Sharks’ road woes continue

SAN JOSE , Calif. – The San Jose Sharks tied a franchise record in St. Louis Thursday night after they were held scoreless for the third time in a row on the road.

The road is a dreary place to be right now for the Sharks, who last year boasted one of the best NHL records away from the Shark Tank.
Last night the red hot St. Louis Blues outscored San Jose 2-0 in a place where they have won their last 12 games dating back to last season.
This young team, which is full of home grown talent, has been riding the hot hand of Jaroslav Halak. Halak was the stand out player in the playoffs this past spring for the Montreal Canadians. He lead his team to the Eastern Conference Finals, beating out Cup favorites the Washington Capitals in seven games in the first round, and then went on to stone the defending Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in a series that also went the distance. The trade that made the most noise this summer was Halak to the Blues for two young prospects. Only time will tell, but so far St. Louis looks like the winner of this blockbuster deal.
The Blues’ new net minder lived up to expectations last night stopping all 25 shots he faced, which is not a large number, but the quality of scoring chances for the Sharks were outstanding. While on the penalty, kill San Jose was unable to capitalize on numerous breakaways and 2-on-1 opportunities.
Coach Todd MacLellan summed up the lack of offense with these comments.
“We had three breakaways and didn’t have any shots on goal,” McLellan said. “It’s incredible when that happens. We had a couple two-on-ones where we didn’t get a shot on goal. We probably haven’t had that many free looks at a net in a game all year.”
This game had very little flow due to penalty-filled first and second periods. The Sharks were called for 12 penalties versus 7 for St. Louis, including four fighting majors that all took place in the first 40 minutes.
Joe Thornton received a major penalty and a game misconduct for what the referees considered to be a blindside hit on David Perron at 5:29 of the second period. Thornton’s hit on Perron has drawn attention from the league officials who he will have a meeting with to determine future punishment if any.
Thornton was not happy with the on ice call and felt he did nothing wrong.
“I felt like I established myself on the ice,” Thornton said. “I just braced myself for the hit. He just ran into me, to be honest with you.”
After a short break, Perron finished the game and scored the Blues second goal.
The Sharks started this two-game road trip in Minnesota where they lost 1-0. As in St. Louis, the opposition’s goalie had a stellar night and was the difference in the game. San Jose played well for 60 minutes against the Wild and kept the pressure on. Half-way through the game they were out shooting the opposition 18-4 and the lone goal that Antero Niittymaki gave up to Andrew Brunette came on a 5-on-3 power play. When it was all said and done, the Sharks out shot the Wild 36-16.
The Sharks coach agrees and had this to say.
“In an 82-game season, you’re going to have five or seven games that you throw away because you’re just that bad,” McLellan said. “Tonight wasn’t one of those nights. I thought we played well, but Backstrom was better.”
There are positives to take away from this short road trip. First off the team played hard from buzzer to buzzer in each game. Just because they didn’t fill the net like they did in the previous games doesn’t mean that the work ethic faltered.
A big sigh of relief to players and fans of the Sharks has to be the display that Antti Niemi put on last night against the Blues. This was hands down the best he has played in a Sharks uniform. Niemi turned away 27 of the 29 shots fired at him and was perfect on the penalty kill. People in San Jose have not seen much of the Cup winning goalie and after his previous starts some doubt on his ability has been creeping into the minds of skeptics. Let’s hope that receiving his 2010 Stanley Cup Champion ring was not the reason for his great play and that his performance is something we can expect from the big Fin on a regular basis.
The last note we can make from the road trip perhaps isn’t necessarily a positive, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it is a negative. The Sharks have been creating great scoring opportunities. No they haven’t been showing the touch around the net that they are capable of but when the chances dry up that is when the alarm bells go off.
Things don’t get any easier for San Jose because the Tampa Bay Lightning and the league point leader Steven Stamkos come to town for a showdown at the Shark Tank on Saturday night.
Contact Cam.Gore@prohockeynews.com