Quick bites: The bad and the oh so ugly

Note the title. There was no good in this game. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. The Sharks finished the road trip by putting up a stinker in Nashville. With 10:30 left in the second period, the Sharks had a 2-1 lead over the Predators. But, as it has been in the past few weeks, the Sharks could not figure out how to play a full 60-minute game and ultimately lost 8-2.

When you look at the game flow chart courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, you see that the game-tying second goal was really the beginning of the Sharks’ downhill skid, which never really stopped.

While the Sharks did some little things to try and regain the lead in the second period, San Jose simply could not break that two goal plateau. By the end of the second, the Predators had doubled up the Sharks. The Predators added four more for good measure in the third period.

There was little good in this game

Looking at the individual performances of each player courtesy of Hockey Stat Cards, you can see that there is little good coming out of this game.

#NHL GameScore Impact Card for San Jose Sharks on 2024-03-19:#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/xt2cL1gf29

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 20, 2024

Only two players accounted for any noticeable defense during the game — Ryan Carpenter and Jacob MacDonald.

As for the best players on the ice? Those were hard to come by for the Sharks. Mario Ferraro was one of the only players whose offensive contribution outweighed his defensive liability. Thomas Bordeleau and Kyle Burroughs were also in that category, though the latter had a limited impact one way or the other.

Ferraro and Mikael Granlund scored for the Sharks.

Unanswered goals

In what has become a disturbing theme in the past two games, the Sharks have given up a ton of unanswered goals. On Sunday in Chicago, it was five unanswered goals that sunk the Sharks. Then, tonight against the Predators, it was seven unanswered goals. 12 unanswered goals in the past two games is unacceptable even for a team at the bottom of the league.

This shows a lack of mental toughness on the part of all of the players involved. You don’t need to be a high-end skill player to block a shot or clear a puck. These are the basics of playing in the NHL. Even without scoring or creating scoring chances, you, as a player, need to be defensively responsible. The Sharks have been unable to accomplish that in recent games, and that’s not good.

Something’s gotta give

Which leads to the final point of the night. Something has to give.

This game feels like a step back in the development of several players and possibly harmful to their long-term development. While Bordeleau was good, William Eklund was virtually invisible in this game. What’s more, according to Hockey Stat Cards, Henry Thrun had the worst individual game of the entire season out of any NHL player.

🚨 Thrun takes the top spot for worst game this season. pic.twitter.com/Cn8eyTpgNh

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 20, 2024

These are young players who the Sharks need for the future. Thrun may or may not develop into a mid to bottom-pairing NHL defenseman, but if he continues in situations like these, it can cause long-term damage to his development.

Thrun, as well as other young players, need to be put into structures and situations where they can learn and grow. What happened tonight and on Sunday in Chicago were not those situations.

If this trend of mental mistakes, poor play and decision-making, and bad structure continues, then San Jose could have the beginnings of a serious problem that could tank the rebuild before it even truly starts.

Highlight of the night Sharks at Predators March 19, 2024

Tonight’s highlight of the game goes to Granlund, who scored his 10th goal of the season. Granlund now leads the Sharks with 45 points in 55 games.

Granlund lights the lamp against his former team 🚨😁 pic.twitter.com/pRNJ6hLVCx

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) March 20, 2024

Honorable mention to Ferraro and Klim Kostin who were credited with the assists.