Can Sharks forwards pick up the slack?
By Curtis Pashelka SAN JOSE, CALIF. » The Sharks know the Vegas Golden Knights’ top priority in their second round series will be to slow down defenseman Brent Burns. The key for San Jose, as it was against the Anaheim Ducks, is getting everybody else to pick up the slack.
Burns, who led the Sharks with 67 points this season, will undoubtedly draw a lot of attention in this series, particularly after he had five points in four regular season games against Vegas. But that’s nothing new.
In the first round of last season’s playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers’ top priority was to contain Burns, just as it was for the Sharks to rein in Connor McDavid. Burns had three assists in a 7-0 Game 4 blowout win against Edmonton, but was shut out for the other five games of the series. San Jose lost in six.
But as the Sharks showed against the Ducks, they have a much better chance of succeeding now should Burns’ production be taken away.
“I expect Burnzie will get some attention. He always does. But, you take something away, something else opens up,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “That’s nothing that we haven’t dealt with before. We’ve seen that. Edmonton played him that way last year in the playoffs.
“I think individually and collectively, that’s what teams in the playoffs try to do is take away the other team’s strengths and expose their weaknesses. We’re trying to do the same thing on our end.”
Burns rejoined his Sharks teammates Monday for their brisk morning practice with DeBoer later reiterating that his Norris Trophy-winning defenseman will be ready once the series with the Golden Knights begins.
It remains unclear what Burns might be dealing with injury-wise, if anything. He took a maintenance day last Friday, two days after the Sharks dispatched of the Ducks with a four-game sweep in the first round series, and skated on Sunday morning before the full team practice began.
Against the Ducks, Burns had nine shots on goal and scored once in Game 1. After that, the Ducks made a concerted effort to limit Burns’ time and space, and held him to six shots on goal and one assist for the rest of the series. For the four game-series, Sharks defensemen combined for one goal and five assists.
The Sharks’ forward group picked up the slack, with Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture finishing with five points each and Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen all finishing with four.
If Vegas tries a similar tact against the Sharks’ blueliners, the forwards will again need to take advantage.
“Certain teams play certain ways. We see teams throughout the season give (more space) to the (defensemen). We’ve seen other teams take it away,” Pavelski said. “So, there’s certain things we try to accomplish.
“But from night to night, from play to play, there might be a few times, more consistently, they might take our ‘D’ away. You’ve go to be ready to make plays.”