Everybody in San Jose can take a deep breath and release a big sigh of relief because the Sharks are back in the playoffs.
When San Jose beat the Pacific leading LA Kings on Monday night they ended their one season playoff drought. Instead of saying the run of 10 consecutive playoff appearances was snapped, we can now say, the Sharks have made the playoffs in 11 of the last 12 seasons. Which one sounds better?
Regardless of what happens in the run for the Cup this has been a very interesting season for the Sharks. This first season under coach Pete Deboer has been a steady diet of "which team is going to show up tonight?"
Before beating down the Kings and the Canucks by a combined score of 9-3, the Sharks were humbled by the Blues, Oilers and Stars by a combined score of 11-5.
The results from the last five games are a microcosm of the entire San Jose Sharks season. I can honestly say all the highs have been followed by lows and visa versa.
On one night the Carolina Hurricanes are shutting them down and the Sharks follow that up by beating the snot out of the St. Louis Blues.
San Jose strings together a six-game winning streak and immediately follows that up with a six-game losing streak.
At various points throughout the season the Sharks have held a spot at both the top and bottom of the Pacific Division.
With all that said....this has been a really fun season and I've enjoyed being a part of it. San Jose has been one of the West best teams at times and they have shown the ability to beat everybody. How this translates in the playoffs is a mystery to me. But, I can almost guarantee it will be a ton of fun to watch.
Some quick hits before I leave you today....
- Logan Couture has played in 426 NHL games. He has five seasons of 20 goals or more and two seasons of 30 or more, but he has never recorded an NHL hat trick until Tuesday night in game number 426.
- The Sharks are 29-13-5 with Couture in the lineup and 14-15-1 without him. Let's hope he stays healthy for the playoffs
- Joe Thorton has a point in 30 consecutive Sharks wins.
- Stat of the Day: The Sharks are 11-6 in games played on Tuesday.
- Joe Pavelski needs 3 goals in the Sharks final 5 games to reach 40 goals for the second time in his career.
- Joe Thornton has at least 75 points for the eight time in his Hall Of Fame career.
- Brent Burns has 71 points. It's the first time in his career he's collected more than 60 points.
- Joonas Donskoi has really elevated his game of late. He may not be showing up on the score sheet but he's still making a difference. The Sharks rookie has 34 (11g 23a) in 71 games this season.
- The Sharks can still win the Pacific Division. They trail the Ducks by two points for second and the Kings by three for first. Anaheim and LA do have a game in hand but stranger things have happened and the way this season has unfolded...I wouldn't be shocked if they pulled it off.
thanks for reading, Steve