Last night the Sharks beat the Ducks pretty good through two periods before losing control of the game and allowing the Ducks to make it interesting.
The line combinations were pretty interesting and John Scott made a rare appearance, as "a deterrent", in the win. Of course after struggling for several games and then beating one of the league’s best teams we should chalk it up to the roster alignment, right?
John Scott, Mike Brown, Matt Irwin and Scott Hannan were the collective saviors.
That's sarcasm, by the way, if you were planning on stopping here and detouring immediately to the message boards.
The Ducks coming back was a healthy blend of San Jose taking their foot off of the gas and the referees deciding to take over the game in an attempt to avoid a ruckus like the last time these two teams met. The Ducks turned up the heat so high, thanks to the barrage of penalties, that they actually caught up and passed the Sharks in shot attempts (all situations) early in the third.
However which way you spin it, though, is a win and the Sharks needed one badly. Is this the game that turns the season into the right direction? Maybe, or it could just be a team having another teams number. For the purpose if positive thought I'm going to go with the former.
The biggest takeaway from this game should be that there were depth goals (Wingels, Hertl, Nieto) and, well, just goals in general.
San Jose had lost several games despite out-possessing the opposition during their recent stretch of bad results. It’s nice to see a small return of balance to the universe of analytics.
The question now, after another mishmash of lines, is what will the coach choose to believe?
Was it Tye McGinn on the first line and the rest of the lottery lines that broke the goal dam? Or was it simply that if the Sharks kept their possession up good things will come? I lean heavily, to the point I fall over, towards the latter.
At the end of the day one single win isn’t enough to make people forget about the previous 19 games but it’s a start. A very important two points were had last night and hopefully the Sharks can continue to play as hungry as they were in the first two periods.
Other Thoughts
The fan-base continues to show their displeasure with the teams’ performance by failing to sell out the SAP Center again, which is becoming a normal occurrence during struggling times.
Another non-sellout: 17,352.
— David Pollak (@PollakOnSharks) November 30, 2014I think that it’s a good statement to an ownership group that might put pressure from the top to fix what’s wrong, and that might be exactly what’s needed. A little fire on the back of the GM’s neck.
Tommy Wingels had himself a hell of a game recording a goal and three assists on the second line. Wingels has been there before and has generally played well, although he plays well wherever he’s slotted. I still love him as a third line player, I don’t think he has the hands or consistency to produce at a top-six level over a full season but it sure is great to watch that kid play hockey whatever the line may be.
Matt Nieto was finally rewarded with a goal after endless games of solid possession, hard work and games spent as a resident of McLellean’s Doghouse Hotel. Hopefully the monkey is off his back now and he can relax and keep playing his game. If he does, more goals are in his future.
Tomas Hertl also gained a confidence boost with a beauty goal, with help from James Sheppard, to hopefully remove the weight off of his shoulders as well. Here’s the goal, because I know you want to watch it again. Such silky mitts.
San Jose is back in action Tuesday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at the SAP Center.
Thanks for reading.