The Tank, San Jose, CA
Wow. Underwhelming. Unlucky. Unconsistent. Yes I know that isn’t a word. The Vegas Golden Showers came to town last night on the back end of a back to back and smoked the Fish 6-3. Martin Jones was very bad when they needed very good. Clutch even. Did not happen as the Sharks fell for the third straight home game after ripping off 6 straight wins and in general dominating opponents.
The tilt started promisingly as San Jose scored 30 seconds in to take the lead. It wouldn’t last three minutes as Vegass scored twice in a couple of minutes. To their credit, the Sharks responded with a clutch goal by Jumbo Joe to tie it again. After that, San Jose chased the play for the rest of the night as the Goldens just physically beat the Sharks into submission.
Jonathan Marchessault scored on a sharp angle shot that had Jones flailing and whiffing on the puck to give Vegass the lead for good. Jones’s night ended as Pete DeBoer had seen too much of not good enough. Once the Sharks got behind, Vegass bent them over, smacked em around and in general got under their skin. It isn’t in San Jose’s DNA to play smash mouth hockey and The Golden Showers made them pay on the power play, scoring three times.
Ryan Reaves was particularly effective in the physical play department, (yes they have one of those), as he used his linebacker like frame to intimidate the smaller Sharks, laughing all the way to victory. San Jose was missing key personnel as EK65 missed his umpteenth game and Captain America was out nursing the effect of a devastating body check laid on him by Filip Forsberg of Smashville in the previous game.
Another reason San Jose lost was trying to play their skill game when entering the O zone. I know that sounds ignorant because that IS their game, but when an opponent is on you tight, you have to play the dreaded chip and chase style to create mayhem instead of searching for the perfect pass. Over and over on the power play, San Jose passed up numerous good looks on shots to force a pass in where there was no space.
Where do they go from here you ask? On the road, thats where as they visit the dreadful LA Kings and equally dreadful Anahymen Ducks to hopefully clinch a playoff spot. They are still hoping to stay close enough to Calgary to wrest the top spot in the Pacific away from the Flamers, but its looking less likely.
As we enter the last 10 games of the season, San Jose is looking banged up. They’re missing tip plays, the puck isn’t staying on their tape and opponents are going the other way and scoring. Justin Braun looked particularly bad on Reilly Smith’s goal a few seconds into the third as he fumbled a perfect clearing pass, which went directly to a Knight who played tic tac toe and put the dagger into the Sharks heart, scoring to make it 5-2.
I know that their unskilled play isn’t likely to continue, but it makes for a frustrating fan experience to watch a hated rival come into your barn on the second night of a back to back, dominate and win going away. As the Sharks/Showers 1st round match up continues to look more likely every day, San Jose needs to reach deep down and find their game. Again.