Like with all hockey seasons, it’s easy to get caught up with how a team plays in its first couple of games. If said team does well, they’re showered with praise. And if they falter… well, you get the idea.
Following that pattern, there has been concern about the Sharks after opening up the season 2-2-1, and losing back-to-back tilts by giving up third-period leads.
But according to San Jose head coach Peter DeBoer, his team isn’t going to get too far ahead of themselves.
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SIGN UP HERE “We’re not 0-6. We just finished a five-game road trip at 2-2-1,” the head coach told the media after Sunday's 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
The Sharks batted .500 on their early-season roadie, collecting five of a possible ten points. So while there’s no doubt a need for improvement, DeBoer said it’s too early in the season to hit the panic button.
“We aren’t panicking yet,” he continued. “We could’ve won every game we played.”
San Jose was, in fact, on the cusp of winning the last two games of the roadie. But trouble winning faceoffs and taking too many penalties have been their demise. It also doesn’t help that, outside of an 8-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Sharks are having trouble finding the back of the net.
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“We’re not scoring enough, that’s the bottom line,” DeBoer summarized. “We’ve got to find a way to get another goal a night, part of that is power play and part of that is five-on-five.”
The players, for their part, know that’s something they need to work on. Especially in light of losing a lead in the third period like they did on Sunday to the Devils.
“This team has the players to get the job done,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said.
Team Teal has the opportunity to do so when they return to San Jose for a two-game stint at home. They kick things off hosting the Buffalo Sabres Thursday evening – a team that has won three of their first five games, but has work to do on tightening up their special teams and isn’t panicking just yet.
Just like the Sharks.
“Thankfully it’s only six games (into the season) where this is happening,” Logan Couture said of correcting some of the Sharks’ woes ahead of the homestand. “We have a couple days here to regroup and get ready for Thursday.”