News – Wilson Not Happy With Mental Mistakes – San Jose Sharks

News – Wilson Not Happy With Mental Mistakes – San Jose Sharks:

Thursday night’s contest with the Rangers did not go quite as planned for the home team. New York had played the night before and had backup netminder Kevin Weekes in the lineup, but virtually nothing went Team Teal’s way as New York used an empty netter to finish off a 3-1 victory.

The play of the game was one the Sharks would like to quickly forget. With San Jose pressing for a late first period tally, a puck bounced above the stick of a pinching blueliner and sent Matt Cullen in on a breakaway. When his shot hit the back of the twine, there was just seven-tenths of a second left in the period.

“We made a brain-dead play,” said Ron Wilson. “We played a great period and made a mental blunder. Hindsight is 20/20, but it was the critical play of the game. When you’re the last defenseman back, you can’t get caught in that situation. I’ll ask the people on the ice about it tomorrow.”

How to explain the game from the point of view of someone forced to watch it?

The Sharks looked tired and sluggish. They picked it up late in the first with some real physical play and looked better, but while they controlled the puck and played much of the period in the Ranger zone, they didn’t do a good job of putting quality shots on Weekes, and they were rarely, if ever, second shots. Play was on the perimeter. I called the first period by both teams “very european”, and not in a bad way; the sharks were the better team, until the last five seconds. Then they got a bit too aggressive a couple of seconds too early, a bad bounce and a 3-0 breakaway for a Ranger score at 19:59.

Ugh. but it happens.

But in the second, the sharks faded. The radio team said they got in very late (or very early, depending on how you view 6AM in the morning), so perhaps the dead legs were unavoidable. didn’t make it fun in the arena, though. Ron Wilson started pushing buttons, re-arranging lines (thornton-cheechoo-marleau; later, thornton-marleau-smith?????), looking for anything with a spark.

The sharks ground it through, but the Rangers were the better team for two periods and deserved to win. The sharks? Played well enough to keep it close and lose.

In an 80 game season, it happens. you just don’t like paying to see it.

There’s a bigger problem, though. This team just isn’t quite right. It’s playing consistently well enough for a 64% winning percentage, but you watch this team, and it’s clear it’s not right. Not WRONG, but not firing on all cylinders. Goaltending is fine — Nabokov is the best 3-4 goalie in the league (with 2 shutouts!) –= GAA of 2.14, save percentage of .914, and under .500? Toskala’s numbers are slightly better (2.14, .921) — and is 6-1. Go figure. The defense is fine, too.

But the forwards? Perimeter play, lack of intensity. Thornton and Cheechoo seem very human, it’s really been the “second” line that’s been supporting the team. The Sharks effectively have two first lines, and two third lines, and any of the lines can be dangerous when they’re playing well. There isn’t a player on the roster that the Sharks have to hide or protect. But for some reason, this team isn’t playing to potential. It’s merely (I almost hate to say this) MERELY pretty good.

Watching them, they’re searching for something, some missing bit of chemistry up front. Mark Bell’s fought a groin, and that may be part of it — he’s been pretty invisible most nights. cheechoo, too. I’m not seeing him penetrate into shooting positions, he’s staying in the perimeter and that line tends to get in a cycle and not try to break into an offensive position. Getting too fancy? Trying too hard? Hard to tell. Against the Rangers, Cheechoo finally got frustrated and tried to put an elbow through someone’s ear, and got whistled for it. At least it shows that whatever’s going wrong, he’s both aware of it and it’s pissing him off, but the line simply isn’t generating consistent results on 5-5.

I”ve been unimpressed with Niemenen, too. Ryan Clowe’s a real throwback, to the Tim Hunter look of a hockey player, but he and Doug Murray generate a physicality the team needs. I’d sit Ville and Josh Gorges and let these guys bang around a bit.

The good news is — there’s really nothing seriously wrong here, and the team is well into playoff position.

The bad news is — you look at the team in any depth, and you know that it’s misfiring, and it should be a lot stronger and a lot better offensively.

And yet — there’s no obvious problem or weakness. It’s just that the Joe line is MIA except on the power play. That takes this team from being elite to merely pretty good.

And when is “pretty good” not good enough? When it’s clear this team needs to be much better, and can be.

gah. Here’s hoping a day off makes the pens game more interesting.

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