- An uglier game for the Sharks than the final score may have indicated. It wasn’t all score effects either; the Blues did most of their damage after tying the game in the third period. San Jose has gone a week without outchancing an opponent, so it isn’t surprising that their only win in that span came via coinflips in Vancouver.
- They scored a goal, and it’s hard to complain about any Sharks line that does that these days, but not an impressive outing by the reconstructed third line of Sheppard, Gomez and Clowe. They had the advantage of starting three more shifts in the St. Louis end of the rink than their own and still finished underwater in possession and chances.
Adam Burish’s particularly ugly shot differential is largely mitigated by the fact that he was deployed exclusively in the defensive zone; he started four shifts there and none in the Blues’ end. It’s actually marginally impressive that St. Louis couldn’t manage a chance with him on the ice, although it’s difficult to see that trend persisting if opponents are allowed that much zone time. - It warms my cold, dead heart to see Handzus dead last on the team with five even-strength minutes. This is how he should have always been used.
- The top six at least largely managed to control play but the dearth of chances is wholly concerning. As I mentioned in the recap, Alex Pietrangelo and especially Barret Jackman deserve a ton of credit for negating Joe Thornton in this game but it would be nice to see that second line break through and score after stringing so many great games together. For that they need chances but, apart from Marleau’s self-initiated breakaway and an opportunity for Pavelski off the draw late in the second period, those never materialized.
- They kept the damage on the chance count to a minimum, but Douglas Murray and Brad Stuart should clearly not be paired at even-strength. The offense suffers greatly with them on the ice together as it becomes almost impossible for the Sharks to cleanly break out of the defensive zone./
For more information on what these numbers mean, head here for an in-depth explanation of Corsi and here for more details on scoring chances.
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