Play Another Song, I Heard This One Already
April 16th, 2009, 9:59 pm
So let the naysayers start that well-worn tune again, about how the Sharks are chokers. We’re one game into the playoffs, and we have a lot further to go. I have to say, most of the ideas for this post were conceived as grier and I walked home from the game, so it’s not going to be the most positive thing you ever read. But as I was driving home, listening to NHL Home Ice immediately after Dan Rusanowsky wrapped up his broadcast, the first thing out of the first guy’s mouth was, “Where was the captain? Where was Joe Thornton?” And I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. But I lay a large share of the blame at a guy we haven’t written much about this season.
Todd McLellan.
The way I see it, the Sharks made three pretty big strategic errors in the way they approached the game tonight.
- They dumped the puck in every chance they got, so much so I thought I was watching the Sharks in 1996. With speedy guys like Marleau, Michalek, Seto, Ehrhoff, hell, even Marcel Goc, this strategy is playing against the Sharks’ strength. Actually, it plays almost directly into the Ducks’ strength, which, if you heard the podcast, is their defense. Do you really want to get into a skating contest with Scott Niedermayer, maybe the best skating defenseman in the NHL? Do you really want to try and go around Chris Pronger, who goes right up to the line of interference EVERY SINGLE TIME? Sorry to get off on a rant, but how you can take four steps to your left and put your stick in a guy’s ribs when he dumps the puck in directly in front of you and not get a penalty, I’ll never know.
- Matching up their top offensive line with Anaheim’s. If you look at the neato graphical shift chart, you’ll see Joe’s line went up against Getzlaf’s almost exclusively even strength. Two of the guys on that line never kill penalties- Joe and Seto. So if you are in a matchup against a better line (make no mistake, the Ducks have the better top line right now), you’re going to spend a lot of time defending. Having the Sharks’ top line, the line that scored 222 regular season points, about 150 feet away from the goal the entire game is, frankly, a dumb matchup. Why not Moen, Grier, and Goc (all penalty killers) against those guys? So what if they don’t score?
- Not playing 12 forwards. Jody Shelley got 2:02 in ice time tonight, painfully reminiscent of a game in last year’s playoffs, where, like tonight, he only got three first period shifts. What, are we trying to do a Calgary impression and play with a short bench? We know from the last couple of months this team has depth, and we now know this could be a long and arduous series. Dress guys, and play ’em. Start with McGinn.
Although this certainly is the biggest (really the only) blast I’ve ever done against TMac, I do have faith in the guy. The entire coaching staff is resourceful and smart, and I have confidence they will make the necessary adjustments going forward. It just would have been nice to see those adjustments made after first or second period when the game could have still been won.
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In addition to Mike’s points, I think there needs to be adjustments on both ends of the power play. How come the Ducks can just walk in and set up without being contested but the Sharks are pressed every time they try to gain the zone? I too have faith the coaching staff will counter the Ducks, but Round One certainly goes to Randy Carlyle.
Plus…we didn’t even mention the two biggest blunders in the game (Cheechoo’s unnecessary penalty that lead to the PP goal and Vlasic’s literal pass to Getzlaf). Ducks made no such errors.
Mike, I agree with the criticism of TMac, but you must be naive if you think the Sharks WANTED to play a dump and chase game.
Bottom line is that the Sharks play a puck possession game, but it doesn’t work if the opponent denies entry into the zone. Anaheim did a great job doing just that. Nieds was on his game, so was Pronger. Beauchemin looks like his 06-07 form, and one of those three was ALWAYS on the ice.
So the Sharks had no choice to dump and chase, what else can they do if they are being denied entry into the zone? If the Sharks/TMac can’t figure that situation out, the series will be VERY short.
The Sharks also need to to do a better job of holding possession of the puck when they go for a line change. It seems like they just dump it 75% of the time and try to get everyone off. As Boyle said, you work so hard to get possession in the first place, why just give it away?
And it’s hard to criticize Pavs, but the guy lost his faceoff mojo last night. I actually liked Goc better in the circle.
One more thing: that was the WORST result for the Sharks last night… a shutout, in front of a rocking home crowd, and 0-6 on the pp. Guarantee the Ducks take a few more liberties on Sunday. And why shouldn’t they? Our big bad pp, as you guys said, was listless. All kudos to the Ducks last night. They one that game on skill, and I didn’t see a single cheap shot or blatant penalty.
…and aren’t the Sharks supposed to be the more skilled team?
