San Jose Sharks’ lack of discipline and other problems in the Western Conference Finals series - NHL
One of the main problems for San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals series against Vancouver Canucks has been their lack of discipline among other problems.
"You got to stay out of the box", said Ben Eager. "Vancouver has a great power play, and they showed it a few times last night what they can do with it. I have to play on the right side of the line".
They were undisciplined in the second game against Canucks and this cost them the game 7-3 in the end. As a result, Sharks is under immense pressure and finds itself trailing 2-0 in the series.
Canucks has come across numerous power-plays in the series, a total of seven power-plays out of which three capitalized by Canucks.
The game turned around in the final period while things were very close till the end of the second period.
Sharks was trailing by a single goal as the period neared its end, but all of a sudden, Patrick Marleau, lost his temper and got into a fight with Kevin Bieksa. This was quite amazing as the last time Marleau was involved in a fight was in December 2007.
Sharks’ issues continued as a few minutes later Daniel Sedin was hit by Ben Eager from behind that saw Canucks getting another two minutes of penalty time.
However, this time Sharks was able to keep Canucks at bay and no goals were scored. There were a total of 53 penalty minutes in the second game with Eager giving away majority of the penalty minutes, early in the final period.
However, this time Sharks was punished as Chris Higgins found the back of the net for Canucks to score its fourth goal.
Regarding the hit to the player, Eager responded, saying, "The hit on Sedin … it's playoff hockey. Checks are going to be finished. There was a penalty but no suspension. I'm happy about that. But I think in playoffs, good teams kill those penalties, and
I think the guys did a good job killing that penalty off. Going there and putting the team shorthanded again with the tripping call, that's something I can't do. If I could take that back, I would."
The penalties kept on coming for Canucks and they kept on taking advantage of this till the game finally came to an end with the Canucks coming up with a staggering 7-3 win over San Jose Sharks.
Sharks need to avoid giving away too many penalty minutes if they want to avoid falling 3-0 down in the series. Things have already become very tough and if they need to win and give themselves a chance of winning the series, they need to get disciplined.
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