San Jose Sharks Can Fix Vitek Vanecek's Snafu; Crime is one other matter

Posted by enzo2go October 21, 2024

SAN JOSE – There are not any easy answers to repair all the issues with the San Jose Sharks offense.

But William Eklund has a couple of suggestions about where to start out.

“Keep doing what we’re doing and stay stronger on the inside,” Eklund said after the Sharks’ 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at SAP Center. “A lot of times you don't score a goal for a while, but our team has to find a way to put the puck in the net and the power play is a big thing.”

Entering their four-game road trip Tuesday in Anaheim, the Sharks are 3-for-18 on the facility play, including swings and misses on two 5-on-3 opportunities. One such opportunity arose within the second period on Sunday, when the Sharks trailed by a goal and held a two-man lead for 70 seconds.

The Sharks fought their way across the Avalanche zone, but only had one shot on goal from center Mikael Granlund and missed the web on one other attempt from defenseman Jake Walman. Of the Sharks' 63 shot attempts on Sunday, 16 missed the web.

“Our 5-on-3 system needs to improve. “It's the second time we've had chances that we have to take advantage of,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. “We need to create some quality chances first and foremost and then I think they will start to come into play.

“We have worked on it, we have talked about it, it needs to be further improved. We’ll probably work on it again (Monday) and get better at it because it has to have an impact on our game.”

In terms of goals scored, the Sharks are above last 12 months's pace, but not by much, especially within the games they played without Macklin Celebrini.

This season, the Sharks have averaged two goals per game. Without Celebrini within the last five games, that average drops to 1.6.

Not enough, in fact, unless the Sharks can deliver perfect or near-perfect performances from their goaltenders every night. Last season, the Sharks scored 11 goals in 11 games en path to an 0-10-1 start.

The Sharks brought in a handful of solid two-way players this offseason, but just one truly proven NHL scorer in Tyler Toffoli.

Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek stopped 18 of 21 shots on Sunday. Perhaps essentially the most glaring error was the spelling of his last name on his home jersey: VANACEK.

The Sharks can have this corrected. Solving the crime is one other matter.

“I think we're doing some systematic things that get to the inside of us,” Warsofsky said. “We have to do it more consistently, that’s the biggest thing in my opinion.”

At least the Sharks were harder to play on Sunday than they were in Friday's 8-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Ross Colton scored a good goal at 16:37 of the primary period when he finished off a pleasant pass from Mikko Rantanen to present Colorado a 2-0 lead. But this line, featuring Rantanen and reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon, was effectively played to a draw by the Sharks, as they gave up nearly as many scoring opportunities (six) as they allowed (eight) in 5-on-5 play. with uniform strength.

That's a plus point the Sharks can take into Tuesday's game against the Ducks, who beat San Jose 2-0 on Oct. 12.

MARIO'S CREW: About two dozen young hockey players from a team near San Francisco called the SaberCats sat within the lower deck at one end of the SAP Center dressed as Super Mario, a reference to Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.

“I am the coach of the Sabercats,” Jon Quick wrote on the social media platform X, formerly often known as Twitter. “Mario has been incredibly generous towards the children for years. It's the absolute least we can do. He’s a first-class human being.”

“A friend of mine organized this with some young people who play on a team near San Francisco. So it’s cool that they came out to support us,” Ferraro said. “I wouldn’t be here without people like that, so I’m grateful to them.”

Ferraro also said he could have played higher on a third-period goal from Joel Kiviranta, who got behind the Sharks, took a pass from Josh Manson and beat Vanecek to present the Avalanche a 3-1 lead.

“Just a little missed coverage from the D-zone. I don't know. “I should have done a better job before that play resulted in me trying to move the puck up the ice past their defender,” Ferraro said.

“I tried to make a direct pass, got turned around and 30 seconds later they finally scored. Some have difficulty finishing the fight on the wall, others have problems with cover. But it starts with me. I have to get the puck deep.”

Originally published:



image credit : www.mercurynews.com

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