Sharks got shut down by the wrong goaltender

Let’s get this out of the way first: Carey Price played well on Dec. 2. He posted a .933 save percentage against the Sharks as San Jose won 2-1 in a game Montreal probably should have won. In that way, it seems fitting the Sharks lost to Mike Condon and Ottawa on Wednesday night despite absolutely decimating the Senators on the shot clock.

Condon made 35 saves posted a .946 save percentage at all strengths and didn’t allow an even-strength goal, which makes perfect sense. I don’t know the Sharks overall numbers against backup netminders, nor do I want to try to figure them out, but I imagine they’re terrible.

San Jose only scored one time on six power play opportunities, which isn’t exactly great. Condon can be thanked for that, too. Last night isn’t a referendum on the Sharks’ capability on the power play, nor on Dylan DeMelo’s inclusion in the lineup; and oh my god it is certainly not proof scoring the first goal is all-important. It’s just a fluky-ass loss.

Which yeah, is pretty much how the Senators have survived this season. When I talked to Silver Seven Sens managing editor Ross Arnold yesterday, I asked him if the Senators were any good. He said “that’s a question Senators fans are still asking themselves.”

I think I’ve come to my answer: noop.

Erik Karlsson is very good. Mark Stone is very good. Bobby Ryan is ... well he used to be very good and is still pretty good. The Senators as a team are just not very good at all. As a team they’ve managed to keep shots away from their netminder this season, but that’s not something they successfully did against the Sharks.

Those are the locations of the Sharks shot attempts last nights. As you can see, San Jose got plenty of action inside the dots, pretty well neutralizing any attempts by the Senators to keep the Sharks to the outside. Joe Pavelski in particular had a frustrating night, attempting seven shots without a goal.

This is the post I was ready to write about Friday’s game against Montreal. So I got to write it about an American backup instead of a Canadian superstar. Given the Sharks’ history, I guess this makes more sense anyway. Whatever. We’ll get back it against the Ducklings tomorrow.