Despite the win, it was a pretty inconsistent effort overall for the Sharks. San Jose started slow, before scoring two goals to take the lead in the second period, then letting their foot off the gas in the third period. The Ducks had some chances to tie it up in the final frame but couldn't convert on their opportunities.
San Jose's top line was quite good in the win and forced some defensive zone turnovers from the Ducks. That said, the fourth line really struggled and really couldn’t get much going at all. John Leonard also picked up his first NHL goal in the win, with a well-placed shot on the power play.
The Sharks were missing Erik Karlsson and Radim Simek on the back end and Fredrik Claesson and Nicolas Meloche drew into action instead but it didn’t seem to hurt the team. Claesson had a bad turnover and didn’t play much at all but Meloche was pretty decent.
Martin Jones had a good game overall and rebounded after allowing a pretty bad goal early on, where he couldn’t track the puck, as it took a weird bounce off a skate. As the game went on though, he made some important saves for the Sharks.
It wasn’t San Jose’s best performance by any means but they needed a win and they got one.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Sharks Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Sharks for updates on articles, Sharks news, etc.***
Do you think John Leonard should have a full-time role in the Sharks' lineup?
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»