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After Losing Three Straight the Sharks Can't Afford To Take Buffalo Lightly

October 25, 2014, 12:21 PM ET [8 Comments]
Tim Chiasson
San Jose Sharks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



Engulfed in a three-game losing skid, the San Jose Sharks play host to the lowly Buffalo Sabres today as they try and right the ship.

Line combinations have been the talk during the skid and the chatter doesn't seem to be subsiding as head coach Todd McLellan continues to search for a set of lines he’s happy with. Yesterday at practice Joe Pavelski was centering the third line and John Scott participated with the defense.

Dave Pollak of the San Jose Mercury gave his thoughts on probable line combinations for the Buffalo game in an article yesterday. Here’s how they looked:

Marleau-Couture-Sheppard
Nieto-Thornton-Hertl
Wingels-Pavelski-Tierney
Burish-Desjardins-Kennedy/McGinn


I think I made my thoughts clear in yesterday’s post about all this line shuffling so I won’t beat a dead horse, not today anyway. Leave your line combinations that you'd like to see in the comment section.

Keys to the Game

Special Teams

The PP has been playing well but the PK has left much to be desired. That falls in line with the Sharks defensive play as a whole over the last several games. The PK is going to have to tighten up to avoid an embarrassing loss on home ice to the Sabres. Any team can win any game if someone gets in penalty trouble and can’t weather the storm.

The Sharks PK has often been caught running around and chasing the puck instead of staying in their box and keeping the play around the outside. As soon as they get out of position, which has been a lot, the opposing team gets their great chances. The PK, along with all situations, has to settle down and just play their game. Success will soon follow, this is still a great team.


Goaltending

Alex Stalock is getting the start and with the performances by Niemi over the last two games he has a chance to grab a back to back, or more, himself if he has a solid game. The simple shots have to be saved in a fundamental fashion. There’s no need to over-save a puck. Tracking the puck has been an issue for both goaltenders over the three game skid so Stalock will need to find the puck early and never let it go.

Solid, consistent goaltending has always been key for San Jose but right now they are struggling. The defense group hasn't helped either netminder out that much during the skid but there have been several stoppable goals that reached the twine. Neither goalie has played like they want the starting job by themselves lately.


Tomas Hertl

Unless Thornton/Marleau/Couture/Pavelski are all going to have 100 point seasons Hertl has to step up. Regardless of what line he’s on his role remains the same: produce offense. He’s not a checking forward, even on the third line, so he needs to settle himself down and keep it simple. If the lines end up as projected he should be playing with Thornton again which will give his confidence an immediate boost.

This game is an absolute must win for San Jose; it’s against Buffalo and they need to snap their losing streak. You can never count out an NHL team so Buffalo is going to bring their best effort to steal two points away from a top team and it’s up to the Sharks players, whatever lines they end up on, to make sure that doesn't happen.

San Jose needs to dominate the play from the opening puck drop until the time the horn sounds to end the game. Consistent pressure and possession over sixty minutes is what the Sharks need, above all else, and the Sabres provide an opportunity to get back on track in that department.

I'll add that it's a little disappointing to see that Barclay Goodrow is still a little further from returning than thought prior to the season. Kennedy appears to be more set to go than the Sharks rookie as we approach the ten game mark. After the training camp/pre-season that Goodrow had it's safe to say everyone around the Sharks is looking forward to seeing the young player in regular season action. It certainly would help the teams depth if he can translate that performance into real games.

Puck drop is 1pmPDT(4pmET), as always I'll update the top of the post with any pertinent information. Thanks for reading.


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