Arriving to Toronto amidst an 11-game losing streak, the San Jose Sharks dropped yet another game to extend their longest skid of the season. The Sharks faced the Maple Leafs for the second straight game against the star-studded team, and the results were mostly similar to their 4-1 loss on Saturday at SAP Center. Simply put, the Sharks were outmatched once again, and didn’t put in a good enough effort for 60 minutes to keep it close. The Leafs exploited almost every mistake or gap in coverage to come away with a 7-1 victory.
Head Coach David Quinn continued to shuffle the forward lines in a desperate attempt to find a spark. To begin the game, Mike Hoffman was moved up to the top line, joining Tomas Hertl and William Eklund. Anthony Duclair was deployed in a trio with Mikael Granlund and Fabian Zetterlund, and Scott Sabourin made his San Jose Sharks debut. On the back end, Kyle Burroughs dressed in place of Nikita Okhotiuk. Kaapo Kahkonen started the game, but Mackenzie Blackwood stepped in early in the second to, mercifully, finish it off.
Easy to play against, hard to watch
San Jose has done a decent job keeping its shots against in check throughout this losing streak, but last night, the team allowed Toronto to walk all over it in its defensive zone. Multiple times, including for the first Maple Leafs goal, the Sharks gave up space for the Leafs to just skate right into the most dangerous areas and score. On the bright side, this 0-12-0 run has done wonders for the organization’s chances at securing a lottery pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
And while it may be getting too hard to keep watching this team flounder, the Sharks’ schedule should let up a bit as the team continues on this Atlantic swing. San Jose will face non-playoff teams over its next four games: Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo and Chicago.
Penalty kill can’t keep up
It’s hard to put together a solid penalty kill unit for this roster without the likes of Logan Couture, Matt Benning, or Nico Sturm, and now it shows. Toronto went 3-for-3 on its power play, moving the puck fluidly and striking on quick plays each time.
The penalty kill, not too dissimilar from some of the 5-on-5 defensive play, allowed passes through the middle of the ice and was caught with mismatched coverage or puck-watching. Of course, Toronto’s power play is as elite as it gets, with Matthews on pace for around 60 goals this season and Marner being one of the great playmakers of today’s game, but this penalty kill could have at least helped to stop the bleeding.
With Scott Sabourin’s four-minute penalty for high-sticking in the third period, the Leafs scored twice on an already cushioned lead. The Leafs did not have the urgent need to score and still found ways to sneak by the Sharks’ defense to make the score uglier. Allowing too many backdoor tap-ins, easy rebounds and one-timers does a disservice to Kahkonen and Blackwood’s efforts as well.
Hopefully, the team can clean up its shorthanded play in the coming week.
Line juggling woes
Aside from certain moments sparked by Hertl’s net drives or Granlund’s smart set-ups, the Sharks continue to struggle finding a rhythm amongst the team’s forward lines. Young Eklund is having a hard time with the puck during this cold swing of play, and it has led to turnovers that force the top line to defend for its shift. Especially when paired against the likes of Matthews and Marner, more intent play with the puck is a prerequisite.
Ryan Carpenter and Luke Kunin have been working hard to fill the gaps as third and fourth-line centers, but both of their lines were often caught defending the entire shift as well. Toronto took advantage of a lot of clean face-off wins to establish offensive zone time, establish a cycle, and generate prime scoring chances.
Sooner or later, Couture will return to the lineup, and his presence will be more than welcome. Adding Couture alone would do wonders for the forward core’s talent and center depth. Wherever Quinn will slot the captain in as he eases back into the regular pace of play, his experience, defensive commitment, skill level at the face-off dot and clutch play should have a ripple effect on the rest of the lines.
The team may lose some talent with the trade deadline approaching, but forwards like Hoffman, Duclair, Labanc, and Barabanov are not doing enough to boost their value and may very well end up remaining on this roster to ride out their contracts.
Highlight
By far, the best thing to come out of last night’s drubbing was rookie defenseman Henry Thrun’s first NHL goal! The power play marker was the lone goal San Jose scored in this game, but it came on a beautiful pass from none other than Granlund. Congratulations, Henry!
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