Sharks adjusting to life under interim coach Bob Boughner

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The hallmark of the San Jose Sharks under general manager Doug Wilson is the franchise’s stability, a trait that extends behind the bench, as well.

Since Wilson was hired in 2003, four coaches have been in charge of the Sharks. Only two clubs (Nashville and Detroit) made fewer changes during that span, while New Jersey hired its league-high 13th coach since 2003 on Dec. 3 when Alain Nasreddine took over on an interim basis.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder the aftershocks of Peter DeBoer’s firing are still being felt nearly two weeks later.

“For a player, more than anything, it’s a wake-up call,” interim coach Bob Boughner said Saturday following the team’s practice at Solar4America Ice. “There’s some newness being brought in. I think it’s my job to give them a little bit of a fresh look on some things.”

The Sharks’ early-season faceplant was difficult to see coming from a group that defeated the Knights in controversial fashion in the opening round of the postseason and advanced to the Western Conference Final.

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson signed a contract extension in June, and eight of San Jose’s top nine scorers returned.

But the Sharks entered Saturday’s game against defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis at 16-18-2, seven points behind Calgary for the second wild card.

That poor start led to DeBoer’s dismissal Dec. 11 despite back-to-back 100-point campaigns and a trip to the 2016 Stanley Cup Final in his four-plus seasons as coach.

San Jose is 1-2 under Boughner and hosts the Knights on Sunday in the final game of the season series between the newly minted rivals.

“Guys are realizing things aren’t going well,” veteran forward Patrick Marleau said. “We’ve got to buckle down and get our game going the right direction. That sense of urgency is probably the biggest thing that we start feeling.”

Boughner made a handful of subtle changes to the Sharks’ system, notably implementing a 2-1-2 forecheck, and juggled the forward lines in an effort to ignite a struggling offense.

San Jose entered Saturday ranked 24th in goals per game (2.67) after finishing tied for second in the NHL last season at 3.52.

Defensemen Brent Burns, who was the runner-up for the Norris Trophy in 2018-19, has seen the biggest dip in production. His shots on goal are down significantly and he’s on pace for 50 points, which would be his lowest output since 2013-14.

San Jose’s power play, which converted at 23.6 percent and ranked sixth, also clearly misses Joe Pavelski (signed with Dallas) and sat 27th overall before the game against the Blues at 14.8 percent.

“The game is all about offense now,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “The average goals are going up, so if you can’t score, you’ve got to keep them out of your net.”

But regardless of whether the Sharks find their offense, unless their goaltending improves, they’ll miss the playoffs for the first time since 2015 and third time in 22 years.

Martin Jones owns an unsightly .888 save percentage, and his minus-23.56 goals saved above average at 5-on-5 ranked last in the league, according to NaturalStatTrick. That’s almost twice as bad as the next closest goalie on the list, Edmonton’s Mike Smith (minus-11.85).

Aaron Dell, who is in line to start against the Knights after Jones earned the nod in the opener of San Jose’s back-to-back, hasn’t been much better and is 73rd out of 76 qualifying goalies at minus-8.87.

“In the position we’re in, we have to get points,” Boughner said. “It’d be different if this was two months ago, but we’re in a fight for our lives here all the way in. There’s no waiting around or taking time to get used to things. We have to have some success.”

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