Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks know they can't relax - San Jose Mercury News

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Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks know they can't relax - San Jose Mercury News Mar 28th 2012, 02:57 So now that the Sharks have clawed their way back to the top of the Pacific Division standings, they can just sit back, catch their breath and enjoy the view. Yeah, right. "Every game is like a Game 7 for us now," captain Joe Thornton said after practice Tuesday. "We've just got to keep winning. We can't look back at what we did in the last game. All that matters is the next game. Every game now is the most important game of the year for us." The Sharks hold a razor-slim, one-point edge in the Pacific over Dallas and Phoenix, with Los Angeles and Colorado just two points behind. Posting a 3-0 record on the just-completed homestand did catapult resurgent San Jose back into the Western Conference's No. 3 playoff seed. But with the sprint to the regular-season finish line down to six games, the Sharks are acutely aware of what can happen if they do not continue to take care of business. Stumble on this upcoming trip -- back-to-back games in Anaheim on Wednesday and in Phoenix on Thursday -- and they easily could be once again on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture. "Just don't let your guard down," coach Todd McLellan said. "That's the message now." After this brief road swing, the Sharks (39-27-10) conclude the season with home-and-away matchups against Dallas and Los Angeles. It's all Pacific Division infighting the rest of the way, and the expectation is that nothing will be settled in the Wild, Wild West until the final game April 7. That's why the team isn't putting much stock into leading the division right now. "We've sat on our perch enough this year, and it's always come back to affect our play," Joe Pavelski said. "We haven't taken the right steps forward when we could. So I don't think anyone is satisfied. We know that it doesn't feel any better being on the top than on the bottom. We've got to keep playing hard." If the Sharks have a sense of growing confidence, it's not because of their place in the standings but rather that they simply are once again playing up to their capabilities. They are 6-2-1 over their past nine games. Players are settling into roles and finding some chemistry -- such as with the line of Andrew Desjardins, Tommy Wingels and Daniel Winnik. They also are coming off one of their most dominant performances of the season in Monday's 5-1 victory over Colorado. The Sharks had a four-line attack that was clicking on all cylinders with 12 players ending up on the scoresheet. "We're playing better," Thornton said."There's a little bit of relief to see all the lines skating well. That's been very, very rare for us this season. Hopefully that continues." Obscured by the offensive outbreak was a solid performance by goaltender Antti Niemi, who recorded 31 saves in the victory. It has been an up-and-down season for Niemi. The Sharks need the steady goaltender who was efficient between the pipes against Colorado and limited the number of long rebounds that often can lead to prime scoring chances. "I felt really good in that game, and now I need to keep on playing that way," Niemi said. "Maybe if teammates see that I'm on top of my game, they can focus on their jobs and not worry about doing extra things to help me." Last-place Anaheim (32-33-11) no longer is a factor in the playoff hunt. But the Ducks already demonstrated how they are capable of spoiling the Sharks' season when they beat San Jose 5-3 on March 19 at HP Pavilion. That night, McLellan grumbled about how the "lack of energy and jump that we had as a team was baffling." The Sharks since have appeared to have located their "on" switch as they've played, said defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, with a greater sense of fun. "But the tension factor is only going to go up," McLellan said. "It's going to get tighter as the time frame becomes crunched and there are fewer and fewer games." Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Times. All rights reserved. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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