Game Thread: PREDATORS (42-19-7) at SHARKS (33-26-8) - 03.12.15 @7:30 PM

[Mr. Teal]

Sharks looking for a few good heroes
By Ross McKeon on March 12, 2015 10:56 AM


The Sharks don’t have a Wayne Gretzky, a Mario Lemieux or a Patrick Roy. There is no one on the roster who is going to put this team on his shoulders and say ‘follow me, Boys.’

As San Jose faces the ambitious task of passing two teams to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for an 11th consecutive spring, it’s going to take a team effort to get there in addition to a lot of help along the way.

Basically, the Sharks are looking for a new hero every night.

• Antti Niemi: Coming off of what coach Todd McLellan termed “maybe his best game of the season,” Niemi is clearly going to get all the work he can handle over the final 15 games. Back-up Alex Stalock posted a shutout during his last appearance, but all that’s gotten him is a seat on the bench for three games since. Niemi is sporting a .932 save percentage over his last seven games, so he is rewarding McLellan’s decision to go with the Finnish netminder in all but four of the last 25 games.
• Joe Pavelski: The team’s leader in goals with 32, Pavelski is the most likely candidate to go on a run. His goal-scoring has dipped of late — just one has found the back of the net in 10 games, and no goals in 12 of his last 14 — but playing alongside Joe Thornton and getting all that power-play time should give Pavelski ample chance to get back on a roll.
• Patrick Marleau: Scoring goals in three straight games Feb. 26-March 2 snapped a drought of just two in 12 games, but Marleau is without a goal again in the last three outings. The streaky scorer needs to get on a positive run. Playing alongside Logan Couture, Marleau knows he’ll have defensive responsibilities matching up against opponent top lines on most nights, but his presence on the top power-play unit provides plenty of opportunity to contribute on the offensive end.
• Joe Thornton: His offensive contributions are, of course, measured more in terms of assists than goals, and Thornton has been his usual model of consistency there — 12 points over his last dozen games. The key during an upcoming stretch of seven games on the road in 13 days is making sure he get rest, especially late in the trip when morning skates figure to be optional.
• Brent Burns: Concern here is the defenseman with the booming shot from the point is without a goal in six straight — two short of his second longest drought of the season. Burns managed just one shot on goal during 22 minutes against Pittsburgh. He is averaging 3.0 per game. Burns cranked off a combined 14 shots on goal in his previous four games. Getting more shots, and getting them on goal is key going forward.
• Logan Couture: He’s liable to show up on the score sheet as much with blocked shots, faceoff wins and takeaways as scoring goals and adding assists. All of that is reason why Couture has earned McLellan’s trust in matching his line against top forward groups on a nightly basis. Offensively, Couture has a modest total of one goal and three assists in his last nine games. Adding a bit more offensive expectations on his full plate is necessary.
• Tommy Wingels: He doesn’t complain about it, but Wingels returned after missing only seven games with broken bones in his left hand. Hard to imagine that isn’t still impacting his abilities to shoot 100 percent. Just the same, he’s managed two goals and four points in the 13 games since his return. The biggest impact the energetic Wingels supplies is his ability to forecheck and goad opponents into penalties. And the Sharks will certainly take the odd goal here and there.
• Tomas Hertl: A late-season run is welcomed. The second-year skater scored two goals on Feb. 7 and doesn’t have any in the 13 games since. He’s playing on a third line, which means he’s away from the more skilled set-up forwards, but he could get a more favorable match-up possibly avoiding opponent top defense pairs. It’s just a matter of taking advantage of those opportunities. Hertl put a team-high five shots on goal against Pittsburgh, so there’s a start.
• Matt Nieto: Like Hertl, Nieto has struggled to find offensive consistency during his second NHL season. However, scoring his team’s lone goal in regulation against the Penguins was Nieto’s third in three games to snap a 17-game drought, so confidence should be climbing. He’s playing with fellow speedsters Couture and Marleau, so the chances, too, should be there.

 

[MrChangoT97]

do we keep the playoff dream alive?

 

[Mr. Teal]

do we keep the playoff dream alive?

Not really up to us but I'd rather make the playoffs than miss them.
I'd hope the Sharks felt the same.

 

[Mr. Teal]

Hertl makes it 1-0 from Braun and Tierney on the power play @ 16:41, 2nd per.

 

[Mr. Teal]

I just want to say I'm happy with Niemi these days. Certainly an improvement. If Niemi stays hot, that could inspire the rest of the team.

 

[MrChangoT97]

do we keep the playoff dream alive?

still alive......

 

[Mr. Teal]

I'm thoroughly satisfied with tonight's game.
Goal scoring could be up but goaltending has been perfect for two games against tough teams!

Again, it's the 2nd generation Sharks that are doing all the hard work and making things happen.
It'd be nice if the 1st gen'ers took some notes from those guys and produced some points.

If the team starts firing on all cylinders at this stage of the season, they could surprise a lot of people.
Big "if" there but I choose to be optimistic at this stage.

