Update: Apparently it's Niemi in the cage.
OK, well, @SanJoseSharks sent a tweet that it's Niemi in goal. McLellan said otherwise this AM. A change of heart? Stalock was in warmups
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) November 12, 2014The San Jose Sharks are in Florida to take on the Panthers as their seven-game road swing continues.
Todd McLellan is slowly figuring out what to do with his roster. Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News revealed new line combinations for the top nine forwards and top four defense for tonight’s tilt in his latest article. Here they are:
Hertl-Thornton-Pavelski Marleau-Couture-Wingels Nieto-Sheppard-Kennedy
Vlasic – Burns Mueller – Braun
You’re getting there, Todd.
I still think that Wingels belongs on the third line based on how he plays the game. He such a fantastic checking forward that can actually produce offense that it’s almost criminal to keep him off of that line. Baby steps, I suppose.
Tomas Hertl going back to Joe Thornton’s line should have been done long ago. Sure, punish him for a game but several games were a bit too much. There was no chance that Hertl would ever break out offensively playing with James Sheppard and Tyler Kennedy. That’s nothing against Sheppard or Kennedy, because I think they’ve played great together so far on the third line, but Hertl and Thornton have chemistry.
Matt Nieto is the latest Shark to be thrown in the doghouse for lack of production due to line structure, but I digress.
My guess on the fourth line is Goodrow, Desjardins and Burish.
Vlasic and Braun have been a tremendous pair of defenders for the Sharks, no question about it, and I’d even go as far to put them with the top pairs around the league. They’ve faced every single teams toughest competition all night long and have done a good job. However, the leaky Sharks defense required some tinkering for quite some time.
Breaking up Burns and Mueller is something I talked about in my post from a few days ago:
If that pair continues to see the ice together there has to be some adjustments made on jumping into the play, although I think they should be broken up in search of more desirable pairings.
Vlasic/Burns and Mueller/Braun are definitely more desirable pairings. Better late than never, coach.
Matt Irwin and Jason Demers will be the third pair of rear-guards for the Sharks.
Alex Stalock will get the nod in goal tonight and justifiably so. Stalock has been better as of late and deserves to get the start. He should have a relatively easier night ahead of him against the lowly Florida Panthers.
Keys to the Game:
Leave The Lines Alone
When 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.
Assault Luongo With Shots
I want to see a 40 shot performance from the Sharks. Roberto Luongo is still a good goaltender but the Panther’s defense isn’t fantastic so the Sharks should be able to get pucks through.
After coming out flat against the Blackhawks, the Sharks should be motivated to put in a full sixty minutes to come out of the Panther game with two points. This is a game that San Jose is supposed to win and if you don’t win these games it will come back to bite you in the long run.
Nothing Fancy
When you play a lesser quality of competition it’s easy for teams to bring their own talent level down by trying to make extra moves and fancy plays.
When you don’t keep it simple and stick to the plan you can find yourself on the wrong end of the score against an opponent you should have beaten.
Remember the Buffalo game? Yeah, you’d like to forget that happened wouldn’t you?
Respect your opponent, regardless of where they are in the standings.
Tonight will be the Sharks first look at first overall pick Aaron Ekblad. It should be an interesting game to watch with the new defensive lines being the focus point for me.
I’m looking forward to seeing Burns and Mueller separated and placed with top notch blue-liners to help them develop their defensive game and shelter them from potential disasters that they couldn’t seem to avoid when paired together.
Puck drop is 7:30pmET(4:30pmPDT)
Thanks for reading.