Smarter Sharks catch up to Vegas
Like most NHL coaches, Pete DeBoer likes to frame the narrative.
Before the reporters expose their versions of the truth, the Sharks coach tries to nudge them in his direction, outlining his take on the key storylines.
Right now, the message he’s pushing is that the Sharks are getting better and better at handling what the Vegas Golden Knights are throwing at his team with each game of the series.
This time, he isn’t dishing out any spin.
After the Knights turned Game 1 into a trackmeet with a 7- 0 blowout win, an old narrative quickly surfaced: the Sharks aren’t fast enough to compete with a team designed to succeed in the modern NHL. The humiliating loss triggered instant flashbacks of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final when the Pittsburgh Penguins dismantled the Sharks vauntedpossession game with their superior-team speed, winning races all over the ice by chipping pucks into open space.
But this isn’t 2016: The Sharks are a reborn team, the speed gap isn’t as wide as it was with the Penguins and they’re proving that they can handle the Knights quickness when they play smart hockey.
Here’s another theme that pops up in a lot of DeBoer’s media scrums: the Sharks aren’t any faster than they were two years ago, they’re simply playing faster.
Let’s throw the challenge flag out on this one and hand it over to Toronto for review.
The Sharks are playing a quicker style of game nowadays, going northsouth with more chip and chase elements in their system. But it’s working because they’re much faster than the 2016 team in several areas.
Let’s start with the fourth line. In 2016, the Sharks bottom line featured Dainius Zubrus and Nick Spaling, two players who suited up for their last NHL games in the finals. Now, the fourth line features Marcus Sorensen, the fastest skater on the team, and Melker Karlsson, who’s much quicker than Zubrus in the twilight of his career.
It’s hard to imagine Spaling’s line scoring a goal like Sorensen’s opening tally in Game 4, where he danced and flew through the Knights defense.
In addition to their retooled fourth line, the Sharks have added speed by replacing power forward Joel Ward with speedy winger Mikkel Boedker on the right side, boat anchor defenseman Roman Polak with Dylan DeMelo on the blue line, and in Game 4, DeBoer made his team even faster by swapping out 37-year old Paul Martin for Joakim Ryan on Brent Burns’ pairing.
With Ryan’s mobility, the Sharks much less likely to get trapped in their own zone, caught up on a pinch and surrender odd-man scoring chances the other way.
And then there’s the revitalized first line. With Evander Kane, the Sharks finally have high-end speed up top, a player who can get out on the rush and create grade-A scoring chances in transition. Asmore andmore talented young speedsters join the NHL, the Sharks appeared to be caught in the stone ages earlier in the season, sending out a slowgrinding top line centered around Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski.
Now, with Kane on his line, Pavelski’s lack of speed is irrelevant. You don’t need everyone on the roster to be a track star if you can spread your heavy components out over four lines. The problem with the Thornton-Pavelski combo is that it compounded the team’s speed issues.
But besides the Martin-Ryan substitution, the Sharks aren’t any faster now than they were back in Game 1, so why is this series starting to tilt in the Sharks favor instead of heading in the direction of the 2016 finals?
The answer isn’t that sexy: the Sharks are just playing smarter hockey, neutralizing the Knights speed advantage.
They figured out that the Knights aren’t the heavy Anaheim Ducks team they faced in the opening round, and they’re adjusting. A lot of it comes down to smarter puck management through the neutral zone. Again, not exactly the sexiest topic in hockey.
“Game 1, that was the forwards turning the puck over too much in the neutral zone, we didn’t give our d-men a chance,” Logan Couture said. “They were flying through the neutral zone.”
The Sharks ditched the stretch passes that got them into so much trouble in Game 1, and they quit trying to stickhandle through the beehive that is the Knights defense to establish possession in the offensive zone. Instead, they’re advancing the puck up along the boards and getting it deep when needed, eliminating the odd-man rushes they were giving up to the likes of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, Alex Tuch, Erik Haula and James Neal earlier in the series.
The attention to detail is also allowing the Sharks to establish a forecheck and exploit the physical advantage they hold down low.
Martin Jones noticed the difference from the goal crease, facing less dangerous scoring chances in his Game 4 shutout.
“When we make them come through us, 200 feet through all five guys, we’re a lot tougher of a team to play against,” Jones said.
In short, DeBoer is right. The Sharks are getting better with every game because they’ve solved the Rubik’s Cube that is the Knights speed. Now, the challenge is replicating that game in the raucous environment that is T Mobile Arena in Game 5 tonight.
The story is simple: execute. If they do, the Sharks will punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals.