Update: Alex Stalock is on IR with a lower-body injury.
#SJSharks goalie Alex Stalock placed on injured reserve with a lower body injury; is returning to California to see a doctor
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) November 12, 2014This doesn't help the Sharks cause any given the recent play of Antti Niemi. Hopefully the results of the doctor meeting won't turn out too serious.
*****
You know that old saying ‘If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all…? Well, if I stayed true to that statement then there would be no Sharks blog today.
Yesterday the tires were pumped on McLellan’s new line combinations. People were excited at the forward groups and, most notably, the defensive pairings. Life was good; balance was returning. Wasn’t that a great five minutes?
Before we dive right into the disaster that would come next, let’s have a peak at the first Key to the Game from yesterday’s post.
Leave The Lines AloneWhen Todd McLellan switches up the line combinations it usually leads to panic mode if they don’t work out in the first two shifts. Leave the pairings and combinations alone for the entire game. You can’t put a new pair of boots on and feel comfortable in them right away.
You just couldn't help yourself, could you Todd?
There were over ten different line combinations for the top nine forwards in this game. Outside of 20-10-37 you could imagine any sort of line combination and it most likely appeared in last night’s game. The instability of the Sharks lines can only result in bad endings.
As soon as the Panthers were up, the big red panic button was smashed into a million pieces and the Sharks slowly reverted to the defensive lines that have been porous all season long because, well, what else would you do?
There has been more line shuffling through 17 games this season than in the rest of McLellan’s tenure behind the bench I’m sure. By the time the third period hit the mid-way mark there was no telling which line was the first, second or third. It was a mish-mash of players flowing over the boards in a seemingly random order.
Whatever’s going on with the coaching staff needs to get fixed, immediately. Standing behind the bench re-enacting Me, Myself and Irene while you spin a lottery ball drum to decide your lines is so far removed from sanity that it’s deeply concerning.
I refuse to place all the blame on the players. You simply can’t do it when there are no set lines anymore. Anyone who has any knowledge of hockey knows that chemistry doesn’t magically appear when you throw a bucket of pixie dust on three players and send them on the ice.
Right now, let’s be honest, it’s too early to start eliminating the Sharks from the playoffs, but if they don’t start figuring out what’s going on that day will come. The dysfunction is through the roof with no signs of coming back to ice-level. The goaltending has not been of a high standard and the team generally looks dejected and uninterested in winning for a full sixty minutes as of late.
It doesn't matter who the Sharks are playing; they are their own worst enemy right now and it needs to change.
The lack of chemistry and stability on a lineup that racked up 111 points in the regular season last year, with basically no change since, is dumbfounding.
It’s time to pull out the film from last year and start taking notes. It’s the same team. That’s especially true if John Scott becomes an analyst with Brodie Brazil instead of dressing for the game.
The Sharks need a wake-up call and, clearly, losing to some of the league’s worst teams hasn't been doing the trick.
San Jose’s next game is against the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Stability, direction, desirable lines and a sixty minute effort will turn this team back to what they should be: a top team in the West. All is not lost yet, but if these types of games continue you can guarantee that the Sharks will remain where they deserve to be in the standings: on the outside looking in.
Thanks for reading.