San Jose is back in the playoff chase
At what might have been the lowest point of the season for the San Jose Sharks, defenseman Mario Ferraro stayed positive.
The Sharks had just lost backto-back games to the Arizona Coyotes, barely showing up in a 5-2 defeat the first night and coming apart in the third period in a 4-0 loss just 24 hours later. They were stuck in seventh place in the West Division, has lost two straight to a team they needed to hunt down and were seven points back of the fourth and final playoff spot.
“It’s far from over,” Ferraro said on March 27 from Gila River Arena. “We’re still going to make a run. There’s a lot of hockey left.”
A week later, Ferraro’s faith has been rewarded.
The Sharks came into Sunday tied for fifth in the division with the reeling St. Louis Blues with 38 points, just one point back of the fourth-place Coyotes. They’re on their first four-game winning streak of the season, playing as well now as they have all year.
The Sharks practice Monday and will start a five-game homestand Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks, starting a five-week sprint to the finish in a still tightly
compacted division.
“There’s still a lot of hockey left,” Ferraro said after the Sharks’ 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night, which closed out a two-game sweep and a 4-0-0 week. “We’ve still got 19 games left, so we still have to keep going, just as much as last weekend when we weren’t doing too well against Arizona.”
Here are four reasons why the Sharks have been able to climb back into the playoff race over the last week.
GOALTENDING: >> Martin Jones should be in the mix for division player of the week honors as he backstopped all four Sharks victories. In the four games, he stopped 113 of 120 shots for a .942 save percentage, which was fifth-best among all NHL goalies who played at least three games as of Saturday night.
The Sharks started the week with a 4-3 shootout win over Minnesota. Jones made 22 saves before the shootout, where Jones made four saves in eight rounds before Erik Karlsson won the game with a slap shot from between the hash marks that beat Cam Talbot.
For the next three games, Jones would stop 91 of 95 shots. In Friday’s game with the Kings, a 3-0 Sharks win, the second line of Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier and Rudolfs Balcers accounted for all three goals. But Jones made critical saves on Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore from in close in the first and second periods, respectively. He also saved shorthanded shots by Blake Lizotte and Jaret AndersonDolan in the second period.
Saturday, the Sharks were outshot 18-5 in the first period, but Jones limited the damage to one goal.
Barring something unforeseen, Jones will almost assuredly start Tuesday and maybe again Friday when they start another twogame series with Los Angeles. Coach Bob Boughner might just ride him until the wheels fall off.
THE SECOND LINE: >> Meier finished the March 27 game with Arizona on the Sharks’ third line, but Boughner placed him back with Hertl and Balcers before the series opener with the Wild. It’s paid off. For the week, Hertl and Balcers both had four points, matching Evander Kane for the team lead for the week. Meier had a huge game Friday, as his goal snapped a nine-game drought.
Balcers’ play has been a revelation, as he’s come on and filled a huge need in the Sharks’ top-six forward group. He’s fast and has played physical, and he and Hertl have found chemistry together in a short amount of time. His 12 points in 22 games almost match his career-high of 14 points he had two seasons ago in 36 games with the Ottawa Senators.
The line has clicked most times it has been together this season. But just in the last four games, per Natural Stats Trick, they have a Corsi-for percentage of 59.05, also creating 15 high danger scoring chances during 5-on-5 play and allowing just six.
“We’re just talking on the ice, getting over for each other and working for each other,” Balcers said of the line before Saturday’s game. “We’re just trying to build on that every game. Just communication is the key.” BACK-END PRODUCTION: >> The Sharks started getting some more scoring from their defensemen, as Erik Karlsson, Nikolai Knyzhov, and Brent Burns combined for three goals and six assists in the last four games. Radim Simek also scored in last Monday’s win over Minnesota.
In the eight games that preceded the four-game win streak, when the Sharks went 2-5-1, the defense corps combined for 10 points -four from Burns, two from Karlsson and Knyzhov, and one each from Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. That extra layer of scoring has made a big difference. PENALTY KILL/DISCIPLINE: >> The Sharks were on the penalty kill just six times in their four straight wins, a sizeable decline from earlier in March and most of the first six weeks of the season.
The Sharks were shorthanded six times in the March 27 game vs. Arizona alone.
For the season, the Sharks were shorthanded 31 times in eight games in January and 34 times in 10 games in February. For the first 15 games of March, the Sharks were on the kill 52 times -the second-highest total in the NHL.
When they were on the kill this past week, they were perfect, going 6-for6. For the week, the Sharks allowed just seven shots on goal on the six kills, all of which Jones stopped, of course.