Improvement, But Not Perfection

The Sharks defeated the Southeast Division-leading Washington Capitals last night 7-2. The margin suggests a more lopsided game than what actually took place.

The Capitals are in the midst of a difficult road trip and were missing two of their most talented players--offensive D-man Mike Green and team goal-scoring leader Alexander Semin--due to injury. Even tired and short-handed, the Capitals controlled play for much of the evening and held an edge in shots-on-goal until relatively late in the game. San Jose's second goal was a gift from Washington--in soccer, it would have been scored "Own Goal: Shaone Morrisonn"--and their last goal came with less than a minute left in the game, long after the outcome was no longer in doubt. Despite taking advantage of early opportunities to score three quick unanswered goals, the Sharks still demonstrated that they don't know quite what to do when they get a big lead...the Caps came out and were clearly the better team both at the start of the second and the start of the third periods, getting goals in each sequence that allowed them to sniff a rally. Really, without Morrisonn's own goal and with a few key stops by Caps goalie Brent Johnson, the final score would've reflected the much closer game that this actually was.

On the other hand (it occurs to me I write those four words a lot...one has to, writing about this team) there are substantial reasons for Todd McLellan to be happy about last night's game, outside of the obvious. Although criticism of the Sharks for allowing the Caps to get back in the game is warranted, it's worth noting that San Jose followed up Washington goals with goals of their own, righting the proverbial ship and keeping the Capitals from building too much momentum. (In that nightmare game against Calgary in the playoffs last year, once the Flames got their first goal one could not avoid feeling that the Sharks, win or lose, were at a minimum not going to score again that night.) Hopefully this is a sign that the team is at least improving its ability to play with a lead, something that's been a persistent problem.

The production from the blue line continues to be extraordinary...Rob Blake had in what my opinion was his best night as a Shark (four assists) and is one of a remarkable three San Jose defensemen (the others are Dan Boyle and the suddenly blossoming Christian Ehrhoff) who are amongst the top five in the league in scoring, as of this morning. That particular part of McLellan's preseason plan has gone about as well as anyone could've possibly hoped.

And at the end of the day the Sharks did exactly what they needed to do with their opportunities. You get a tired team nearing the end of a road trip in your building when you've had a chance to rest up, and you have to clobber them...the Sharks did. (And as a fan of a Western Conference team, I pretty much have a cry-me-a-river attitude when it comes to road trips by Eastern Conference teams...gee, sorry you guys have to travel out of sight of the Atlantic Ocean for once.) You get a 5-on-3 at a crucial juncture, you need to capitalize on it...the Sharks did. Ice hockey, as I've said in this space numerous times, is really all about taking advantage of those islands of opportunity in a sea of broken, anarchic play. By this measure, the Sharks were a great team last night, worthy of their 17-3-1 record.

The fact that they've accomplished this while still having room for improvement...right now, writing in November of 2008, it really seems that the sky is the limit for this team.