Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Fleur De Loss

May 6, 2018, 11:46 PM ET [9 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT



The San Jose Sharks could not muster enough consistent offense in their second round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.


Marc Andre Fleury back stopped his upstart Knights in their six game power struggle against the Sharks. Fleury was brilliant against the Sharks.

The Sharks finished the series with a first-period goal-differential of -4 across all situations, despite out-attempting (137-121), outshooting (71-60), and out-chancing the Golden Knights (62-57) in the six first periods.

Fleury stopped 70 of 71 first-period shots in total, good for a .986 first-period SV%.

The 1976 Montreal Canadiens would have struggled to score against Fleury circa 2018. Especially in the first twenty minutes of play.

Fleury allowed just 17 goals against on the 344 shot attempts he has faced in 10 playoff games this spring. He currently leads all NHL goalies in GAA, shot attempts faced, and save percentage in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Fleury appears to have found the fountain of youth in Las Vegas. He is as spry and athletic as he ever was while winning three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Golden Knight have eight wins and need eight more victories to win the Stanley Cup. How is this possible? A first year NHL expansion team is kicking ass and taking names in the regular season and in the playoffs!







In ten 2018 Stanley Cup Playoff games, Fleury authored four shutouts, including his 3-0 blanking of the Sharks in the Game 6 knockout fiesta in San Jose on Sunday night.


Fleury has recorded 14 career shutouts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Curtis Joseph, Clint Benedict, and Chris Osgood have more career post-season shutouts than Fleury.




While Fleury was the headline reason why the Sharks were tamed in round two, another huge reason for the lack of scoring pop from the Sharks was their top scoring line of Evander Kane, Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi were silenced by Vegas.

Vegas will face the winner of the Winnipeg Jets-Nashville Predators second-round series. The Jets lead that best-of-7 series 3-2 with Game 6 at Winnipeg on Monday.

The San Jose top line power trio accounted for a combined three goals and two assists in the six game series with Vegas. The Sharks relied far too heavily on the Hertl-Couture-Boedker line to do all of its scoring. The Sharks’ second line produced at a high level scoring a combined six goals and eleven assists.


Come to find out, Kane played the Vegas series despite having a separated shoulder. It’s rather difficult to score and defend while playing with a busted dorsal fin. Credit to Kane for gutting it out with such a painful injury.

Kane also suffered a medical collateral ligament injury at the end of the regular season.


A healthy Kane scored three goals and an assist in the Sharks' opening-round series win against the Anaheim Ducks. The injured Kane scored just one goal in six games against the Vegas Golden Knights. Kane was denied access to the score sheet in the final three games of the series.

Kane is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. That is, unless Sharks GM Doug Wilson signs the Vancouver native to a long term, lucrative contract extension before July 1.


After the Sharks were knocked out of the playoffs by Fleury and the Knights, Kanexwas asked if he could see himself re-signing with the Sharks.


“I enjoy winning and coming here was a great opportunity for me to do that,” Kane said. “Really, really, really enjoyed my time with this group of guys and love going into battle with these guys. Like I said, I have a lot of confidence in this group.”

Kane isn’t one to beat around the bush. I interpret his words to be a ringing endorsement for the San Jose Sharks and their bright future.

The Sharks were 12-6-1 in the 19 games of the regular season after Kane was traded to San Jose from Buffalo.


Kane got his first taste of NHL playoff action with San Jose. Kane scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 9 playoff games for the Sharks. He was suspended one game for cross checking Vegas fourth liner Pierre Edouard Bellemare in the face.

In 17 regular season games with the Sharks following his February 26 trade from the Buffalo Sabres, Kane scored 9 goals and 5 assists. In 61 games with the Sabres, Kane scored 20 goals and 20 assists.

Ive been in the Bay Area now since last Saturday. People I have spoken with about Kane tell me that they think the pending UFA has enjoyed his teammates and his time with the Sharks. It’s likely Kane will be re-signing with the San Jose. Wilson has a ton of salary cap space ($15M plus) to invest into his roster. There is no guarantee that Joe Thornton will be returning to the Sharks next season. Wilson is liked to pending UFA John Tavares as well as Evander Kane. Wilson has the cajones and the cap space to make both signings happen. San Jose is a hot destination market for NHL UFAs to strongly consider committing to. The Sharks have a young core with strong leadership, oodles of skill and a great goalie in Martin Jones. The Sharks also have a pipeline of young prospects ( Tierney, Meier, Sorensen, Demelo) that developed impressively this season at the NHL level.


Should Kane re-sign with the Sharks, the Buffalo Sabres will receive San Jose’s first round draft choice. The Sabres would then have two picks in the first round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft which would augment ever so nicely Buffalo’s first overall pick in 2018. The Sabres traded Kane in exchange for building blocks. The Sabres finished in 31st place in 2017-18 with only 62 points.



Sabres GM Jason Botterill was awarded the first overall selection in the 2018 NHL Draft at the NHL Draft Lottery in Saturday April 30 in Toronto. The Sabres will invest the first overall pick in Frolunda defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.

Here are Kane’s comments after losing Game 6 to Vegas:


Join the Discussion: » 9 Comments » Post New Comment
More from GARTH'S CORNER
» Hailing Taxis
» He With The Gold Makes The Rules
» Sedentary Seven
» The Sedentary Seven
» GadZuccs