Habs aim for power-play improvement vs. Sharks

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens might find themselves among the NHL's top teams but they know there's still plenty of room for improvement when they host the San Jose Sharks on Friday.

Chief among them: the power play.

After getting off to a hot start, converting at least once in 13 of the team's first 20 games, it's cooled off considerably in the past nine games, connecting just four times on 29 opportunities. The loss of center Alex Galchenyuk hasn't helped matters; Montreal (19-6-4) is 1-for-15 with the man advantage in his absence.

That prompted some changes to the power play units at practice on Thursday. Defenseman Jeff Petry joined Shea Weber on the blue line on the first wave -- along with Alexander Radulov, Andrew Shaw and Max Pacioretty up front -- while Andrei Markov moved to the second unit alongside Nathan Beaulieu, with forwards Paul Byron, Brendan Gallagher and Artturi Lehkonen.

"We're trying to find solutions to get into a better rhythm on the power play," coach Michel Therrien said. "It doesn't mean we'll keep it (against the San Jose Sharks), but we wanted to take advantage of practice time to work on certain things."

"We want to give ourselves options for when teams focus a lot of attention on Weber," he added. "We think that Petry can also use his one-timer."

Weber's famous blast from the point has been tamed of late. While he's taken shots, they haven't been getting through at anywhere near the same rate as they had earlier on. On a personal note, he's managed just one assist in his last nine games.

But while the puck hasn't been going in for him, it's been the opposite for Byron. The 27-year-old scored his 10th goal of the season -- in his 29th game -- on Monday night, one off his career high set last year in 62 games. He's also four points shy of a career-best 21 points recorded in 2013-14 with the Calgary Flames.

Byron's addition to the power-play group will be his first regular appearance of the season with the man advantage, averaging a mere seven seconds before Friday night's tilt.

"If everything is going well right now, it's just because I worked really hard," he said. "But, it's also because of my teammates. I play with very good players who help me a lot. Good things come with work."

Things are going well, for the most part, for the Sharks (18-11-1), who are riding a three-game winning streak into Friday's contest -- including wins on back-to-back nights in which they trailed before emerging victorious in a shootout.

But Wednesday's win against the Ottawa Senators wasn't all sunshine and roses. Center Logan Couture, who ranks second on the team with 11 goals and third with 20 points, left the game midway through the third period after taking a cross-check to the back of his helmet from Senators winger Mike Hoffman.

The Sharks called up top prospect Timo Meier from the AHL's San Jose Barracuda on Thursday and it's possible the ninth overall pick from the 2015 draft makes his NHL debut against Montreal. Meier leads the Barracuda with nine goals in 17 games and is third on the club with 15 points.

"He approaches everything and does everything hard," Barracuda coach Roy Sommer told the Mercury News. "Practices hard, he's hard on himself. He plays the game hard. When you go in the corner with him, you know you've gone in the corner with him."

The Sharks' offense will welcome whatever jolt the 20-year-old can provide a team that is averaging just 2.43 goals per game this season. Defenseman Brent Burns leads the club with 13 goals and 28 points while captain Joe Pavelski ranks third in goals with 10.

Depth scoring has been hard to come by, however. San Jose is missing Tomas Hertl, who is out with an injury. Joel Ward, who scored 64 goals combined over the past three seasons, has just two in 30 games this year. Same goes for free agent acquisition Mikkel Boedker, who has also recorded just three assists on the season.

But while it's been a struggle for Boedker, coach Pete DeBoer likes what he's seen lately from the 26-year-old.

"The offense is going to come," said DeBoer, who coached him in junior hockey. "But, when he starts stringing together some games like you've seen here lately, that's the player that I know," I think we're just scratching the surface of what he can do."