San Jose Sharks witnesses a decline in its players’ performances at a crucial time in the play-offs - NHL
San Jose Sharks has been among the teams that maintain a very productive frontline. They have seen goals coming from players like Devin Setoguchi, helping it winning games at crucial times.
Setoguchi came up with a superb performance in the third game of the series against Detroit Red Wings.
Furthermore, he maintained a decent form in the play-offs as he scored a total of eight points and six goals in the first two rounds of the play-offs.
Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings were thrown out of the play-offs by Sharks through some strong offensive plays that saw goals scored by players like Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton.
In the series against Vancouver Canucks, Setoguchi has been unable to come up with the same level of performances and has been as good as goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, when it comes to scoring points.
Last year’s postseason saw Joe Pavelski coming out very strong in the play-offs as he emerged as a scoring machine. Now things have changed and he hasn’t been able to pile up the same performances. There is a steep decline in his form as he has scored only
three goals and only eight points during the current play-offs.
The most productive player for Sharks has been Ryane Clowe since he has been brilliant during the first two series of the play-offs.
He scored a total of 13 points after the first two rounds even though he was out of Game 6 against Detroit Red Wings due to an injury he sustained to his upper body.
Unfortunately for Sharks, he hasn’t scored for them so far in the series against Canucks. His tally is on zero when it comes to points, goals and assists.
Another important attacking player in the Sharks’ line-up is Dany Heatley. He was quite impressive in the first two rounds of the play-offs but once again he hasn’t clicked for Sharks in the current series. He has made only one assist so far in the series.
Kyle Wellwood, another name to be mentioned in the list, had eight points going into the series but hasn’t scored anything as yet.
Regarding the decline in form Sharks’ coach, McLellan, said, "I think that we have a group of players that can take their intensity level up. I believe that they're more competitive than they're showing right now, that the team is a sum of its parts, and
we need more parts to participate at a higher level for us to have a chance at success”.
"You've seen the effects that some of these players can have on a game. You haven't seen that in the first two games. I think it's evident from some of them. For us to win one game, that's all we want to do tomorrow, win one game, not the series, they
have to step their game up a little bit."
Sharks need all these players to get back in form if they want things to get better for them in the series since they are currently trailing by 2-0 and if they lose the third game, they will be in great trouble.
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