Sharks’ season is back on track

SAN JOSE — Bob Boughner and the San Jose Sharks needed a new mindset.

Too much energy was being spent by the Sharks looking at the big picture, Boughner felt. They looked too often at the division standings, were worried too much about how many games in hand they had on the teams they were trying to chase down, calculated scenarios about how things might look three or four days down the line.

When they concentrated on the end result, they sometimes forgot about the process, and what they needed to do at any given moment to be successful as a team.

“We got caught up in it a couple of weeks ago,” Boughner said. “Constantly talking about, you know, we’ve got two games in hand and we’re this far behind, and we need to win this one and then you just start thinking about the big picture too much.

“We all know there’s a lot of work ahead and it’s an uphill climb, but it’s almost mentally draining if you think like that.”

“You look at the standings every day, you’re just going to get frustrated,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “You can’t make up eight points overnight. It’s just not possible. So, look at the task at hand that day, try and get points.”

All that said, the Sharks, given their schedule over the next couple of weeks, are in a position to make a legitimate run at fourth place and the final playoff spot in the West Division.

After their impressive two-game sweep of the Minnesota Wild, which included a 4-2 win Wednesday, the Sharks are four points back of the fourth-place St. Louis Blues with 21 games left to play. The Sharks and Los Angeles Kings are tied for sixth place with 34 points, with the Arizona Coyotes in fifth with 37.

The Sharks (15-16-4) play the Kings (14-14-6) at Staples Center on Fri