Don't write the obituary just yet.
Thursday night the Sharks rebounded from two poor showings this week to eke out a tight 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins at HP Pavilion and breathe a little more life into their playoff hopes.
And the fact the winning goal came early in the third period from fourth-line forward Daniel Winnik was a bonus in the feel-good department.
"We had talked about that, that we can't rely on our top two lines to score every night, that the third and the fourth have to start chipping in. That's what the better teams in the league do," said Winnik, whose goal was his first since coming to the Sharks at the trade deadline and ended a 43-game personal drought.
The Sharks never trailed in the game, as Joe Pavelski scored early in the first and goalie Antti Niemi blanked the Bruins until captain Zdeno Chara scored with only 4:15 remaining.
While the victory didn't lift the Sharks into a playoff spot, it did tighten the gap. With 84 points, San Jose is only one point behind the two teams now tied for eighth in the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
Losses earlier this week to the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings put San Jose in a precarious spot, and Todd McLellan said he talked with players in pregame meetings about how to handle that tension.
"When you're in stressful situations, it can slow you down, it can make you lethargic, it can make you tired if you allow it
to," the coach said. "But if you play free, and put it aside and accept the challenge, then you're a little bit faster and a little bit fresher. I thought we had that tonight. We didn't have that in the last two games."
Against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Sharks were the team that capitalized on an early turnover instead of being the team that committed one.
Less than four minutes into the game, Boston forward Milan Lucic's clearing attempt went right to Joe Thornton. Goalie Tim Thomas stopped the initial shot, but the Sharks kept control of the puck, and Pavelski scored on a rebound of a shot by Patrick Marleau.
Even with only four shots, the Bruins threatened in the second period, but Niemi stopped Brad Marchand on an early odd-man rush and the crossbar came to the rescue late on a deflection by Lucic.
The Sharks got a little breathing room early in the third on a play that started when Andrew Desjardins picked off a drop pass intended for Bruins forward Tyler Seguin and set a 3-on-2 rush in motion with Winnik and Pavelski.
"Pavs drove through the middle perfectly, backed the 'D' off a little bit," Desjardins said, "and Winnik made a tremendous shot."
Winnik anticipated the play perfectly, beating Thomas high on the short side.
"It was probably the only place I could shoot there," Winnik said. "I knew he was coming across and was going to be down, so it was one of those (where you) hope it goes in."
Winnik came to the Sharks with TJ Galiardi in the trade that sent Jamie McGinn to Colorado. McGinn has seven goals and four assists since changing teams, but Winnik said he wasn't feeling particularly frustrated.
"Not really," he said. "I'm not a guy who racks up the points. I thought since I came here I've been making some nice plays and setting guys up. I know it's just a matter of timing."
Still, McLellan has been looking for more scoring from different players.
"That's how it has to happen," the coach said, noting it can't be his top three goal scorers -- Logan Couture, Marleau and Pavelski -- all the time. "It has to be an unusual suspect that steps up."
Chara brought Boston to within one goal with just 4:15 left in the game when he banked the puck into the net off Niemi from behind the goal line, but Boston only got one shot on net after that and there was no panic on San Jose's part.
"Because we were doing some things right," McLellan said. "I think panic sets in when you're cheating the game a little bit and maybe doing some things wrong. But we were doing a lot of things right. They scored one, we settled back in and did what we were supposed to do."
The challenge for the Sharks is how to carry over the strong play against Boston into Saturday night's game against Phoenix.
"It was a good win tonight, but we've still got eight games to go and a lot of work to do," Thornton said. "We know what's at stake. We'll enjoy this, but Saturday's the next most important game of the year, and we'll be ready."
0 意見:
Post a Comment