San Jose Sharks
Quick Thoughts: Sharks Beat Ducks in Shootout; What to Do With Vlasic, Hertl?

Brent Burns called the San Jose Sharks’ 5-4 shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks “a tale of three periods.”
He might as well have just called it a tale of three Sharks teams.
“You like the start. You hate the second. You like the response,” Burns said.
In the opening frame, per Natural Stat Trick, San Jose raced out to an 8-1 High-Danger Corsi For edge. It was the start that dreams are made of:
In the second period, however, the Sharks surrendered three goals in 8:19. Burns called it “brutal”:
Down 3-1, between periods, Bob Boughner apparently laid into his players.
“We got challenged by our coaches, between the second and the third. We kind of challenged each other. We knew that wasn’t good enough,” Logan Couture acknowledged. “It’s tough it had to come to that, to getting yelled at a little bit between the second and the third, but sometimes you need that.”
Boughner offered: “There was a lot said. I was upset with the guys; they were upset with themselves. Your character’s in question there.”
To San Jose’s credit, they did respond: Couture and Evander Kane tied it up two minutes into the final frame, and they pulled it out in the shootout.
There are three Sharks squads and that’s why they’re just 4-5-0. They have good – they authored a fantastic third period against the Blues on Jan. 20. They have bad – they were outclassed by the Avs 7-3 on Jan. 26. And they have been responding: The Jan. 20 victory in St. Louis came off the heels of a poor 5-on-5 performance in the previous contest.
Which Sharks’ team emerges most – there will be a struggle between three sides all season – will tell the tale of the season.
Counting Shifts
Boughner said volumes with how he doled out playing time in the third period.
3rd period shifts tell a story: Burns 12, Karlsson/Ferraro 11, Simek 9, Vlasic 5, Knyzhov 4
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 6, 2021
“I obviously wasn’t happy with the personnel back there on a couple goals,” he said of his defense’s second period efforts. “We were just playing the guys who were going.”
In terms of shift count, it was Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) who bore the brunt of Boughner’s ire. Specifically, on Adam Henrique’s (14) goal, Vlasic failed to corral Henrique’s stick on the rebound.
🚨ANAHEIM GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL🚨
Adam Henrique gets it through the pads of Jones and we are TIED!#FlyTogether I @AnaheimDucks pic.twitter.com/cbqXs21IRa— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) February 6, 2021
Then, on the Maxime Comtois goal, Vlasic had the puck to himself in the corner and literally passed it to nobody. I’m sure Vlasic thought Burns (88) would be there to receive the pass, but regardless, it’s an unforced error.
This calls to question what Boughner’s next step is with Vlasic. The 33-year-old has struggled for most of the season.
Over the last week, we started getting a sense that a change might be coming to the defensive pairings. As I wrote in my game preview:
Speaking of changes, Boughner also intimated earlier this week that his top-four defensive pairings might change soon. He hasn’t been thrilled with the results from Mario Ferraro-Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Brent Burns.
“It’s been up and down, to be honest,” Boughner admitted. “As we get into some home games, maybe you’ll see the switch back to a Mario and Burns playing against the other team’s top lines.”
So this Southern California road swing will be a litmus test for the current pairings.
It’s interesting to note that a reunited Ferraro-Burns was offered as the “shutdown” pairing. Last season, when Boughner took over for Peter DeBoer, he leaned on Vlasic-Karlsson as his go-to pairing at home in the defensive zone and against the top lines. Does this represent a sea change in his philosophy, an admission of the decline in Vlasic and/or Karlsson’s game?
And that’s how Boughner started the third period: Ferraro-Burns. Then Karlsson cycled through Radim Simek, Vlasic, and Nikolai Knyzhov, but mostly Simek.
The obvious move would simply be to promote Simek with Karlsson. Simek has played top-four minutes before and his physicality and urgency, when healthy, could strike the right balance with Karlsson’s finesse.
Vlasic then, could slide down with Knyzhov. It’s a good place to shelter the proud veteran, while letting him help on the penalty kill, where he still excels. For what it’s worth, Peter DeBoer did something similar two years ago, when he paired Vlasic with Tim Heed late in the season. Vlasic responded with a turn-back-the-clock playoffs.
Boughner shared: “[The defensive pairings tomorrow are] probably not going to be the way we started tonight.”
Counting third period shifts didn’t just tell a story about the back-end: Tomas Hertl played a surprisingly-low five shifts.
