San Jose Sharks Must Be Opportunistic During Grueling NHL Stretch Run

The San Jose Sharks came out of the All-Star break with their most complete game since opening night.

Perhaps that isn't a coincidence.

Although the Sharks have played a Western Conference-low 50 games thus far, the grind of the NHL season is still a draining one. Coming out with an explosive amount of energy night after night is difficult, and keeping it up for 60 minutes every game is just about impossible.

Coming out of the All-Star break, San Jose was well-rested and motivated to get this new segment of their season started off well. Much like they were in their 6-3 win over Phoenix on opening night.

And like opening night, the Sharks delivered. They put up six goals for the the first time since that first game, and shut out Columbus.

There a couple positives that were very apparent in that 6-0 victory on January 31st. For one, their offensive dominance (in the Columbus game and on opening night) shows that, when playing all out, the Sharks may have less offensive issues than most fans have begun to think.

Secondly, it shows an improved defense and commitment to details since the beginning of the season. Some lackadaisical and lackluster defensive play cost them their huge lead on opening night and made the game closer than it should have been. Against Columbus, they ground throughout.

The Sharks followed up their big win with a convincing 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars two nights later. Being the second game of the second half, more positives became apparent.

For one, the Sharks followed up their opening night win by being shut out in Anaheim. They played game two of the second half against another beatable team, but instead of letting up, they kept their foot on the gas.

The 11 goals in those two games propelled the Sharks from a middle-of-the-pack team in goals per game to a top 10 team. Their offense further displayed its awakening

The Sharks also won two games they needed to win.

Columbus and Dallas are a combined 18-32-3 on the road this season. The Sharks are 17-8-2 at home. That simply means that San Jose should beat both of those teams in regulation, and they did.

Most importantly, the Sharks played the Dallas game like they played the opening night game and the Columbus game: like it really mattered. Because starting now, the importance of every game gets higher and higher.

If the grind of 50 games in 129 days felt rough, try 32 games in 58 days.

Why would I throw out some crazy theoretical number like that? Because starting this Wednesday, the Sharks will in fact undertake that exact grind. If that isn't daunting enough, 18 of those 32 games will come on the road.

The Sharks are 12-7-4 on the road so far this season. While that gives them the West's third-best road record, it also leaves them tied for second-fewest road games played thus far. This is a cause for concern, as winning on the road is much more difficult, say, on the back-end of a nine-game road trip.

Which is exactly what the Sharks will embark upon in one week.

The trip will start February 12th in St. Louis, followed by a game the next night in Washington, D.C. That's a rough enough start, and once you get three games into a road trip, every game is an uphill climb.

Sure, the Sharks are playing three non-playoff teams on the trip, and also go to places where they have had some recent success like Washington, Detroit and Nashville. And yeah, a winning record on the trip isn't impossible by any measure. But anything short of seven wins will likely leave the team looking up in the standings like they are currently.

If the Sharks don't want to play a higher-seeded Red Wings (20-2-1 at home) or Canucks (they're the Canucks) team in a seven-game series, they don't want to go into March too far behind. Because even after getting back home on February 28th, they'll begin a stretch of a franchise-record 18 games in 32 nights.

OK, I think I've made my point clear, if not annoyingly obvious: The Sharks have a relentless stretch run in store. Fine, but what can they do about it?

Obviously, a crazy hot streak like last year would be nice. But there's a more doable and more probable answer: Keep winning the games you should win.

The Sharks lost a tough game in Phoenix last night. They scored first for a season-high fourth straight game. They continued playing well on special teams. They fought back to tie the game once, and cut a 4-2 lead in half with excellent pressure in the final minute.

It was a loss, but not an aggravating one. They were coming off of back-to-back wins and played hard on the road for 60 minutes, losing to a Coyotes team who played a very strong game. If the Sharks play like this on their road trip—minus a couple bad turnovers—they should do alright.

The loss leaves the Sharks at 29-15-6; third in the West and first in the Pacific. They have three off-days now to rest up, think about it all and gain a couple more games in hand for the final time this season. 

They then play two home games: one against Calgary on Wednesday, followed by Chicago on Friday. These are two unsuspecting games that may end up being the keys to the entire season.

The Sharks will not get three off-days again until the end of the regular season, and will only have three homestands longer than one game. These two upcoming games are simply as easy as it will get. 

The Sharks were one point away from finishing behind Detroit last year. That would have likely kept them out of the conference finals. And with such a tough schedule ahead, they can't even be sure they'll lock up home ice in the first round. Every point is exclamated right now, and only four of the remaining 64 are being served up in a favorable fashion.

The Sharks have proven that they can win when they're at home, rested and hyped. Given that, they'd be well-advised to look at these three off-days as another season-divider, and start off the unofficial stretch run with two convincing victories.

Because they'll all be ugly after that.