The top nine forwards from last night were lined up last night the exact way (minus 15/89 w/ injuries) they were at the start of the season, before McLellan blew them up, and, what do you know? The Sharks dominated possession and won the game 2-1.
It’s easy to see that the Lightning did not have their best game last night and that performance most likely won’t be repeated by such a great team, but that doesn't take away from the near-perfect possession game the Sharks had.
An important part of the possession for the Sharks was Joe Pavelski playing 21+ minutes and Joe Thornton coming in just under twenty at 19:22, but there are other reasons the Sharks were so good on the puck last night.
Tommy Wingels
Wingels was finally placed back on the third line, and it was a fantastic sight. He’s a prototype for a third line player and the group of 89-15-57 was an effective bunch of players that managed to have near even possession numbers despite having a 0% offensive zone start.
They deserve the confidence that the coaching staff had in them last night and they left the defensive zone at will. That line is the most talented third line the Sharks have iced all season long.
Hertl, Nieto Back On 1-2
With Wingels back on the third line the top six was reverted to what worked. Strange, isn't it, how that translated into a win over the league’s best team.
Nieto with Couture and Marleau – speed with speed. Hertl with Thornton and Pavelski – chemistry with chemistry.
After 13 games of spinning the magical line wheel we've come full circle and picked up right where we left off. Now it’s up to the staff to keep these lines in-tact if they want to continue to have solid performances like last night.
No Adam Burish
For the first time all season Adam Burish was scratched. The reason is unknown but, given Todd’s love for the guy all year, we can assume it was a late decision because he stole McLellan's pre-game sandwich or something to that effect.
Burish is a grizzled veteran that has a lot of respect within the room and around the league, but that doesn't mean he’s more valuable on the ice than some other players. The game is won on the ice.
Burish's possession all season has been awful and, for the first time all year, he finally missed a game. The result was a functional fourth line. McLellan even sheltered them with offensive zone start’s (Kennedy/Desjardins – 67%, McGinn – 80%).
It’s almost like there was a different coach behind the bench.
The Sharks managed to keep Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos to an amazing two shots on goal. He scored on a nice tip-in but the Sharks got the job done on 91 all night long. They also held the puck a lot more when entering the offensive zone, taking away the time the Lightning defenders had playing the puck.
San Jose dominated the shot count all night until they decided to protect the lead in the third period after killing off a 5-on-3. I despise protecting the lead. I despise it even more when the other team is loaded with offensive possession weapons of mass destruction. The Sharks got away with it last night thanks to some outstanding goaltending by Antti Niemi in the third.
Niemi hasn't played great lately but he was lights out in this one. Much like Ben Bishop gave the Lightning a chance in the game all night long, Niemi gave the Sharks a chance to keep the win throughout the third period, and he deserves a lot of credit, most notably on the 5-on-3 penalty kill.
He made great positional saves and also had to recover for some beauties as well. It was easily the best performance by Niemi all year, and that’s a very positive thing after the surgery for Alex Stalock.
The game was a great one for the Sharks but we've all seen the up-and-down play over the last thirteen games so they’re going to have to gain some positive consistency before they can be considered a top team in the West again.
Now it's time to get on the plane to Columbus as fast as possible before they forget how they won this game.
Thanks for reading.