I can’t say I was surpirsed by this result. The Sharks haven’t played a meaningul game for some time while the Ducks have been ramped up for a month. The Ducks’ defense unit is even better this year (with Whitney) than when they won the Cup. They miss Kunitz but other guys are stepping up. The goalposts could have been goals but that’s the way it goes sometimes. If the Sharks are to win, Thornton has to play like Getzlaf has been playing and San Jose has to cut down on their giveaways (19-11 Sharks).
SharksFan,
I agree that Anaheim was doing a great job of denying entry, but I still think the plan was to dump and chase. The way to help break the style of standing up 4 guys on the blue line is to attack with speed, threatening to skate around guys and create odd-man rushes. Then if they all stand up at the blueline, when you chip the puck behind the D, your speed means you get there first easily. Not nearly enough Shark speed in the neutral zone last night to do it, and that’s why I think dumping and chasing was the plan, and not the result of the Ducks’ game.
As for the power play, I just think they need to attack the middle of the ice more. Watching the Boston game last night, when the D would get the puck at the point, if there was lots of open ice in front of them, instead of blasting away, they would skate into it, forcing the winger on the other point to collapse in. Several times Blake had the puck with huge expanses in front of him, and he chose to uncork it instead of skate it. This allows defenders to stay towards the outside more, and makes puck recovery that much harder. And boy, did we see that. How many one-shot-and-clear sequences did we see on the PP last night?
I agree, Mike. In fact, as the game went on, the Sharks attempted to gain the zone with speed more and more often, as opposed to dump and chase. But that first period was BRUTAL as a Sharks fan, I had flashbacks to last year.
Personally, I think the dump and chase is the most overrated play in hockey, similar to bunting in baseball. People do it because you are supposed to, not because it is actually advantageous. The Sharks proved in the first 30 games that you don’t need to do that. Why they have reverted back to it, I don’t know…
I must concur that when Boyle and Ehrhoff wanted to, they were able to gain the zone on their own – it appeared “dump and chase” was the plan to counter what they expected the Ducks to do.
The Sharks need to dictate play, make the other team adjust to you – don’t go off your own Presidents Trophy winning game.
From a Ducks fan perspective, I was surprised that the Sharks again decided to match top lines. It failed two weeks ago, and I’m glad it failed again. What concerns me is whether Anaheim will get away from that when the series heads South – if my top line spends more offensive zone time against your top line, then better to stay with that match up.
For all the talk of the Sharks depth at forward, I’ll have to agree with your third point as well. I know that PPs had a lot to do with ice time, but you’ve got to be concerned when Mike Brown has more ice time than JR. Also, please keep playing Cheechoo on the 3rd line. His lack of speed has been exploited, and I’ll take him playing against our 2nd or 3rd line all series long. (On a side note, did you guys find it interesting that the penalty calls increased throughout the game – it was almost “anything goes” for most of the first)
I’m expecting a lot more first period shots – and driving for rebounds – during the next game.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m never one to yell “shoot!” but I am one to yell “skate!”, cause skating hard is never a bad hockey play. There was a lot of gliding last night, especially in the first period.
Interesting thoughts, Mike. I came to many of the same conclusions. As a result, here is my plan for Sunday’s game:
1) On the breakout, no matter who has the puck, he will give it to Boyle. Boyle will start from behind our net and skate it up the length of the ice and into the offensive zone. Every time. This is the only strategy that has been proven to work…
2) On a related note, since Boyle will be on the ice for all 60 minutes, we will dress a 13th forward – McGinn – instead of a 6th defenseman. That way we won’t have to choose between McGinn’s scoring abilities and Shelley’s ability to punch Pronger in the face…
3) Blake may no longer use the patented “shoot-the-puck-every-time-I-touch-it-no-matter-what-even-though-there-is-almost-always-a-better-offensive-play” move. That move belongs to Grier. In fact, now that I think about it, he’s just never allowed to shoot the puck… ever… Admittedly, he’s got amazing aim. He hits the goalie in the logo every time.
4) From now on, Roenick must use his new camel-spin move at least once a game to try to cut a Ducks player on the face with his skate. This move has the dual benefit of scaring the opponent AND looking ridiculous…
5) Douglas Murray is now tasked with checking Selanne into the stanchion at the end of the Sharks’ bench. If he fails to do this, he will be sent down to Worcester and replaced with Kyle McLaren. DW has added this to his contract…
Go Sharks!
-Todd
for what it’s worth, I don’t really think their top line was that effective either. They had even fewer shots than ours.
