Sharks enjoying faceoff luxury

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SAN JOSEOne benefit of having three centers on one line, as the Sharks do with Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau, is that all have the ability to take faceoffs depending on the situation.

Lately, its been Pavelski taking the majority of draws. In the last two games, Pavelski has taken 27 draws to just nine for Thornton. The reason? The majority of the faceoffs for that line have been on the right side, where right-handed Pavelski is stronger.

Its just a luxury we have right now, said Pavelski.

Pavelski and Thornton both have tremendous faceoff numbers (see below), which is a big reason the Sharks are second in the NHL in that category at 53.8 percent, trailing only the Boston Bruins.

Theyre both well over 50 percent, which means we can start with the puck a lot in the offensive zone on the power play, and potentially on the penalty kill as well, said Todd McLellan. Thats a good combination for us.

The Sharks have won the battle in the faceoff circle in 10 straight games, including winning 36 of 54 against Florida on Saturday.

We really stressed it early in the year, because we were giving up the puck way too much on faceoffs, said McLellan. We got it back. There are always areas in your game where youre a little bit sick. That was one of them, and it healed.

Below is a breakdown of the players who regularly take faceoffs for the Sharks.

Player
FOW
FOL
Tot
FO
Joe Pavelski
70
52
122
57.4
Andrew Desjardins
60
45
105
57.1
Joe Thornton
212
164
376
56.4
Michal Handzus
166
140
306
54.2
Logan Couture
124
114
238
52.1
Patrick Marleau
85
88
173
49.1

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