The Sharks narrowly escaped Washington with two points last night in a tilt that featured enough game tape to review for a weeks’ worth of practices.
Matt Irwin made the most of his season debut scoring the first two Sharks goals, one on the power play, and John Scott picked up a turnover before entering the Capitals zone and sending a wrist shot over Holtby, ultimately chasing him from the cage. Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels scored the other Sharks regulation goals and Pavelski scored the shootout winner.
With less than ten minutes played in the game, and the Sharks up 3-0, head coach Todd McLellan, like in games one and two, opted to revert to protecting the lead. That’s where the Sharks demise in this one began. Here’s a chart from hockeystats.ca that shows the shift in the game, and it’s consistent with what happened in the first two games when the Sharks decided to protect a lead.
My Picasso-like editing highlights the massive flip of power in the Capitals favor. The Sharks sat back and the Capitals kept coming with shot after shot just waiting for the puck to go in and, eventually, it did. You are going to have trouble holding a lead when the above chart shifts like it did. San Jose was able to get out of the LA and WPG games without having the lead protecting come back to bite them but that certainly wasn’t the case last night, blowing 3-0 and 4-1 leads en route to a shootout victory.
Yes, it’s only three games into the season and there isn’t cause for panic but the Sharks are 3-for-3 in watching games shift significantly into the favor of the other team when they stop playing the game that got them the lead. If that isn’t recognized by the coaching staff quickly then the Sharks are going to escape a lot fewer games with the results they have thus far.
Five Thoughts Power Play
The power play was better. Matt Irwin got a goal with the extra man shortly before the first PP was about to expire. Prior to the Irwin goal, though, that power play looked eerily similar to the eight from the Jets game. The Sharks second and third power plays of the night looked more like the end of the first in that it featured less puck play and more attempts at the net, but it still isn’t ready to be a top PP just yet.
Creating movement in the defenders is what leads to power play success. If you watch top power play teams like Pittsburgh, and even Washington’s from last night, you’ll see them take shots, albeit sometimes hopeless shots, that still force the box to break and give openings or rebounds for other PP players. It’s a start and it’s clear that the PP is something the Sharks worked on/talked about since the Jets game which is good to see. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Antti Niemi
Niemi seemed to play well until the Capitals took advantage of the Sharks sitting back. Once the Capitals turned the possession corner Niemi struggled through most of regulation. He overcompensated on the Capitals first goal, was out of position on the second goal by Green and had a clear look at Ovechkin’s goal from above the circles. He did, however, make some key saves late in the third and in OT to keep the Sharks alive. I place more fault on the lead protecting for causing the onslaught rather than Niemi for playing poorly but five goals against can’t be skipped over.
Questionable Coaching Decisions
After the Capitals first goal Todd McLellan sent out the fourth line. I have no idea why this would be thought of as a good thing. The fast and talented Capitals get some momentum and the Sharks throw their slowest, least functional group over the boards. The result was they spent the entire shift in their own zone, forcing Niemi to hold down the fort until an actual line could come on. I’ve touched enough on why protecting the lead, especially for 50 minutes, is a questionable decision.
McLellan is still searching for the perfect PP units but placing Matt Nieto and Tommy Wingels on the same unit is not a scene I’d like to witness again. I like Nieto and I like Wingels but, together, they are not a useful power play group for half of a man advantage. If they are going to get PP time together it should be similar to what Pittsburgh does when they overload the first unit; the second comes out for mere seconds before the PP ends.
Brent Burns
Burns had another solid game as he adjusts to life back on defense. He’s making a nice transition and he looks more comfortable with every shift he plays. I can’t see a scenario where he returns to forward at this point given his ability to move the puck from his own end. He’s also more valuable now in his own end than he was before he transitioned to forward last year, making several great defensive plays last night.
His contributions on defense so far this year, I think, give the Sharks a better defensive group than they had last season.
Andrew Desjardins
Desjardins is the only fourth line player that has the ability to function as a legitimate hockey player for the Sharks. He’s got energy, decent bottom-six hands and he’ll throw his weight around to create unrest on the opponent. I like the way he’s played so far this season and when the injured players all return to health I just hope that Desjardins doesn’t lose a spot on the fourth line. With better line-mates I think his possession numbers and effectiveness will trend upward, as will the overall success of the bottom six group.
At the end of the day two points is two points and the Sharks are off to a great start in the standings. Next up on the road swing are the Islanders on Thursday night.
Thanks for reading.