San Jose has spent the last five weeks steadily climbing up the
Western Conference standings in a decidedly un-Sharks-like manner.
Known more for offensive flair, the Sharks have become adept at
winning low-scoring games thanks to a newfound defensive
emphasis.
SAN JOSE
San Jose has spent the last five weeks steadily climbing up the Western Conference standings in a decidedly un-Sharks-like manner.
Known more for offensive flair, the Sharks have become adept at winning low-scoring games thanks to a newfound defensive emphasis.
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The team’s marquee players—Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle—are not racking up points at their usual pace. Yet that hasn’t stopped the Sharks from putting together a 12-2-1 run.
As the Sharks begin a challenging three-game trip Tuesday in Detroit, though, a question remains. Doesn’t San Jose need the big guns to start scoring eventually?
“There’s a sacrifice to be made when you’re playing hard defensively,” Boyle said. “You’re giving up a little bit on offense. But it’s all about winning games. Whatever works. And it’s clear that defensively we’ve tightened things up.”
It’s also clear the Sharks, who are 16th in the NHL in goals per game at 2.73, have learned how to win without burning out red light bulbs. Their 4-0 victory over reeling Colorado on Saturday qualified as an offensive explosion. That game also marked the first time since Dec. 2 that the Sharks won a game by more than two goals.
So while coach Todd McLellan would like more scoring, he is not about the mess with the current success.
“We’re sticking to the same formula and the same recipe,” McLellan said Monday. “If they continue to give us everything they have on the defensive side, eventually the offense will come. At the end of the day, they have to produce a little more offensively. But it will not be at the cost of play at our own end.”
Or as Ryane Clowe added: “Nobody complains about not scoring goals when you’re winning.”
Perhaps what happened to the Sharks is playoff-style hockey arrived early this season.
With so many teams packed together in the West, the fight for points each night has produced high-energy encounters similar to what’s seen in the postseason. For the Sharks that has translated into lots of tight-checking, one-goal games that come down to the final horn. And that also means there is precious little space on the ice available for players such as Thornton.
Normally a points machine, Thornton only has three assists in the last eight games.
“I think the way we’re playing right now is the way we’re going to win,” Thornton responded when asked about his personal production.
In fact, Thornton believes he has been at the top of his game lately as he focuses more on hockey’s smaller battles: Winning faceoffs, chasing down loose pucks, forechecking.
“There have been times where I felt like I controlled the game, and then I look at the score sheet and I have no points and I’m minus-1,” said Thornton, who leads the Sharks with 49 points. “Sometimes the goals and assists really don’t reflect how you’re playing.”
Thornton and Marleau echoed Boyle’s sentiments: Whatever it takes to win. Heatley agreed “¦ to a point.
“No question that’s our attitude,” said Heatley, who has only 20 goals thus far after scoring 39 a season ago. “But we’ve got to get goals from somebody. We don’t care where they come from, but it’s my job to score. It’s a lot of guys’ job on this team. We want to contribute offensively.”
This week would be an opportune time as the Sharks play three games in four nights against quality opponents.
Detroit (37-16-6) has won five consecutive games and is closing ground on West-leading Vancouver. Injury-ravaged Pittsburgh, even without stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, still has the second-most points in the Eastern Conference. Red-hot Calgary has earned at least a point in 18 of its last 20 games.
“We’ve got two perennial Stanley Cup teams right off the bat, and then the Flames are on a streak,” McLellan said. “So we’ll have our hands full.”
Teams who have played the Sharks recently could say the same thing. Antti Niemi is the NHL’s hottest goalie and the points the Sharks do get are coming from throughout the lineup.
“The best thing about the team this year is we’re so deep,” Thornton said. “In the long run, we’re going to get points. That’s not a worry. But if you take care of the little things, the big picture will be fine. That’s my theory.”
— Story by Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News
