San Jose Sharks vs Pittsburgh Penguins Game Three/Four Preview
By Aly Dhanani
San Jose Sharks vs Pittsburgh Penguins Game Three/Four Preview: Hertl Out, Can Sharks Rebound?
Apologies for the delay in this piece as Game Three is already underway. We wanted to take a look at how home ice advantage could benefit the San Jose Sharks.
Saturday June 4th, the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the San Jose Sharks in a crucial Game 3 match-up in the Sharks home arena.
The Penguins have taken a distinct 2-0 series lead winning game one 3-2 and taking game two 2-1 in OT. They have out-shot the Sharks by wide margins in both games and seem to be running away with the series.
With the 7 game grind coming to California, Joe Thornton & co. need to step up their game and swing the momentum.
However, forward Tomas Hertl could possibly miss Game 3 after being forced to leave practice Friday with an undisclosed injury. That just makes the uphill battle steeper against a strong Pens team. It’s unclear if he’ll be ready to go on Monday or not.
The San Jose Sharks have a record of 7-1-1 at home, which is excellent, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are a different animal.
The San Jose Sharks won game one of their series versus LA and Nashville and won game two against all three opponents they faced before the finals, taking a 2-0 series lead vs. the Kings and Predators and tying the Blues series at one each.
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They lost both opening games of the Finals against the Penguins, marking the first time all playoffs the Sharks have been down two games in a series. So to be honest, we don’t know if the 2015-16 Sharks team has what it takes to come back.
Sharks captain Joe Pavelski eads the playoffs in GWG goals and total goals scored with 13. Has he been clutch, or lucky? Pavelski has a career shooting percentage of 12.1 (playoff average is 11.8%) This postseason he has been shooting at a ridiculous clip of 20.3%. He hasn’t lit the lamp once this series.
Has the Sharks epic run finally caught up to them, or is it just a slump? Logan Couture scored on 10.9 percent of his shots in the regular season, and is shooting 15.1 this playoffs. Look through the entire Sharks roster and this is a common trend!
Looking at Phil Kessel, who is dominating the postseason. He’s shooting at 12 percent compared to his career playoff average of 14.1 percent.
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He’s simply just getting more chances, not getting luckier. For clutch, the Sharks should look at Sidney Crosby, who shows up when it counts despite a 10.2 percent mark, noticeably less than his 14.5 percent clip in the regular season.
The Penguins look to have a choke-hold on the series, but how can the Sharks come back? I say the key is for depth players like Justin Braun, Nick Spaling, Melker Karlsson, Joonas Donskoi and Joel Ward to step up and provide offense while San Jose’s star players get their game back.
What really is the deciding factor in the series? Goaltending. As long as Martin Jones the fort in there, Teal & White always has a chance. If the San Jose Sharks lose game three, what chance do you think they have of winning at least a game or two, to avoid the sweep?