Long stretch of home games should help team recover
SAN JOSE >> Four weeks in, and already it seems like the Sharks’ season has reached a critical stage.
At 4-8-1, either they’ll turn their season around in November when they play 11 of 15 games at home, or continue to dig themselves a hole they can’t escape.
October was a brutal month, no question. Nine of their 13 games were away from home, and seven of their nine losses have come against teams presently in a playoff spot.
But no one’s fooling themselves at this point, not after a 1-3-1 road trip exposed a number of problems. It’s not going to matter what kind of schedule the Sharks have in front of them if they can’t resolve those issues.
The Sharks play the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday as part a six-game homestand.
“Seems like it is something different every night,” Shaeks coach Pete DeBoer said after his team’s 5-1 loss the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. “No one is going to feel sorry for us, we have to do some soul searching and get back home. We have a big homestand here this month and we have to take advantage of it.”
The issues include:
1. FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE >> More than one player after Tuesday’s game said that while their instincts might tell them to play it as safe as possible — especially with their record — you still have to make plays.
“I think we all know when it’s time to make a play and when it’s not. Especially if you’re a top guy in this league, you have to bring a little bit of creativity,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “Right now
I don’t think that we’re bringing any. That’s not the way the game is supposed to be played.”
Finding that balance between risk and reward has been especially tough the last three games. When the Sharks were dumping it in, they were putting it in the wrong spots, leading to easy breakouts the other way. When they tried making plays in the neutral zone, they often weren’t carrying enough speed to avoid a turnover.
At even strength, the Sharks are 31st and last in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals against (37) and 28th in goals for with 19.
There’s a lack of confidence, either individually or in each other.
“That’s what happens when it’s so close and so tight that if that mental side starts to drip down a little bit, it’s tough,” defenseman Brent Burns said. “It’s natural when you’re going through tough times to feel that and not want to create more issues. But it creates other issues, too.”
2. PENALTIES >> The Sharks were shorthanded eight times Tuesday. Five of those penalty kills came in the first two periods. The Sharks like the way they’re killing penalties right now, but they’ve been shorthanded 52 times in 13 games.
The Sharks were able to kill off five penalties Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but were punished by the Bruins power play twice in the first period. Burns got one of those goals back on the power play early in the second period, and the Sharks followed that up with a couple of decent shifts.
But again, any momentum was short-lived as Tomas Hertl took a tripping penalty at the 3:09 mark of the second, and while the Bruins didn’t score on that man advantage, they scored 12 seconds after Hertl’s penalty expired.
The Sharks rely on a lot of their top players to kill penalties — Couture, Hertl, Burns, Karlsson and Timo Meier. That obviously takes away chances for them to score at even strength.
“It’s tough when you’ve got Tommy and Timo, myself and Kaner, killing,” Couture said. “No excuses for our play, but it is tougher when you’re killing a lot and you’re spending a lot of energy on the kill. We still need to do more offensively, but we need to stay out of the box.”
3. BEING TOO EASY TO PLAY >> There was moments in the second period of Sunday’s game in Ottawa where the Senators were hitting everything in sight, finishing every check. The Sharks response was tepid at best.
“We just kind of chip in puck, let it go, and (don’t) be strong on the puck,” Hertl said. “We losing too easy. We get like a lot of big guys — me, Kaner, (Joe Thornton), Timo, (Barclay Goodrow) — and we losing pucks like there’s nobody there.”
4. SHOT SUPPRESSION >> The Sharks were second in the NHL in shot suppression last season, allowing on average 28.3 per game. So far this year, they’ve allowed an average of 32.5 shots per game. Per statistician Darin Stephens, this difference between shots for (357) and against (422) at this point in a season is the widest its been since 199596. The Sharks finished 2055-7 that year.
5. GETTING A SAVE >> It makes sense that if the Sharks can cut down on the shots against, it’ll help their goalies reduce goals against. Martin Jones and Aaron Dell have had their moments this season, but overall are still close to where they were last season when they both were below average. Jones has a .890 save percentage in 10 games and Dell is at .891 in five games.
6. A LACK OF CONNECTIVITY >> Breaking out of their own end has been problematic almost all season for the Sharks.
“You’re battling it a little bit naturally, but you’ve got to get through it and just try and put that next guy in position to let him succeed, so he can help the next guy succeed,” Burns said, “and with that you’re going to create things and start to feel better. Somebody’s got to create that spark to get that going.”
“We’ve got to find a way to put pucks in better spots for each other, help each other out,” Karlsson said, “and make the plays when they’re supposed to be made.”