Improved play in goal has narrowed gap with Vegas
Devan Dubnyk had just robbed Jonathan Marchessault twice in a matter of a few seconds. Once on a onetimer from just outside the crease, the other on a wrist shot after from point-blank range after the Vegas Golden Knights forward had gotten behind the San Jose defense.
With Dubnyk still on the ice, Marchessault couldn’t help but get in a couple of verbal jabs as he expressed his frustration toward the Sharks goalie.
“He just told me, ‘That’s enough.’ He was tired of it,” Dubnyk said of the brief exchange. “I had a few good (saves), so he just said, ‘no more.’ Obviously, I’m not going to listen to that, but those are the fun parts of playing.”
Right now for perhaps the first time all year, the Sharks are at a point where they’re confident their goalie is going to be just as good, if not better, than the one at the other end of the ice. That’s obviously going to be critical if the Sharks have any hope of making a serious run at a playoff spot in the second half of the season.
Over the last four games, Dubnyk and Martin Jones have a combined .959 save percentage, which jumps to .974 at even strength.
“The last four games, our goaltenders have been very, very good,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “They’ve given us a chance in every game. They’ve made game-changing saves. A big reason why we were able to win those games in Anaheim were both of our goalies making big saves at big times.”
Dubnyk stopped 34 of 36 shots Monday night in the Sharks’ 2-1 loss to the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, halting their win streak at three. The two teams play again today, as the Sharks (11-12-3) are still looking for their first win over the West Division-leading Golden Knights (19-6-1) this season.
Dubnyk was every bit as good as Vegas goalie MarcAndre Fleury, who made 23 saves to improve to 3-0-0 against the Sharks this season, allowing just two goals on 73 shots.
The Sharks still haven’t beaten the Golden Knights this season, still have never held a lead in any of the four games they’ve played.
But there’s a feeling among the Sharks players that the gap between the two teams has narrowed a little bit.
It starts with the Sharks’ goaltending.
The Golden Knights were coming off a six-game trip — which began with two wins over the Sharks at SAP Center — and looked and felt a little lethargic in the first period. They found their legs in a largely dominant second period, though, and the biggest reason why it was a close game in the third was the play of Dubnyk, who had 16 saves to keep it a 1-0 game going into the third.
“I thought we generated enough offense to win,” Couture said. “(Dubnyk) played incredible in the net, made some big saves down the stretch to give us an opportunity there with a few minutes left.”
Here are the Sharks’ combined save percentages at various times this season.
Games 1-10: Overall: .895; Even strength: .891.
Games 11-20: Overall: .880; Even strength: .900.
Games 21-26: Overall: .923: Even strength: .923.
The Sharks also feel they’re playing a tighter defensive style, as they’ve now allowed just three evenstrength goals-against over the past four games.
“We’re a good team, and we’re playing better,” Dubnyk said. “We’re playing consistently better, and consistently the way that we need to play to have a chance to win hockey games.”
Still, a lot of credit for that has to go to the goaltenders, as per NaturalStatTrick.com, the expected goals-for percentage for the Sharks has been below 50 percent in three of the last four games.
“It’s all the team. Our goaltender played great tonight, but we didn’t score,” Couture said. “That’s on us. There are nights when the goalies are great and the forward and defensemen stink. Other nights, the forwards are good and the goalies have tough nights. That’s the way this game goes You’ve got to pick each other up.
“Throughout probably the last calendar yearplus, we haven’t done that enough, and that’s the reason why we were where we were at in the standings last year, and why we’re not in a playoff spot right now.”
After tonight, the Sharks play 19 of their last 29 games at home, starting with two games against the Blues on Friday and Saturday. Earning a win against Vegas could set up an opportunity to really close the gap on the Blues, who hold the fourth and final playoff spot.
“The last little while, we’re starting to pick each other up, we’re starting to play better for each other, play to our system, play better defensively. When a team plays tighter defensively, the goaltender’s always going to look better and make more saves.”