Sharks looking to turnaround faceoff battle in series.
SAN JOSE — The Sharks have lost ground in the faceoff battle with each successive game of their second round series with the Nashville Predators, a trend they couldn’t halt in a 4-3 triple-overtime loss in Thursday’s Game 4 at Bridgestone Arena.
They made some headway through the first two periods, as both teams won 21 faceoffs after 40 minutes.
But in the end, the Predators held a 58-44 advantage and evened the series at two games apiece.
The Sharks won 34 of 63 (54 percent) of their draws in all situations in Game 1 and 32 of 62 (52 percent) in Game 2, but the Preda- tors had a decisive edge as the home team in Game 3, winning 35 of 61 draws (61 percent).
The Sharks’ faceoff percentage at even strength had seen an even more precipitous slide, falling from 51.8 percent in Game 1 to 41.9 percent on Tuesday.
For the series, Joe Thornton, Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture and Chris Tierney are all above 50 percent. To have a better chance of going home up three-games-to-one, the Sharks felt they needed to do better job right from the drop of the puck, so to speak.
“We didn’t have a great faceoff night, including myself, I didn’t do too well,” said Sharks forward Joel Ward, who went 1-for-7 in the circle on Tuesday. “So it’s something that we look to bounce back at, get in here and do a little better job.
“You always want the puck, so it’s obviously huge. When you start with the puck, getting out of the zone and creating chances is obviously a lot easier.”
For the Predators, Paul Gaustad went 11 for 15 in the circle on Tuesday, Ryan Johansen was 9 for 14 and Mike Fisher was 10 for 19.
The Sharks do video work to review faceoffs and look at their opponents’ tendencies, not only how an individual player takes draws but also what a team likes to do right after a faceoff.
Still, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer stressed throughout the season that faceoffs were also a big indication of a team’s compete level.
“Nashville’s got some good faceoff guys,” DeBoer said. “Gaustad’s been a good faceoff guy in the NHL for the last seven or eight ears. Fisher’s a very good faceoff guy. That’s what you’re dealing with.
“You can look at tendencies all you want. They’re good. We have to find a way. We have to up our battle level, our compete level. We have to get extra help in there from the wingers. Whatever we have to do, we have to do a better job than we did last game.”
Sharks forward Nick Spaling has taken just 10 faceoffs in three games, but knows how important it is for wingers to get involved in each draw.
“I definitely want to help as much as I can,” Spaling said. “I know it’s frustrating as a center if you don’t get the help, so I want to do the best I can to help them out.”
Sharks defenseman n Roman Polak left the game briefly after he was hurt by a Shea Weber slap shot near the end of the first period.
Polak was standing in front of the Sharks’ crease when Weber’s shot from just inside the blue line appeared to catch Polak’s hand with 1:52 left in the first period. Polak left the ice and went straight to the Sharks’ dressing room in obvious discomfort, but came back for the start of the second period.
Polak’s injury came with the Sharks killing a penalty to defenseman Brent Burns. The Sharks killed the penalty, and trailed 2-1 going into the first intermission.
The Sharks didn’t n make any lineup changes for Thursday’s game. DeBoer had said Wednesday that some Sharks were being medically evaluated and the team would know more Thursday morning. The Sharks have stuck with the same lineup and largely the same forward lines throughout their first nine playoff games. The Predators scratched center Mike Ribeiro for the second straight game.