The San Jose Sharks fell 2-1 in the desert against the Phoenix Coyotes last night, and after the emotional win and clinching of a playoff berth the night before I don’t think anyone is surprised.
The Sharks played hard in the third and put in a valiant effort attempting to comeback for the second night in a row, but it wasn’t in the cards. They were down 2-0 until a goal from Brent Burns cut the lead in half. That was as close as they got and Shark’s head coach Todd McLellan wasn’t happy, but we have seen him more upset after losses than he appeared Wednesday night.
He had these comments following the game.
“There’s always a concern after an emotional week (that the team will come out flat.) I look at the Columbus game and how close we were to clinching and obviously last night was a real emotional game.”
“In this league you can’t play 40-45 minutes and win you have to play every minute and tonight was a prime example of it.”
“As the second and third periods rolled around we decided to play.”
The bad news is that they lost the game; the good news for San Jose is that when they decided to focus and play to their abilities they carried the play and created a number of good scoring chances.
The Sharks decided to start Thomas Greiss putting an end to Niemi’s twenty-four game streak. The team wanted to get the back-up goalie a game in before the playoffs began. If they need to turn to Greiss in the post-season they don’t want him to be too rusty.
“We gotta be able to win with Thomas in net” quoted Todd McLellan before the game on Wednesday night.
“There’s no risk, we wouldn’t have Thomas here if we didn’t believe in what he could do.
“Thomas needs the work I don’t think Nemo needs the rest.”
Two years ago the Sharks went to their back-up goalie Antero Niittymaki more than once during their run to the conference finals and he faired pretty well in relief. Many felt that Niemi was overworked during the regular season which led to his inconsistencies in the playoffs.
This season some critics have voiced a similar opinion but I don’t believe we are comparing apples to apples. First of all Niemi played more games in a row down the stretch of the 2010-11 season and he played more games as a whole due to the regular 82 game schedule.
Secondly Niemi is a more seasoned veteran of the NHL now and has adjusted his off-season workouts accordingly. He has been more consistent this year and improved his lower body strength last summer.
The fact is that Antti Niemi has been the team’s MVP this year which is saying a lot considering the numbers Logan Couture has put together 20-16-36 including five game winning goals. He has also been affective in the shootout.
The Sharks have one game remaining in their schedule which comes Saturday night in LA against the Kings. This will be a big game on many levels.
First off there is a chance with a win that San Jose could still earn fourth spot in the conference which means home ice advantage for at least the first round. The Kings and Sharks currently have the same amount of points, but LA wins the first tie breaker for more wins in regulation or overtime (the NHL puts more value on wins during regulation or overtime rather than wins that come in a shootout.)
The Sharks have been a very tough team to beat on home ice with only two losses in regulation. Overtime in the playoffs of course takes on a whole new meaning because there is no four on four or a shootout. The teams play until somebody earns it five on five.
There is a good chance that these teams will meet in the first round so winning a game before the best of seven battle starts is good for a team’s confidence and psyche.
So with the potential for home ice advantage and a confidence boost going into the spring tournament the Sharks should have no troubles getting motivated for Saturday night’s final clash of the regular season.
The Kings Dustin Brown will be sitting in the press box for the game on Saturday as he will be serving the second game of a two game suspension for an elbow to the head of the Wild’s Jason Pominville.
The Sharks have won the two of the three meetings this season against the Kings with both wins coming at the Shark Tank and one of the games went to a shootout.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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