San Jose Sharks 2010: Home Ice Not Friendly As Marleau and Co. Fall Again.
This has not been the start the San Jose Sharks were hoping for. Although it's early, you wonder if Doug Wilson and Todd McLellan are getting nervous about the play of their team.
After a 5-2 loss on Tuesday to the South Eastern division's last place team, the Carolina Hurricane, you begin to wonder about some things.
Was it the right move to let go of Evgeni Nabokov? Yes, he had postseason problems, but Antti Niemi has allowed nine goals in the last two games.
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Should the Sharks have pushed to add another quality blue liner? It could've helped replace the loss of Rob Blake's experience and ice time.
These questions are fair, but premature. Only four games in, the Sharks shouldn't push the panic button yet.
Let's review the game.
The first period was atrocious. For the second game in a row, the Sharks gave up a short-handed goal and went into the locker room down two.
Patrick Marleau woke up in a big way in the second when Dan Boyle fired a shot from the blue line that he beautifully redirected into the net. He later put another one past Hurricane's goalie, Cam Ward.
That would be all the scoring for the Sharks, however. Carolina put two more—and the game—away.
The Sharks can't seem to play a solid 60 minutes. They won 40 of the 60 face-offs, out-shot Carolina 43-31, but could only muster two goals.
They aren't mentally in the game and turnovers have killed them. Douglas Murray's turnover in his own zone led to an easy goal by Chad Larose in the third.
Silver Lining: The last of the big three got his first goal of the year. Patrick Marleau looked good and was the entire offense for the Sharks.
Another good sign is the Shark's power play. They have scored a power play goal in all four games, ranking them fourth in the league.
While the big three are going and scoring, the problems that need solving are the defensive mental mistakes, and Niemi's lack of consistency.
