Playing at home against a team destined for the NHL draft lottery, Tuesday night's game against the Colorado Avalanche should have been the San Jose Sharks' bread and butter. Instead, San Jose's 1-0 shootout win was about as boring and bland as bread and butter, featuring a bad team with nothing to play for against a good team that refused to play. Actually, the overtime and shootout were pretty entertaining, thanks to some big saves and power play chances.
"It was one of those things where we didn't play our best," said Devin Setoguchi, one Sharks forward who had a particularly bad night. "We came out flat and we can't have that here when we're getting ready for the playoffs. We're not going to win many games with the effort we had tonight, and guys know that."
I know the outcome doesn't matter much, and people keep insisting the Sharks are going to flip a switch once the playoffs begin, but San Jose's effort really was disheartening. From what I could see the Sharks employed a dump and meander style, without any urgency or desperation, and their drop passes at the blueline are going to result in turnovers against a team that steps up on the forecheck. Plus, they couldn't score on two (two!) power play opportunities in overtime... against Peter Budaj! Trust me, I had Budaj stinking up my fantasy team for the first half of the season. He's allergic to the win column.
I know Shark fans might to tempted to note that Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe were missing from action. That's a valid point, but do you know how bad the Avalanche roster was that took the ice Tuesday night? Colorado was missing four regulars - Brett Clark, Ruslan Salei, Daniel Tjarnqvist and Adam Foote - on the blueline. The Avs' three most dangerous forwards - Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny and Ryan Smyth - are done for the season. If you combined the plus-minus of each Avs player with a positive plus-minus it would total +3, Ben Guite's +2 combined with Aaron MacKenzie's +1.
"You face teams that have nothing to lose and they're not afraid to take chances," said Sharks forward Claude Lemieux, who made his return to the lineup after missing six weeks with a jaw injury. "They played a conservative game with five guys in the neutral zone. You're not always going to have your perfect effort, your perfect game, but you have to find ways to win."
Maybe my expectations were a little too high. Prior to the game, I saw a sellout crowd in Nashville on its feet for the last four minutes of the Predators' 4-2 loss to the Blackhawks, collectively willing the team towards a victory bid that fell just short in the team's final home game of the season. I saw the Oilers throw the kitchen sink, cupboard and pantry closet at Jonathan Quick in a 2-1 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings, effectively snuffing out their slim playoff hopes. Then I saw the Sharks spit up an effort than can only be described as embarrassing against an injury-riddled team that's crawling down the stretch.
Todd McLellan didn't rail against his team's effort, but made it known he wasn't pleased with the nailbiter against a bottom-dweller. "I don't think it's that we disrespected out opponent tonight. I don't think we played that well," McLellan said. "They did a very good job in defending us, getting about us. Making it difficult to enter their zone. ... We can play a lot better and we expect more from each other."
The Sharks can put this one behind them during their last home game of the regular season Thursday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, another bread and butter matchup that should be more fulfilling than buttered bread.
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