San Jose Sharks Survive Slow Start in Back-to-Back Wins

No team in the NHL had played fewer games before the new year than the San Jose Sharks. They also had the fewest road games under their belt.

That will make for a difficult start to 2012.

The Sharks have 13 games over 23 days in January leading up to the All-Star break. Nine are on the road, six out of the Pacific Time Zone and four at least two time zones away.

But the Sharks do get one break in that stretch: Vancouver and Chicago are the only road destinations belonging to a team playing well. (Ottawa and Washington also visit San Jose before the All Star break.)

A win over the Canucks on Monday was the Sharks' first against a playoff-calibre team since December 8, and it came in a shootout. They then faced back-to-back games against the struggling Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets, but were without a point in three games against their Southern California rivals.

The game against the Ducks did not start well. A giveaway at the defensive blue line gave Corey Perry an easy goal in the first three minutes of the game.

San Jose responded with 20 of the next 28 shots on goal, but remained scoreless. Southern California was not merely stealing the water from Northern California, but the goal-scoring as well—the Sharks were on the verge of eight straight periods being shutout in the valley.

The next four shots resulted in goals for Brad Winchester and Benn Ferriero—only the fourth of the season for either—just 27 seconds apart.

Then the Sharks went into a characteristic, protect-the-lead third-period mode, allowing 17 of the final 24 shots. But this time, it was the Sharks who made the one scoring play in the midst of the other team's dominance, when two stars did something they are not known for.

Patrick Marleau laid a hit (though was not credited with one) in the neutral zone and tipped the puck away. It was picked up by Joe Thornton, who then attacked Jonas Hiller with a slap shot rather than waiting for a teammate to pass to.

Joe Pavelski was the lone player to do what he is known for: seizing the moment Hiller looked for the puck to punch it home before the goalie could cover the backside.

Antti Niemi made the lead hold up, giving San Jose its first road win since November 20.

For the game, the Sharks out-shot the Ducks 36-27 despite having fewer attempts (66-62) largely because they blocked 18 to their host's seven. The Sharks' edge in the faceoff circle was minimal (27-24), but they took care of the puck better (four giveaways to 10 and four takeaways to five).

But for all their energy conservation in the third period, San Jose still showed up later than Columbus the following night at the HP Pavilion.

The Sharks gave up four of the first five shots and again surrendered a goal in the first three minutes. A defensive breakdown between Brent Burns and Logan Couture gave Mark Letestu a perfect chance to feed Vinny Prospal for a one-timer in front of the crease. In his first game in over a month, Thomas Greiss stood no chance.

But after the Sharks gave up four more shots in the next 3:40, they got control of the game. While putting 30 of the game's next 38 shots on net, San Jose got big goals from Ryane Clowe and Thornton.

Clowe's came on a power play that had just two goals in six games (giving up one shorthanded). After three minutes of a double-minor saw them get only three shots on goal (and give up one), Jason Demers wristed a shot on goal and Michal Handzus banged at the rebound.

Clowe was able to get a second rebound to bounce over the pad of Curtis Sanford. That would prove to be the only way to beat him on the night, as Thornton later fought in front of the net to deflect a Marleau shot up in the air, batting it in from about the knees.

Greiss held off a late surge by the Jackets to preserve the win.

San Jose was a generous host, more than compensating for their mild greed in the faceoff circle (28-26) and puck theft (14-7 in takeaways) by giving it away a dozen more times than Columbus (22-10). Yet somehow, they attempted 21 more shots, got 15 more on net and still blocked just as many.

The Jackets were predictably more physical than the least-hitting team in the league (38-20 in hits). But San Jose stayed out of the penalty box and now has a modest run of just four power-play goals against while killing five of every six over the last seven games.

They still are the third-worst team in the league killing penalties. Just one power-play goal in five chances Thursday against a penalty kill worse than their own is no reason to celebrate. Beating the worst two teams in the league by a combined score of 5-2 is not especially impressive.

But it should be good enough to put them above 65 points at the break—a point percentage better than all but two teams currently own.