GDT: Game 47: San Jose Sharks @ Vegas Golden Knights | 7:00PM | KarlssonFest 2019

[willy702]

San Jose had more good scoring opportunities than you suggest. I disagree with your suggestion that they got a lucky win.

The Knights fans here are actually more positive than the fans on other forums that I’ve looked at. We just lost 1 game after winning 7 in a row and now we’re in 3rd behind a couple of teams that are going to be difficult to catch. And the next few games are against tougher opponents. Of course we’re going to think this sucks.

And our horrendous power play was a huge reason we couldn’t even get a single point out of this.

I didn't say anything about scoring opportunities, it was a close game. But the Knights controlled long stretches of the game and really had the forecheck game going, something the Sharks usually get the edge in. In the end two fortunate bounces in the third got the win, that's hockey. As for the power play, yeah its in a down cycle but that's hockey too. No team has consistency in it, the goals come in bunches.

 

[hangman005]

You guys are the kings of overreaction. A must win game in January? A team that gets worse on the power play? A team full of veterans has to "learn" how to get shots on goal, what is this junior hockey? Please. A good opponent got two favorable bounces in the third and had a goalie that played a solid game. Nothing more to say about this one.

With the amount of clear shots in the slot that goes way wide, yes they need to learn or practice hitting the net. This team undeniably has gotten worse on the power play... they haven’t looked good in ages. Was it an absolute must win... no but it’s a 4 point game with a close division rival that has a game in hand so it’s pretty close to it.

 

[willy702]

With the amount of clear shots in the slot that goes way wide, yes they need to learn or practice hitting the net. This team undeniably has gotten worse on the power play... they haven’t looked good in ages. Was it an absolute must win... no but it’s a 4 point game with a close division rival that has a game in hand so it’s pretty close to it.

Chill on the must win games, its not good for your sanity. No such thing as a must win game in January unless a coach is about to lose his job. Stop worrying about the standings in January for that matter too, there's little point in paying much attention to it until the last month of the season and even then its overrated. Teams that worry about it too much end up overworking players and then pay for it in the playoffs. A rested and well-set third place finish works a heck of a lot better than burning a lot of gas trying to win a division.

 

[GKG18]

Tough loss, but to a scary good team playing really well right now. If anything is lacking, it sure isn't the defense. I think they played out of their mind today. Effort was good. Shot accuracy was the culprit. That Pirri one timer off the Stastny sauce was amazing. If it were an inch to the right....

 

[Vegas07]

I didn't say anything about scoring opportunities, it was a close game. But the Knights controlled long stretches of the game and really had the forecheck game going, something the Sharks usually get the edge in. In the end two fortunate bounces in the third got the win, that's hockey. As for the power play, yeah its in a down cycle but that's hockey too. No team has consistency in it, the goals come in bunches.

This would have been a really impressive win and the team was so close to winning this. That’s why I’m frustrated. Obviously the team did some things right to have a 1-0 and 2-1 lead.

I also wanted the winning streak to stay alive lol.

 

[Vegas07]

A win would have put this team 3 points in front of the Sharks, and so far we’ve seen that when this team is chasing other teams in the standings, the coaching staff will keep sending Fleury out there and risk wearing him out.

That’s one reason I wish this team would get a lead in the division. Part of my frustration here isn’t even with the Knights. I wish Calgary and the Sharks would lose more often lol. I wish this was the weak division people used to say it was, with our team way out in front.

It would also be nice to take first place so we could avoid a potential difficult, long series with Calgary/San Jose.

 

[hangman005]

A win would have put this team 3 points in front of the Sharks, and so far we’ve seen that when this team is chasing other teams in the standings, the coaching staff will keep sending Fleury out there and risk wearing him out.

That’s one reason I wish this team would get a lead in the division. Part of my frustration here isn’t even with the Knights. I wish Calgary and the Sharks would lose more often lol. I wish this was the weak division people used to say it was, with our team way out in front.

It would also be nice to take first place so we could avoid a potential difficult, long series with Calgary/San Jose.

My biggest frustrations apart from that we simply lost an extremely winnable game, but it's that the same issues rear their ugly head over and over again.

1) The power play, this isn't a case of the powerplay being cold, this is a case of the power play having almost no cohesion and no plan. It's not just that their not scoring, but it's that the look absolutely awful doing it. If we were getting any pressure, or sustained zone time and looking threatening I wouldn't be concerned, but I'm serious we would be better declining a penalty than putting out our PP in it's current state.

2) Shot accuracy, your not going to score on every shot, and sometimes you will miss the net, but too often goalies are not even forced to make a save from clean shots in prime scoring areas. There's shooting off the backboards, there's trying to pick a corner and there is just plain flat out missing, and we have been doing too much of the later.

3) Sitting back in the third, This team does not play with a lead well, especially in the third period, instead of playing the game in the offense zone, time and time again this team will sit back and allow the opposing team to come back into games. Case in point tonight, Have the play, have momentum, score the go ahead goal. Sit back and get scored on twice in 37 seconds.

The team is doing quite a few things well, but in my mind those 3 things have to change.

 

[CupInSIX]

Pretty poor night for the top line last night. Way too many icings, offsides, missed passes and poor coverage in their own end. Other than that everyone else had a decent game.

 

[willy702]

A win would have put this team 3 points in front of the Sharks, and so far we’ve seen that when this team is chasing other teams in the standings, the coaching staff will keep sending Fleury out there and risk wearing him out.

That’s one reason I wish this team would get a lead in the division. Part of my frustration here isn’t even with the Knights. I wish Calgary and the Sharks would lose more often lol. I wish this was the weak division people used to say it was, with our team way out in front.

