One of the ongoing narratives surrounding this Sharks season has been their inability to create consistent offense at even strength.
But that may be changing.
The Sharks scored five more even-strength goals on Sunday night at SAP Center against Dallas, racing out to a 5-0 lead and eventually winning, 5-2.
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In fact, since the start of the New Year, the Sharks’ 58 even-strength goals are second only to the Pittsburgh Penguins (66). On Sunday, it was Mikkel Boedker scoring twice, while Joe Pavelski, Melker Karlsson and Justin Braun had one each against the Stars, who entered having won six of their last seven.
It was one of the Sharks’ better games of the season and came against a team that had smoked them a few months earlier, as the Stars captured a 6-0 win on Dec. 31 in Dallas.
Comparing the two, Braun said: “We were actually moving this game. In Dallas, everyone left their legs somewhere else. It was good, everyone was coming above on the backcheck, and shutting down (the Stars’) speed.”
Coach Pete DeBoer joked before the game that the New Year’s Eve thrashing his club took drove him to go out that night, and he “drank heavily.” On Sunday, though, his team benefited from being fresh, coming off of its first two-day break since All-Star weekend in late January.
They were ready from the outset.
“We looked like we had a couple days rest. We had great energy to start,” DeBoer said. “I thought we had good legs, we were executing. I really liked us. We took our foot off the gas a little bit in the third with the lead, which is natural, but there wasn’t much to complain about tonight. We were pretty solid.”
In order to get consistent even-strength scoring, it has to come from different lines and players. Lately, that’s what’s driving the Sharks’ offense, as third-line winger Boedker, in particular, remained hot with his third and fourth goals in the last three games.
Boedker became the ninth Sharks player to reach double-digits in goals with his 10th and 11th on the season.
Since getting scratched on Jan. 7, Boedker has eight goals and five assists for 13 points in 19 games. Previously, one of his biggest issues in his one-and-a-half-year tenure in San Jose had been too much playing on the perimeter, circling around aimlessly, and not being hard enough along the walls. That hasn’t been the case lately.
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“Maybe the mindset of being a little more aggressive and a little more direct, I think,” he said, when asked about his recent surge. “I think it’s paying off.”
DeBoer agreed with Boedker’s self-assessment.
“I guess when your coach is saying that to you every single day for two years, something clicks,” DeBoer said with a chuckle. “He’s a good kid. He shows up and works hard. We just need him to stay confident and keep going.”
The best performance of the night, though, came from the captain.
The Sharks surely remembered how their last game with the Stars went, and they also were well aware that a difficult four-game trip is on the horizon, beginning in St. Louis on Tuesday. On the first shift of the game, Pavelski helped generate an offensive rush with a slick backhanded pass to linemate Timo Meier. Seconds later, the puck ended up on Pavelski’s backhand in the slot, and he whipped it through Ben Bishop less than half-a-minute into the game.
Pavelski added a pair of assists, too, for a three-point night. It was his third multi-point game in the last six.
“We came out in the first period, Pavs started it off after 27 seconds, and it’s great when you can start like that and your captain leading the way. Everybody follows,” Boedker said.
“We knew going in how hard the last game (in Dallas) was,” Pavelski said. “We weren’t quite ready, and it went the other way.”
Karlsson’s goal and Boedker’s pair both came before the first intermission, making it 4-0. Braun’s goal at the five-minute mark of the second period gave the Sharks a commanding 5-0 lead.
Dallas showed some life in the third on goals by Gemel Smith and Tyler Pitlick, but the Sharks were never really in danger.
“As a coach you hate those type of leads, especially with a lot of game left,” DeBoer said. “We had that big lead for a long time, so, you know the other team is going to push. They’ve got some quality (players).
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“We just kept talking about if we allow them to open it up a little bit they are a team that can easily score four or five goals in a period. I thought we stuck with it overall for a good length of time, and did a good job with it.”
While the Sharks will need that even-strength scoring to continue, they’ll also need their goaltender to keep putting forth the kinds of performances that Martin Jones has been lately, too.
While the Sharks have scored 58 even-strength goals since Jan. 1, they have also given up the exact same amount. Since the All-Star break, though, Jones has a 2.10 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He allowed two Stars goals on 28 shots.
Jones made some key stops early when the game was still well within reach for Dallas. He denied Mattias Janmark’s partial breakaway after the Stars forward stripped Chris Tierney in the Sharks’ defensive zone, and then stopped Radek Faksa’s sneaky attempt from the front of the net with about 11 minutes to go in the opening frame.
“Joner had an unbelievable game,” Braun said. “There were a couple early saves that really set the tone of the game. Played well throughout. It was a good end to the homestand.”
The Sharks have won four of their last five games, and remain in second place in the Pacific Division.
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Defenseman Brent Burns did not finish the game due to an unspecified injury related to whatever kept him out of practice on Saturday.
Pavelski and Braun both indicated that Burns’ injury wasn’t serious. DeBoer said: “I don’t know yet. I think he’ll … well, we’ll see.”
Tomas Hertl missed his second straight game with a possible right hand injury. He will go on the upcoming road trip, suggesting he’s not far off from a return.
— Reported from San Jose
(Top photo: Don Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)
