San Jose starting to find an identity
SAN JOSE >> Bob Boughner mentioned the ‘I’ word in his analysis of what was the San Jose Sharks’ most complete victory of the season.
“We’ve got a little bit of an identity,” Boughner said Monday after the Sharks’ 6-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. But if we continue to play the way we did tonight, we’ll be in a lot of hockey games. We’ll be competing for points every night.”
It’s far too soon to call Monday’s victory a watershed-type of moment for the Sharks, especially when one looks at what’s on the docket for the rest of the week. The Sharks have another game with what’s sure to be a motivated Avalanche team tonight, followed by two games with the West Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights coming up this weekend. Any momentum built Monday night will be hard to sustain.
But two days after they let valuable points slip their
grasp Saturday in a 7-6 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Sharks (8-9-2) got the type of buy-in they need if they want to keep pace with elite teams like the Avalanche on any given night.
Maybe the way the Sharks lost Saturday was a wake-up call.
“Our toughest job is going to be to back this up and try and get on a roll and win a few in a row,” Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “That’s been a problem for us most of the year.
“We play (the Avalanche)
again, and they’re going to be a completely different team probably. They’re not going to be happyaboutwhattheydid outthere,andwe’vegotto find a way to get even better. If we play at the same level we did, I don’t think it’s going to be the same outcome.”
To have any shot of getting into the playoff, the Sharkshavetocutdownon the goals against. They’re 30th out 31 teams in goals allowed per game at 3.79. Not since the mid-1990s have they allowed goals at such a staggering rate.
The Sharks did a good job Monday of limiting their mistakes when they had the puck in the neutral zone. When there was any doubt, it was getting chipped in deep, making Colorado’s speedy defenseman and forward come the length of the ice if they wanted to create a scoring opportunity.
A third forward stayed high in the offensive zone to guard against quick breakouts. If a defenseman pinched, a forward quickly filled in behind.
And when all else failed, their goalie bailed them out, as Martin Jones stopped 33 of 35 shots to be in line for another start tonight.
Leading the way again was the Sharks’ top line of Logan Couture, Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc. But Boughner also saw that line receive some needed reinforcements.
Timo Meier has played some of his best hockey of the season the past two games, giving the second line the kind of spark it needs in the absence of Tomas Hertl.