Category: Winning Play

Winning Play: Why it’s over

By Sheng Peng | May 22nd 2019 | 7 min read |

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A day before Valentine’s Day, Peter DeBoer was asked if this was the deepest San Jose Sharks squad that he’s coached. Without h...

Winning Play: Game 5’s most interesting shift

By Sheng Peng | May 20th 2019 | 5 min read |

It’s not all the time that one shift encapsulates so many of my thoughts about a game. But the Vladimir Tarasenko penalty shot goal, and the shift l...

Winning Play: Another slow start

By Sheng Peng | May 18th 2019 | 5 min read |

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — If you were surprised by the St. Louis Blues’ fourth line scoring Game 4’s opening goal, you haven’t been paying enough atten...

Winning Play: The Other Karlsson

By Sheng Peng | May 16th 2019 | 4 min read |

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Forming a successful line isn’t just about putting your most-skilled players together. In March, I mused about who should slide n...

Winning Play: Weaponizing...Bortuzzo?

By Sheng Peng | May 15th 2019 | 4 min read |

Before Game 1, a scout told me, of the St. Louis Blues, “Their D are very active in the offensive end.” That’s nothing ground-breaking. The San ...

Winning Play: “It starts with the center.”

By Sheng Peng | May 13th 2019 | 5 min read |

It’s easy to forget when you eviscerate a team 6-3, but the San Jose Sharks actually had their hands full against the St. Louis Blues to start Game ...

Winning Play: Sharks’ depth finally overwhelms Avs

By Sheng Peng | May 9th 2019 | 5 min read |

The chief reason why the San Jose Sharks were considered favorites over the Colorado Avalanche was depth. San Jose had it, Colorado did not. Not that ...

Winning Play: “We didn’t have enough guys for the whole game”

By Sheng Peng | May 8th 2019 | 4 min read |

DENVER, Co. — After their 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the San Jose Sharks were still talking about the first period. “I thought i...

Winning Play: Karlsson flies, Pavelski speaks

By Sheng Peng | May 6th 2019 | 9 min read |

For Erik Karlsson, this isn’t the 2017 playoffs. At the beginning of this postseason, when Karlsson returned from his second groin injury of the yea...

Winning Play: The small things

By Sheng Peng | May 4th 2019 | 3 min read |

DENVER, Co. — The San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche are truly a study of contrast. Micheal Haley got down to the nuts and bolts of it: Hale...