Sheng Peng
OTTAWA – My reward for the San Jose Sharks snapping their 12-game losing streak on Thursday?
I got to write about good hockey, for once.
And it was good hockey from the Sharks to a man, in their 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
To commemorate that – I’m not sure when that’ll happen again, to be honest – I wanted to highlight some of the details, the subtle winning plays from every line and pairing last night.
I spoke with Justin Bailey, Calen Addison, Kevin Labanc, and David Quinn today about some of the winning hockey that they and their teammates played, that you might not have seen.
Right Frame of Mind
On a 12-game losing streak and off arguably their worst game of the season, according to Quinn, the San Jose Sharks were not a confident bunch entering Bell Centre, safe to say.
“We’ve been digging ourselves out of a mental hole,” Quinn said after the win. “I thought our start was just okay.”
When no one is feeling great, you need some breaks to feel good.
Or in this case, the Luke Kunin line to earn some breaks.
Kunin (11), of course, deserves all the credit for his puck hunger, jumping on the errant pass for his first goal since Nov. 27.
But let’s rewind: Justin Bailey (90), going full tilt on the forecheck, unnerves Jayden Struble (47) in the corner. That’s what causes Struble to rush the pass into the slot.
“Being able to close time and space on the D, make them feel uncomfortable is a huge, huge asset for me and it’s something I try to do every single night,” Bailey said.
And before that, it’s a perfect Jan Rutta (84) dump-in that puts Struble in the jackpot.
“Those opportunities for those soft dumps,” Bailey said, “it was a high dump [too].”
Off the glass, that makes the puck hard for Struble to handle, while Bailey and Kunin’s combined efforts take advantage.
Sometimes, you need your role players to buy the stars some time to get going. That’s what the third line did here.
From OK to Great
Despite jumping out to a 2-1 lead after the first period, the San Jose Sharks were, as Quinn said, “Just okay.” An imperfect illustration of that, they were down 11-7 shots at this point.
“You don’t go through what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourself. You got to earn it and we started earning it, shift after shift,” Quinn said. “That’s how we have to get out of this.”
That’s what Filip Zadina did for the Sharks early in the second period, with nothing more than a simple, direct forecheck.
“He played a basic game,” I said to Quinn today.
“Yes,” he responded.
“He can be so effective that way.”
“Yes, yes.”
“It started with him on the forecheck.”
“Great job on the forecheck and boom! We get chances,” Quinn said about Zadina.
This kicked off a 30-minute stretch where the Sharks outshot the Canadiens 25-11.
Quinn added about the inconsistent 23-year-old winger, the 2018 sixth-overall pick, still trapped between his Draft Day hype and what he needs to do to have a long, successful NHL career: “We’ve had plenty of conversations and I’m anticipating more. Just him fully embracing that [simple game]. That’s his challenge. You’re seeing it more and more. It’s progress.”
The Game-Winner
Of course, it’s Mikael Granlund (64) to Nikita Okhotiuk (82) that’s the highlight, the game-winner.
But how did the San Jose Sharks help Granlund circle the globe, untouched, like that?
“I had a little bit of room, strolling around a little bit. [William Eklund] had a really good pick there. I get more room,” Granlund said.
That’s Eklund (72) behind the net, stopping Josh Anderson (17) from getting at Granlund.
That wasn’t the only pick. As Granlund goes high in the zone, defenseman Calen Addison (33) goes low, setting an intentional pick on Brendan Gallagher (11). Along the way, Mike Matheson (8), who had been chasing Granlund in Montreal’s man-to-man defensive scheme, also gets tangled up with Addison.
It was all part of the plan.
“It’s something we talked about, the coaches and us D, is running that play to the inside there, to create space for the guy coming up the wall. The way they defend, it kind of messes with them a little bit, causes double coverage,” Addison said.
“There’s a lot of movement,” Granlund said. “Oky made a great [read to the] backdoor there. I was able to make that pass.”
“Worked out perfect,” Addison said of the goal that made it 3-1.
Bell Centre Boos
The San Jose Sharks have heard plenty of boos from their own fans at SAP Center this year. That’s what happens when you’re 10-29-3.
Turnabout is fair play. Five minutes into the final frame, the Sharks in the midst of a 25-11 shots stretch, the much-maligned Kevin Labanc (62), of all people, got the Habs fans hissing.
You can hear it here:
Labanc was on top of the puck, preventing back-to-back Montreal exits with his own dogged forecheck.
He didn’t notice the fans turning on the home team, but he was glad to hear that report.
“I think we played a great game,” Labanc said of his fourth line with Ryan Carpenter and Mike Hoffman, and the rest of the Sharks. “We played a good possession game.”
Closing Out the Canadiens
Halfway through the third period, however, the Habs started taking control.
That has been a San Jose Sharks problem all year – when another team wants to turn it on against them, they usually can.
Mackenzie Blackwood, of course, was the chief reason why the Sharks were able to hang on, making 14 of his 33 saves in the final frame.
What if Blackwood, San Jose up 3-1 and on a power play, gives up this shortie to Nick Suzuki? Anybody betting on the emotionally fragile Sharks to pull this game out with 10 minutes to go?
After the game, a big story was how alternate captain Mario Ferraro helped galvanize the guys by organizing a team dinner the day before.
But he also starred on the ice to secure the Sharks’ first victory since Dec. 12.
Ferraro (38) is quick and strong on two of the most dangerous Habs, goalie pulled, Cole Caufield (22) and Nick Suzuki (14). He absolutely erases them, especially Suzuki, the second that the star center bobbles the puck.
What he did to a top player like Suzuki, that’s how good Ferraro can be.
Sure, the Sharks have missed the playoffs in every season of Ferraro’s career. Sure, Ferraro has a -57 the last two years combined.
“He’s really turned the corner of his career. In every aspect of what it takes to be a really good player,” Quinn responded. “He’s a victim of the plus-minus and that can happen to people.”
Speaking of turning the corner, could the San Jose Sharks use yesterday’s win as a springboard?
Likely not – their record is what it is, because as a team, they haven’t shown that they can play consistently good hockey. There’s no reason to believe that they’ll start now, more than halfway into the season.
But for one night, they gave Sharks fans a taste of how they’ll play when the rebuild is complete.
“That’s what you need, you need all your lines to kind of look the same,” Quinn said. “Obviously, every team, every line has a little bit of talent discrepancy, but your intentions need to look the same and that’s kind of what happened tonight.”