In something of a reversal of their games against Phoenix and Vancouver, the Sharks ended up outshooting the Oilers pretty substantially but weren’t able to break away in terms of scoring chances. At even-strength, they were really being bested in both categories until the coaching staff began line juggling in the third period and appeared to find combinations that, at least temporarily, worked. Of course this doesn’t include special teams numbers and the team was its usual dominant self on the power play for much of the night, generating seven scoring chances with the man-advantage.
Honestly wasn’t expecting Handzus to be that deep in the red in chances after his newfound linemate Martin Havlat had a terrific night creating offense. Looking at it a bit closer, though, it seems like most of Havlat’s brightest moments came while playing with different linemates.
For whatever reason, Tommy Wingels hasn’t been his awesome self so far this season. Chalk it up to playing a bunch with Handzus, but he’s had opportunities to skate on other lines the past two games and hasn’t created much there either. The Sharks really need him to take a step forward from last year’s impressive performance, not backward.
Logan Couture is awesome. He’s been the team’s most effective driver of play despite being saddled with a grab bag of linemates as of late.
Matt Irwin and Dan Boyle shared responsibility on that Taylor Hall goal against but that shouldn’t overshadow a marvelous game for that pairing. They weren’t even all that sheltered.
Speaking of not being sheltered, the Sharks’ top five-man unit had a really rough night matching up against Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and company. At some point, Todd McLellan really needs to split up the Vlasic/Stuart pairing. As effective as they are behind their own blueline, they’re playing far too conservatively in the neutral zone and are still struggling to advance the puck. That’s bleeding shots and chances against, which is especially detrimental because it reduces zone time for the Thornton line, who they most often play behind.
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As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our