SAN JOSE – Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl both remember when the San Jose Sharks were a dominant team at home. With a big, deep lineup full of talented and tough players, the Sharks were notorious for setting the tone early on and putting opponents on their heels, typically in front of sellout crowds.
“I remember I talked to other Czech guys before I get to the NHL,” Hertl said, “and they were always saying the first 10 minutes at SAP is the hardest building in the NHL.”
Things have changed by near-historic proportions.
With their 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, the Sharks completed their 40-game slate at SAP Center this season with a dismal 8-21-11 record, matching the franchise mark for fewest wins on home ice in a full season. The Sharks went 8-33-1 in 1992-93 in the second and final year at the Cow Palace in Daly City before moving into their present home the following season.
One of the Sharks’ games as the home team came in Prague in October against the Nashville Predators.
San Jose lost that one, too, 3-2.
Remarkably, the Sharks went 0-8-3 this season in games in front of announced sellout crowds of 17,562, like Saturday, when fans saw Oilers center Connor McDavid score two goals and assist on another, giving him an NHL-leading 151 points.
McDavid now joins Mario Lemieux as the only NHL players over the last 27 years to score more than 150 points in a season. Lemieux had 161 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.
How do the Sharks get back to where they were just a handful of seasons ago?
“We lost a lot of hockey games in a lot of different ways, so I’m sure once the season ends, everything will be digested,” Couture said. “The front office has a plan that they’re sticking to here and we’ll go from there.”
Some notes from Saturday:
KARLSSON’S DAY: The Sharks and their fans would have loved to have seen Erik Karlsson become just the sixth defenseman in NHL history to reach 100 points Saturday. Instead, he was held scoreless.
Hertl scored his team’s lone goal in the first period, off an assist from Jacob Peterson, as the Sharks went 0-for-2 with the man advantage. Karlsson went without a shot on net, and his turnover on a power play led to a back-breaking Oilers goal near the end of the second period.
After Hertl won a faceoff in the Oilers’ zone, Karlsson took control of the puck and tried a backhand pass through traffic back to Couture. Instead, Derek Ryan intercepted it, started an odd-man rush, then scored off a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead with seven seconds left in the second period.
“You could just feel it after the shorthand goal coming at the end of the period,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “It zapped us.”
Karlsson gives it away in the O zone and the Oilers get their 17th SHG of the season. #SJSharks 1 #LetsGoOilers 4 pic.twitter.com/zpiUz8qv8v
— TEAL TOWN USA – A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TEALTOWNUSA) April 8, 2023
Karlsson, who was named the Sharks’ Player of the Year on Saturday in a vote by local media, remains at 98 points as San Jose finishes the season next week with games in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton.
“It’s hard. He’s frustrated. He’s trying to force things because he thinks that for us to create offense, he’s got to do more than he should,” Quinn said. “I know people watching probably get frustrated with him. I certainly don’t. I understand his mindset. It’s easy to sit in the stands and pass judgment. But when you’re on the ice, and you’re at ice level, and you see the things that could be happening that don’t, and I can understand the frustrations to try to force something because he wants to do what’s right for the team.”
A defenseman has reached 100 points in a season 14 times in league history, but the only ones to do it are Bobby Orr (six times), Paul Coffey (five times), Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, and Denis Potvin, who each did it once. Leetch was the last defenseman to reach the century mark in points, as he had 102 points in 1991-92 for the New York Rangers.
Considering the circumstances the Sharks are in, there’s a chance that Saturday represented Karlsson’s last home game in teal.
“(Karlsson) wants to create scoring chances for us and he’s done a remarkable job of it throughout the season,” Quinn said. “His offense isn’t at the cost of defense, more so than any other high-scoring defenseman. Usually, when you get high-scoring defensemen, there’s going to be some give and take and you’ve got to live with it. He’s a world-class player.
“I do understand people thinking (his offense comes at the cost of defense), but you’ve got to take in the totality of the situation to really appreciate what he’s done.”
INJURY LIST GROWS: Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic left the game with a lower-body injury he suffered in the first period. Vlasic was standing beside Sharks goalie James Reimer and was moved backward as McDavid charged toward the net. Vlasic was tripped by the skate of Zach Hyman, and fell backward.
Quinn did not have an update on Vlasic after the game. Also injured right now are forwards Alexander Barabanov, Andreas Johnsson, Oskar Lindblom, Jeff Viel, and Jonah Gadjovich.
Source: www.mercurynews.com