SAN JOSE – Some low scoring NHL games can be fairly boring, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday as the Sharks and Ducks staged an entertaining get together at SAP Center in a battle of two surefire playoff teams. Here are our three takeaways from Anaheim’s 2-1 win…
1 – Improved performance from Sharks
Yes, the Sharks lost their second straight game in regulation for the first time in more than two months, but Saturday’s effort against Anaheim was much better than Thursday’s dud against St. Louis. Friday’s day off surely aided the team in finding its legs, but playing against a division rival likely helped get their motors going, too.
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The Ducks pushed the pace early, but the Sharks seized the momentum towards the end of the opening frame and were the better team from the second period on, too.
“The other night wasn’t our best game by any means. Tonight was definitely better,” Joe Pavelski said. “I think we got better as the game went on.”
To be fair, Anaheim may have been feeling the effects of its 10-round shootout loss on Friday night by the time that third period rolled around. The Sharks still felt they should have scored more than just one power play goal before the final horn rang.
Logan Couture said: “We were better tonight than we were against St. Louis. With every game you take positives. … They were playing a back-to-back, but in that third period we had a lot of grade-A chances where we should score.”
San Jose Sharks
Pete DeBoer said: “In a typical night we get at least two or three with the looks we had, and we didn’t tonight. Just got to keep at it. Stick with it.”
2 – Hansen’s injury cause for concern
Jannik Hansen wasted to time in getting off of the ice and to the dressing room after taking an apparent stick to the head in the third period. It didn’t look good. Sunday’s recalls of Timo Meier and Danny O’Regan suggest that Hansen might miss some time, and there was no word as of Sunday afternoon whether Hansen was on the flight to Dallas.
Hansen may only have one assist in six games, but his addition has sparked Pavelski and Joe Thornton. They’ll need him back sooner than later, since the primary reason they acquired him was that no one else in the organization looked like a long term fit on the top line. Hansen did.
Tomas Hertl filled in there after Hansen left the game, and he could start in that familiar position on Monday against Dallas. That would move Chris Tierney up to third line center, while O’Regan could potentially center the fourth line. That’s all me speculating, though, so stay tuned.
3 – Don’t panic about losing the division lead…yet
The Sharks may have squandered a chance to really put the Ducks behind them, but there’s no reason to panic about losing the Pacific Division yet. Although the upcoming road trip presents some challenges with a pair of back-to-backs, two of them are against the Stars, who are a complete disaster right now. That should be four points in the bank.
If the Sharks gain just 11 of 22 points available to them from now until the end of the season, Anaheim will have to gain 16 points in their final 10 games to catch them, as San Jose would almost certainly have the tiebreaker of more regulation/overtime wins. Still, burying the Ducks – who are looking for their fifth straight division title – would have been preferable.
“Obviously teams are going to be up and down, you’ve just got to try to hammer your games out as much as you can,” Joel Ward said.