However, I agree with you, Mike. First of all the shot stats don’t pain the whole picture, and even if they did, it doens’t make sense to have our top guys defending/cancelling out the whole game.
Some really good points. Unfortunatley this one is on McLellan a bit. I’m just left wondering what happened this season? It seems like the team is making exactly the same mistakes as last playoffs. What’s going on?
Okay, I realize that losing the scoring power of Joe/Patty/Seto is painful, but honestly if they can completely shut down the Ducks top line then I’ll take that trade every day of the week.
We have other lines that can score, the Ducks don’t. That’s why the shot total was so horribly lopsided last night. While Getzlaf was involved in both goals, the first was on the PP and the second was such a boneheaded play by Pickles that for a second I thought his jersey read “Erhemenov” because only the two of them combined could make a turnover *that* bad.
Without their top line the Duck’s did nothing until we handed them 2 goals on a silver platter. We need to ditch dump and chase, ditch Shelley and play our game. I don’t care if we match top lines, if the rest show up and play like Sharks we’ll take this thing in 5.
LOL. The line of the day.
Great post guys. Hate to drop links in the comments (“Yo bro, come check out what I wrote here!”), but mepex did so I figured it would be cool. It’s cool right? I hope we’re still internet friends.
Great minds, yes they do, think alike
These two days off are unbearable.
Calling him Tmac will get you eliminated for sure.
Tomi: I’ve got to disagree about their top line not being effective. Bobby Ryan didn’t cash in on at least three really quality scoring chances and I doubt that will happen again in Game 2. He could have easily made this a 4-0 game. I am haunted by the fact that we don’t seem to have an answer for Perry/Ryan/Getzlaf. I guess if their gonna get their chances anyways, then don’t do it at the expense of our own top line, right?
The waiting game is death. I wish there was a game tomorrow….
What did the old USSR teams that played puck possession game for decades do when faced against the blue line traps of Canadian teams? They never dumped the puck in. If they were on the big ice, the trap didn’t work so well when they were coming at speed. When they played on Canadian ice, they used dribbling skills to enter the zone if the space was limited. They typically had teams full of Datsyuks-type, so that never was the problem. Scotty Bowman had Federov and anyone else on the Russian line to easily enter the zone past a few players. Yzerman had speed too. Now Detroit has Datsyuk, who can just skate past players with ease and then drop it back to Lidstrom.
Who do the Sharks have that can keep the puck at high speed and effectively enter the zone? While Joe T can keep the puck away, he’s unbelievably slow compared to Datsyuk.
So how do you play a puck possession game with mostly Canadian/American players that McLellan is stuck with that aren’t familiar with the concept? Is it coincidence that Detroit is mostly a European club and they still draft a lot of Europeans? I think that’s McL’s first challenge when he’s playing the big Ducks, his set of players.
By the way, a quick note related to the blog itself.
Since looks like this a WordPress blog, can you guys install “Subscribe to Comments” plugin? That’ll make commenting here and seeing what else has been written after you a lot easier and more pleasant.
I can guarantee you the amount of comments left will go up with that plugin.
cantstopthegrier:
You’re absolutely right that they had some quality chances. But if Getzlaf doesn’t score that goal, he ends the game with 0 shots. But you’re right, the numbers don’t really tell the story
I think part of it is the mystery that always exists about the sharks, which is “why do other teams beat us by scoring 3 goals on 14 shots, while we can only score 1 goal on 47 shots?” I guess this has to do with the quality of the chances rather than the number. So from my perspective, the Ducks carved out way more quality chances, while the Sharks’ numbers were inflated by useless lobs from the point with no traffic in front.
So yeah, the Getzlaf line was way better, I’ll admit it.
Ivan,
Good points about Detroit, and I’m asking the site admin about installing that plugin. However, I do have a question about this: “So how do you play a puck possession game with mostly Canadian/American players that McLellan is stuck with that aren’t familiar with the concept?” Couldn’t we say the Sharks were pretty familiar with the puck possession game early in the season? It just seems they’ve taken a purposeful step away from it. Perhaps they aren’t as adept as the Wings or Russian teams of the past, but I don’t think it’s a totally foreign concept.
Mike –
It worked at first, and then Sharks went back to the old habits of playing simple dump-in hockey they got used to under RW when facing pressure entering the zone. For Europeans playing puck possession hockey is a way of life. For North Americans it takes time to make it into a habit.
Just my theory.