It would also be nice to take first place so we could avoid a potential difficult, long series with Calgary/San Jose.

There are no easy or difficult series in the playoffs these days. The likely 7th and 8th teams are quite good too. I have hope though the Knights organization got the win the division desire taken care of last year and this year just focuses on setting up for the playoffs. In the current NHL teams rarely win the Cup after winning the division, smart teams have figured this out. Use MAF and veterans only to assure you aren't chasing a spot in the playoffs, but once that spot feels pretty solid its time to back off and make sure you have healthy depth and relatively rested players.

To me I'm hoping Calgary is kind of getting lost on this one and pushing too hard for the division crown. They look very vulnerable to me in the playoffs with the shaky goaltending and lack of quality in the lower lines and pairings. Their stars are electric, but deep playoff runs are usually the result of big contributions from 3rd and 4th lines. This is why I think the Knights are well positioned, but just have to make sure they don't go too hard or get too thin in resources. The Pirri situation is a good indication to me that they understand this, they know he could contribute in the playoffs but so could the guys others would gladly give away to keep him around.

 

[LadyStanley]

Yes, it was the Sharks' 1000th win (and the winning goalie gave himself, his father, and the other dads, a great birthday present).

HOWEVER, that was the first ever regular season win of the Sharks over the Golden Knights.

Given the parity in the league, ANY TEAM can beat another team on a given night. The puck bounced for the Sharks last night.


Don't go moaning that Haula, Subban, et al were out. The Sharks were without Vlasic and Braun, their top shutdown pairing (nominally).

Next man up.

 

[Vegas07]

There are no easy or difficult series in the playoffs these days. The likely 7th and 8th teams are quite good too. I have hope though the Knights organization got the win the division desire taken care of last year and this year just focuses on setting up for the playoffs. In the current NHL teams rarely win the Cup after winning the division, smart teams have figured this out. Use MAF and veterans only to assure you aren't chasing a spot in the playoffs, but once that spot feels pretty solid its time to back off and make sure you have healthy depth and relatively rested players.

To me I'm hoping Calgary is kind of getting lost on this one and pushing too hard for the division crown. They look very vulnerable to me in the playoffs with the shaky goaltending and lack of quality in the lower lines and pairings. Their stars are electric, but deep playoff runs are usually the result of big contributions from 3rd and 4th lines. This is why I think the Knights are well positioned, but just have to make sure they don't go too hard or get too thin in resources. The Pirri situation is a good indication to me that they understand this, they know he could contribute in the playoffs but so could the guys others would gladly give away to keep him around.

Finishing in 2nd or 3rd could mean the Knights have to beat both Calgary and San Jose just to make the 3rd round. I’d like to avoid that. I think the potential wild card teams look weaker. Recently I saw that even Anaheim was still in the mix for a wild card spot after a 9 game losing streak and while it’s true that anyone can be a threat, I’d rather play a team like them instead of a team like San Jose in the first round.

I do agree with some of what you say though. I’m not sure the team is just trying to position itself to be healthy and rested for the playoffs though, not with the way they keep throwing Fleury out there. I wouldn’t have started him this much. I don’t want to end up in a situation with the team pushing its players too hard AND falling short, and having to face a team like the Sharks in the first round anyway.

In any case I like the second half schedule. The team has far fewer back-to-backs coming up and more days in between games the rest of the way. That could make it less likely the team runs out of gas going into the playoffs. Some tough games are coming up but after Saturday the team will be getting more days off in between games.

 

[Vegas07]

Yes, it was the Sharks' 1000th win (and the winning goalie gave himself, his father, and the other dads, a great birthday present).

HOWEVER, that was the first ever regular season win of the Sharks over the Golden Knights.

Given the parity in the league, ANY TEAM can beat another team on a given night. The puck bounced for the Sharks last night.


Don't go moaning that Haula, Subban, et al were out. The Sharks were without Vlasic and Braun, their top shutdown pairing (nominally).

Next man up.

At this point I’m just assuming Haula is done and will consider it a pleasant surprise if he comes back. We know he won’t be back for a while. Subban almost never plays so I don’t think it mattered who the backup was, and everyone figured Fleury was playing anyway.

 

[Vegas07]

My biggest frustrations apart from that we simply lost an extremely winnable game, but it's that the same issues rear their ugly head over and over again.

1) The power play, this isn't a case of the powerplay being cold, this is a case of the power play having almost no cohesion and no plan. It's not just that their not scoring, but it's that the look absolutely awful doing it. If we were getting any pressure, or sustained zone time and looking threatening I wouldn't be concerned, but I'm serious we would be better declining a penalty than putting out our PP in it's current state.

2) Shot accuracy, your not going to score on every shot, and sometimes you will miss the net, but too often goalies are not even forced to make a save from clean shots in prime scoring areas. There's shooting off the backboards, there's trying to pick a corner and there is just plain flat out missing, and we have been doing too much of the later.

3) Sitting back in the third, This team does not play with a lead well, especially in the third period, instead of playing the game in the offense zone, time and time again this team will sit back and allow the opposing team to come back into games. Case in point tonight, Have the play, have momentum, score the go ahead goal. Sit back and get scored on twice in 37 seconds.

The team is doing quite a few things well, but in my mind those 3 things have to change.

Instead of scoring 3 goals a night (or 2 like we saw yesterday) we could be seeing a minimum of 5 goals a night if those issues improve. People mention San Jose getting lucky bounces and it’s true, but those lucky bounces are much more likely to hurt you if you’re not scoring much. If the team scored 6 goals last night nobody would care if a lucky bounce gave the Sharks 3 goals instead of 2.

The team actually did a really good job holding the Sharks to 3 goals. But we sure are asking a lot out of Fleury and the defense against these high scoring teams.