What's Desharnais doing right in the playoffs?
So Desharnais hasn't been as good at evens during the playoffs as he was in the regular season, but I believe there should be a balanced view of player performance so I'm going to go over what he is doing right as well.
I already mentioned his PK TOI has gone up - and it looks like it's had an effect on the Oilers overall numbers on the PK, since the Oilers are actually second in the league in postseason PK percentage with 85.7 percent. Only the Rangers have a better percentage on the PK with 91.2 percent and the Oilers were 100 percent against the Kings in the first round.
Desharnais has also upped his physical play in the playoffs. Since there is such a stark contrast in games played between the regular season and the playoffs, we'll look at average hits and blocked shots over 60, or per game, if you prefer.
Desharnais has actually led the team in both the regular season and playoffs in blocked shots, but in the regular season he had 5.96 BS/60, whereas in the playoffs this has gone up to 8.59. You better believe without guys like Desharnais blocking shots, the Oilers would have been blown out by the Canucks in all three games they've played against them so far in the series.
In hits the trend is similar - in the regular season he had 6.6 hits/60 (good enough for eighth on the team) while in the playoffs that has gone up to 8.14 hits/60 (also eighth on the team). This means that Desharnais not only has size but is using it, which is exactly what you need in the playoffs.