Posted by It’s been an agonizing two weeks in Sharks Territory losing the last 5 of 5 only gaining 3 of a possible 10pts. Needless to say they have been on the road most of the early season but losing in OT and SO games tells a lot about a team. Inconsistency, injuries, and weak offensive and defensive play have crippled the once league leading Sharks. With the Los Angeles Kings tallying another win, San Jose has fallen to 4th in the Western Conference and 5th overall in the league. You have to wonder what has happened to the Sharks?
Photo courtesy of MLS FAN20
Consistency or lack there of has been an issue for most of the Sharks players this season. Not for forwards Ryane Clowe, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, or Joe Thornton. Since breaking his scoring drought on Oct. 30th, Clowe has registered a career high 10 game point streak. He has a plus-4 rating with 7 goals, 16 assists for 23 pts.
The top line of Marleau, Heatley, and Thornton has grossed over 70pts since being put on the same line. Although Patty has only netted 1 goal in the last five games he is still clutch in many situations. In 34 games Heatley and Thornton have only gone a max of a 2 games without getting a point. Heatley is a plus-7 , has 21 goals, and 16 assists. Thornton’s passing ability has him as the league assist leader with 37 and points leader with 44. He is currently on pace to get well over 8o assists this season.
Hate to sound like a broken record folks but the slew of injuries has a tired San Jose team relying on reinforcements. Call ups from Worcester are only a temporary fix to the problem. They often make mistakes only to get sent back down for a different player. Veterans Scott Nichol and Manny Malhotra have provided much needed secondary scoring to which they have been rewarded with more ice time. Torrey Mitchell is back and centering the 4th line after missing 108 games with a broken leg and tendinitis, he has been scoreless in all eight games played.
D-E-F-E-N-S-E, defense, defense! Where did it go? When you don’t play good D you leave your goalie hanging everyone knows this. Only Douglas Murray and Dan Boyle have shown a dominating presence on the ice in lew of Captain Rob Blake’s absence. Murray’s big body and hard checks make it tough to play against as he continuously impresses with every shift. Team ice time leader Dan Boyle is not only a fast puck moving defenseman but also an assist-man he is ranked second on the team with 21 total. Now that Blake is back and reunited with defensive partner Marc-Edouard Vlasic can he turn around the Sharks defense?
People are quick to blame the goalie, but Nabokov has played solid between the pipes. He made 44 saves in the game against Dallas and 9 more in the 11 round shootout. Regardless of the situation you have to play to win. Out of the 23 man roster only 12 players were mentioned. Not to say that the other 11 are not producing but when offense and defense is solely coming from those said players above you need to evaluate your game. If San Jose wants to start winning they will need to skate the complete 60 minutes, win battles against the boards, and play a tougher checking style of Sharks hockey.
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