Sharks Locker Room: Quinn Blasts Team, ‘Way too soft and way too slow’

You could see it coming.

While the San Jose Sharks entered the final frame with a 3-2 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes, it was a tenuous hold.

The Stanley Cup contender was dominating otherwise with a 30-11 shots stranglehold, and they weren’t just perimeter bids either. According to SPORTLOGiQ, the Canes had an 11-5 high-danger scoring chances edge through two periods.

So while Fabian Zetterlund, Filip Zadina, and William Eklund scored, it was Mackenzie Blackwood, like he did in a 51-save performance in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, who was keeping the Sharks in it. But then, the Blackwood wall fell – San Jose surrendered four unanswered goals in the third period to lose 6-3.

Despite the Sharks’ late lead, the final score was probably an accurate reflection of how outmatched San Jose was throughout the night.

“I didn’t like the way that we played for most of the night. I don’t think we skated the way we have been. I don’t think we were physical enough. It ended up catching up to us,” San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn admitted after the game. “We’ve got to be way more competitive in our battles than we were tonight. We were way too puck-conscious throughout the game. Soft on battles.”

After the game, Quinn explained what he meant by “puck-conscious”. “Lazy” and “mess” were words that he also used to describe his team’s performance, though he managed to find one bright spot.

Mario Ferraro shared how he and the Sharks could improve their puck possession.

Zetterlund talked about the long time coming for his first San Jose goal, and how the mental adjustment that the Sharks need to make shouldn’t be too hard.

Zadina discussed standing up for Tomas Hertl after Jalen Chatfield hit his mentor from behind.

David Quinn

Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks’ performance tonight:

I didn’t like the way that we played for most of the night. I don’t think we skated the way we have been. I don’t think we were physical enough. It ended up catching up to us. We’ve got to be way more competitive in our battles than we were tonight. We were way too puck-conscious throughout the game. Soft on battles. Way too puck-conscious. That was disappointing because that hasn’t been the case.

Quinn, on what he means by “too puck-conscious”:

Puck-watching and we went into a battle, it was let me try to get the puck for us instead of getting flesh.

Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks giving up seven power plays:

When you don’t skate and hit, you’re gonna get penalties. That’s what happened tonight. Just bad penalties. Lazy, lazy penalties.

Quinn, on Sharks’ trouble entering the zone with possession and keeping possession when in the zone:

When you don’t get it behind them and you don’t come up with speed, you’re in trouble. I don’t know if we think offense is just gonna come by luck.

Or you got to earn it. You got to earn offense. You got to earn it.

Quinn, on Fabian Zetterlund finally scoring and other positives:

It was great to see Zetterlund get his first career [San Jose Sharks] goal because he’s earned it. He’s a guy that’s worked hard and had a really good first three games. Right about now, that’s all I can come up with.

Quinn, on the next step for the Sharks:

The next step is to clean up the mess that we created tonight.

Quinn, on #SJSharks tonight: “We've just got to be harder to play against. Tonight wasn't good enough. Way too soft and way too slow.”

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 18, 2023

Mario Ferraro

Ferraro, on his assessment of the game:

Not a lot of possession time for us. We didn’t possess the puck as much today. Myself included, getting rid of it too quickly, maybe. So a lot of D-zone time, ultimately.

Ferraro, on the Carolina forecheck:

But at the end of the day, it’s the NHL. Everybody’s going to bring a pretty good forecheck. it’s one of the hardest things in this league to do is to break out the puck.

Fabian Zetterlund

Zetterlund, on his first goal with the San Jose Sharks:

Yeah, when you score after [24 games of not scoring], of course, it’s a nice feeling. Really good pass by Tommy.

Zetterlund, on taking the man before the puck:

We’re gonna work on it. We gotta take the body before the puck sometimes. It’s not that hard and we just have to do it.

Filip Zadina

Zadina, on how San Jose Sharks can improve breakout:

That’s one thing that we got to do obviously better. As a forward, go probably lower, get more speed. We can skate more to get open, so we can get the puck.

Zadina, on standing up for Tomas Hertl after the Jalen Chatfield hit:

He got hit and just stood up for Tommy. He’s one of the best players in this locker room. I think everybody would do the same from our team. We’ve got each other’s back. Just stood up for my linemate.