday on a line with Granlund and Luke Kunin.
Gushchin had two assists in two preseason games for the Sharks in training camp this year before he was returned to the AHL.
“He’s a guy that creates offense and he can be dynamic. Those are the things he can add to a line,” Quinn said of Gushchin, who had 45 points in 67 games for the Barracuda last season.
“Just try my best,” the Russian-born Gushchin said. “If they need me in the defensive zone to block shots or just score goals, I’ll do my best.”
Gushchin also figures to help with the Sharks’ power play, which ranked 25th in the NHL at 15.2 percent as of Monday.
Quinn lamented the special teams play after the loss in Anaheim, as San Jose went 0-for-2 with the man advantage and allowed two power-play goals to the Ducks.
Monday, Gushchin was on the second unit with Hoffman, Zadina, Kevin Labanc, and defenseman Ty Emberson.
The Sharks are 1-for-13 with the man advantage over their last four games, as they’ve struggled to play with any tempo or pace in terms of their skating and puck movement.
The Sharks had a power play late in the second period when they trailed 2-1. But they managed just one shot in those minutes, then gave up a power play goal to the Ducks early in the third to fall behind 3-1.
“It’s amazing what a power play can do,” Quinn said. “They get theirs and they go, ‘whoa.’ We get ours and I don’t know what happened, so the mental dynamic changes during the course of the period. That’s just how it works.
“We had chances to make it 2-2 at the end of the second period, or at least build momentum and we didn’t do it. So, the power play has to get going and it’s certainly something we worked on today. I liked what I saw, and we’ve got to carry those characteristics in our game (Tuesday).”
Cutting back on shots allowed wouldn’t hurt San Jose’s cause, either. The Sharks are allowing a staggering 38.4 shots per game so far this season, 3.6 shots more than the next worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks.
Over the course of a full season, the only team since 1991 to allow more than 37 shots per game was the Ducks last season, at 39.1.
“When you turn the puck over, you’re going one way, you turn it over, (the other team is getting) three shots off of that because you’re not in structure,” Quinn said. “You give up fewer shots when you’re always in a good spot, and if you chip a puck in and they break it out, at least you always have a chance to stay above it. But when you have turned pucks over in your end, it’s hard to recover.”
NOTE: The Sharks initially announced Monday that they had returned forward Oskar Lindblom to the Barracuda, but later discovered that he has a lower-body injury, so he was placed on injured reserve. Lindblom was originally recalled on Nov. 8 and played against Vegas.