The final count: Dylan Gambrell 10, Couture 9, Kane 8, Kevin Labanc/Noah Gregor/Marcus Sorensen/Matt Nieto 7, Hertl/Patrick Marleau/Timo Meier/Ryan Donato 5, Sasha Chmelevski 1.
First, wow, Gambrell. Boughner also added, of the other forwards, “Niets and Marcus played really well together. Sasha played very well at the beginning of the game. Game caught up a little bit to him in certain situations. Gregor generated a lot of speed tonight.”
Couture also added about Kane’s work: “Tremendous. First shift, he’s so fast, so powerful.”
He was talking about the shift that led to the Couture goal:
What a shift from Couture: Flip pass to Kane, Kane wins race, then Couture beats Deslauriers to loose puck. Burns & Ferraro back together
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 6, 2021
Couture then gushed about Kane’s short-handed strike, which tied the game 3-3: “He’s got a good-enough shot to beat elite goaltenders from a distance. Gibson is one of the elite goalies in the league. To beat him from a distance without a screen is a great shot.”
But back to Hertl.
“I didn’t like Hertl’s line again,” Boughner said. It’s also worth noting the lesser number of shifts that Meier played.
Even though Vlasic’s play might be the lowlight of the night, it’s Hertl’s continued up-and-down play that is most troubling for the San Jose Sharks’ long-term chances. Simek, after all, could potentially cover for Vlasic. The Sharks have nobody up the middle who can make close to a Hertl-like impact.
“We’re trying to get everybody going at the same time,” Boughner said for what seemed like the umpteenth time this year.
That can happen without Vlasic, but it won’t happen without Hertl.
It’s official: Vlasic is no longer a top 4 d-man. It actually makes me really sad. I was hoping that he would bounce back with the coaching change and we would get to see at least a little more of his shut-down prowess that has been our secret weapon in years past. It seems like after our Stanley Cup final, his “give a shit” level plummeted. I really don’t get what is up with Hertl either. Him and Timo together should be making some magic, and it isn’t happening. Neither are putting pucks in the back of the net and… Read more »
I don’t believe it’s guys not caring. I find Vlasic to be a proud guy, and just guessing, it’s hard for a guy like that to recognize his game is slipping and he may have to adjust, play in a different way.
Hertl could be knee, that can be inconsistent when coming back. Hopefully, knee improves, probably will
It was tough to watch yesterday.
Speaking of “pity points”, even though 4-5 record on the road is not horrible, in those games they gained 8 points and gave up 13 – all within division. So in first 9 games against the Sharks, their direct playoff opposition gained 13 out of 18 possible points. Not good.
That’s a good way to look at it, and indeed, not good
Vlasic looks terrible. No physical presence in front of the net. Pin 2 goals against on him. Hertl and Meier are non factors. They need to step it up big time. We still have to knock guys on their ass when they are at the net. Help our goalies.
It’s not the norm to be knocking guys around in front anymore — but boxing out forwards and tying up sticks is critical and Vlasic failed both on Henrique goal. Burns is underrated in the boxing out part.
The good thing about Hertl/Meier, unlike Vlasic, is you’re sure the forwards still have the ability. So maybe they just need some confidence and or time. Vlasic, his physical abilities have slipped, and that can screw with your mental game. Doesn’t mean he can’t still be useful, but he has to adjust his game more than he has
Boughner is coming to grips with reality. Vlasic has gone downhill so quickly and yeah, 3rd pairing is probably the better choice. If Merkley makes his debut (RHD), Vlasic might drop to 7th d-man so Sharks can have 3 L-R pairs. Knizhov looks a lot better this season than he did in his brief debut last season. I do wonder how much of Vlasic’s decline is physical and how much is mental. Also, in a prior discussion, mentioned maybe Burns would be better off shooting from the right circle on the PP since he’s more comfortable from that side. His… Read more »
On Vlasic, yea, I can see decline being both physical and mental. Could be related, as I noted my above post.
It’s an interesting premise of Burns being more accurate from the right point, but hard to prove. He also shoots for tips and deflection so much from the point, so hard to figure out through looking at the shot chart.
His left flank one-timers are often on net, but they’re being stopped. Is that decline on his part? Or just something he’s not that good at to begin with?
[…] they get a week off in San Jose, a chance to reset everything. The first 20 minutes in Anaheim was “the start that dreams are made of,” as the Sharks dominated. But in the middle frame, three unanswered goals against in 8:19, a 3-1 […]