The Sharks head into Buffalo fresh off of Troy Grosenick win over the Hurricanes. The Sharks are 0-6-1 in their last seven games against the Sabres and will be looking to turn that zero into something else tonight.
The Sharks dropped a 2-1 decision to the Sabres earlier in the season and if you take that loss and the loss to Florida and turn them into the wins they should have been do you know what you get? Tied for first in the Western Conference. So let’s take a day to relax.
The Sharks aren't that far out of the picture. As dysfunctional as the operation of the roster has been, the Sharks still find themselves alive in the Western Conference.
So, what do they need to do from here?
- They need to beat Buffalo. Another loss to the Sabres is just unacceptable. - They need to find, and keep, more desirable defensive pairings. Braun and Vlasic are capable of carrying defenders defensively. It’s better to have one extremely weak pairing than have two of three pairings be disastrous. - They have to get over Adam Burish. Respect for veterans is necessary, but too much can cause a lineup to be weakened. - Play the hot goaltender. Stop defaulting to Antti Niemi. If Grosenick is playing well, play him. If Stalock is playing well, when he returns, then play him. Niemi isn't Rask or Price, there’s no need to default back to him after he gets one games rest. - Leave the lines alone. I've beaten this one to death, but I’ll say it again. Leave. The. Lines. Alone. Stop mixing everything up a thousand times in-game. That never works.
In the next ten games (tonight’s included) the Sharks play Buffalo, Florida, Calgary twice, Edmonton twice, Arizona, Philadelphia, Boston and Anaheim. They have an opportunity, if they can find consistency, to come out of the next ten games a brand new team and have everyone forget about their up and down start.
Whether you want to believe it or not, the Sharks are still a talented team. Confused, but still talented. When the lines are structured properly and left alone they control possession and will win more than lose.
They need to take advantage of the schedule over the next ten games and get back to playing the possession game from start to finish. The critics aren't going to go away any time soon after you start a season like this when expectations are high, but if they leave those ten games with the record they should then all of this nonsense about the Sharks being a 7/8/9 team will be put to rest. Because that’s what it is – nonsense.
Prior to the start of the post-season last year if you had asked anyone, whether it be a fan, player, coach or GM, if the Sharks were a talented team they would have answered yes. No one would have said they were a playoff scraper. Here’s a shocker for you: it’s the same team. The difference has been a few misplaced puzzle pieces. They could use another top four defender, no question about it, but with the right pairings they have serviceable players to get them through until they can acquire said defender.
Patience with pairings is key. There are going to be growing pains when you put two players together that never play with each other. If you sneezed during the 2-3 games that Burns played a few seconds with Vlasic you would have missed their shift(s) together.
The spotlight is on. The dysfunction has caught the eye of everyone around hockey and those eyes aren't going to turn away anytime soon. If you wanted the focus on hockey in California, you got it because everyone loves a good train wreck. Winning games you should win are now significantly more important after twenty games then they were prior to the start of the season.
All is not lost, but with each passing defeat to an inferior team and with each sixty-minute Cirque-de-Soleil line juggling the hole only gets bigger and bigger. An important ten game stretch starts tonight with a win over the Sabres. Relax, get the win and focus on the next sequence of games. The past twenty games can't be changed.
Thanks for reading.