San Jose Sharks: 5 Things They Need to Do to Make the Postseason

“The lack of energy and jump that we had as a team is baffling,” said coach Todd McLellan (via ESPN) after his team’s 5-3 loss to Anaheim.

“When we’re supposed to be as desperate as we are,” he continued, “I can’t figure out why we didn’t have that jump.”

The contest could have vaulted San Jose into the third spot in the West.

“We coulda hopped over a bunch of teams tonight,” said captain Joe Thornton.

“It was frustrating,” said Ryane Clowe. “It was just a lack of intensity.”

San Jose is still in the playoff race, but their chances of making the playoffs were significantly reduced after the Anaheim loss, according to CSNBayArea.com.

In short, they’ve got a lot of work to do down the stretch.

In the locker room, they believe they can win and are not going to be phased by losses down the stretch (“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” said Thornton) and members of the media second their belief that they are a playoff team.

The team needs desperation, hunger, urgency, et cetera if they are going to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Those intangibles are, by nature, difficult to measure.

However, there are five tangible improvements the team must make if they are going to be playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the end of the season.

Tom Schreier is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He covers baseball and hockey.

All quotes were obtained first-hand. Follow me on Twitter @tschreier3.

They Must Take Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s Lead in Locker Room

Joe Thornton is an able leader and a locker room plus, but in crunch time it’s never bad to have a leader in the locker room that doesn’t wear a letter on his chest.

The team should follow Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s lead.

He’s frank:

“They played better than we did,” Vlasic said after the Ducks loss.

He’s levelheaded:

“They were fortunate on that one,” he said about a breakaway he gave up after a puck hoped his stick on the blue line.

And he’s defensively responsible.

That’s a formula for success.

Antti Niemi Has to Control Rebounds

Antti Niemi was pulled from the Anaheim contest after giving up four goals for the first time since his meltdown in Tampa on February 16.

In reality, the rubber in his net was not entirely his fault.

“I’m looking for a spark,” McLellan said about the move.

“We can’t pin this one on Nemo, by any means.”

Still, Niemi, whose 2.45 GAA and .913 save percentage are good, not great, needs to control rebounds.

Against Anaheim the puck often appeared greased and while Niemi made some impressive saves during the game, he also gave up rebounds on routine saves.

This, unfortunately, has been a trend this season and must be curtailed if the Sharks are going to make a postseason run this year.

Good Starts are a Positive Trend

Duh.

But really, the team needs a strong start every night from now on.

“I haven’t complained about our starts lately,” said McLellan, “but you have to be able to maintain it with four lines and six defensemen and play solid all the way through.”

Patrick Marleau Must Find the Net

Patrick Marleau has one goal in March.

One goal.

While his teammates believe in him, he’s been ripped by former teammate Jeremy Roenick and is expected to be a go-to guy for the Sharks in crunch time (via NHL.com).

The message for Marleau is simple: He needs to start scoring. Now.

The Shift After a Goal is Paramount

This is well documented but here’s the skinny: The Sharks cannot give up a goal after scoring.

It wastes an opportunity to score when the opposing goaltender is rattled.

It kills their momentum.

It usually ties the game or gives the other team the lead (obviously).

“Everybody knows that after you score a goal, the next shift’s important,” says Vlasic.

“It’s pretty simple,” says McLellan, “you have to win faceoffs, you’ve got to advance to the red line and get the forecheck going, get them back on their heels.”