 

[sjrules99]

nice to see Tierney hertl and Wingels connecting. They were by far the best line all game, thoguh jumbo and pavs line wasnt too bad either.

nemo stole this one justl ike the last one. He has to sometimes, but I wouldnt mind the team playing better in front of him.

Patty is crushing the team. He is singlehandedly rendering couture useless. He led the team in givewaways with 4, took a key penalty that could have been a backbreaker and just sucked. Hell, even heddy called him out on air. The guy is killing the whole team right now.

I think he needs some games with Jon Scott and barclay goodrow. Smith is playing better than marleau, so give him the spot. Personally, the less patty is on the ice, the better the sharks are going to be. His work ethic right now is pathetic and Tmac needs to send a message while also rewarding guys who are playing well.

p.s.: Cmon is right on about hannan. What a disaster offensively. I bet he alone has cost the team 10-20 goals this year or more.

 

[Mr. Teal]

nice to see Tierney hertl and Wingels connecting. They were by far the best line all game, thoguh jumbo and pavs line wasnt too bad either.

nemo stole this one justl ike the last one. He has to sometimes, but I wouldnt mind the team playing better in front of him.

Patty is crushing the team. He is singlehandedly rendering couture useless. He led the team in givewaways with 4, took a key penalty that could have been a backbreaker and just sucked. Hell, even heddy called him out on air. The guy is killing the whole team right now.

I think he needs some games with Jon Scott and barclay goodrow. Smith is playing better than marleau, so give him the spot. Personally, the less patty is on the ice, the better the sharks are going to be. His work ethic right now is pathetic and Tmac needs to send a message while also rewarding guys who are playing well.

p.s.: Cmon is right on about hannan. What a disaster offensively. I bet he alone has cost the team 10-20 goals this year or more.

At this point I'm going to assume everyone knows I don't like Marleau very much so unless I say otherwise anti-Marleau is my default stance until he starts producing the way a player of his caliber and age should be playing. He played this way on the doughouse line back in the day and he's been doing the same things ever since. Actually it got worse when Sutter was no longer around to put him in a doghouse because I don't know that I've ever seen McClellan discipline him for lackluster effort.

 

[Cbrower91]

Like how everyone just dismisses the fact marleau is just having a bad year, complete highschool mentality to jump on someone who is clearly having an off year. It would be one thing if it were consecutive seasons, then there's no argument in but it's not its his worst season since his rookie season which is true testament to his consistency that it's taken this long for him to have a bad year.

As for him killing coutures game, the first 3rd of the season it was quite the opposite couture was killing that line single handedly. So look at that in its entirety not cherry picking things to high light your argument.

The only two players on the first line doing anything right now are Thornton and Karlsson, all they do is hunt down pucks to feed Pav's who shockingly enough is in one of his inconsistent scoring droughts. However Pavs has been good away from the puck which is a massive improvement from previous years

 

[Mr. Teal]

My long standing irritation with Marleau (since the ESPN forum days) isn't because his numbers aren't what they should be but because of the lack of effort. If he was playing hard but not producing the numbers I'd be more sympathetic but he's displayed a regular pattern of outright laziness.

Anyone who follows sports regularly can tell when a guy is slacking off. They take bad penalties, there are times when they're visibly not hustling and there's just no fire. #12 displays all these things routinely. He's not the only one but he's the team's veteran and it sends a bad message when he's not giving 100%.

Marleau is a guy who would thrive on a team where he gets a lot of support from other players with similar levels of talent but as a leader, he falls short because his efforts are lacking. He just doesn't try very hard.

 

[MrFlyingV]

Who was on the ice at the end when Nashville got the breakaway when Sharks had a power play? Remember Nashville had an empty net but they still got that breakaway and Niemi saved their asses. Randy or Bakes said something about Couture saying something when he came to the bench about how in the fuck do you give up a breakaway there. Both Couture and Marleau were on the ice then and Marleau gave the puck away first but no one was back. Not a PP where you needed to score guys. Geez what a clusterfuck.

 

[MrFlyingV]

Speaking of Hertl: he got a quasi Gordie Howe hat trick: a goal, an assist, and a cross bar to the face. Close enough for me.

 

[MrFlyingV]

My long standing irritation with Marleau (since the ESPN forum days) isn't because his numbers aren't what they should be but because of the lack of effort. If he was playing hard but not producing the numbers I'd be more sympathetic but he's displayed a regular pattern of outright laziness.

Anyone who follows sports regularly can tell when a guy is slacking off. They take bad penalties, there are times when they're visibly not hustling and there's just no fire. #12 displays all these things routinely. He's not the only one but he's the team's veteran and it sends a bad message when he's not giving 100%.

Marleau is a guy who would thrive on a team where he gets a lot of support from other players with similar levels of talent but as a leader, he falls short because his efforts are lacking. He just doesn't try very hard.

Just want to see Marleau lose a tooth before he retires

 

[MrChangoT97]

Marleau is the key for success.

 

[Mr. Teal]

Just want to see Marleau lose a tooth before he retires

I just want to see Marleau win a Cup for San Jose before he retires.
If that's an unrealistic goal, then Marleau shouldn't be a Shark.