San Jose Sharks to Embark on Season-Defining Seven-Game Road Trip
By Felix Chow
Mar 14, 2015; San Jose, CA, USA; The San Jose Sharks watch from the bench in the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at SAP Center at San Jose. The Blackhawks won 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
Amid all the off-ice drama that will, for sure, carry itself into the off-season, the San Jose Sharks will start a very, very important seven-game road trip through Canada, beginning against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, that ends back in the U.S. on the East Coast in Pittsburgh on March 29 (Sunday).
The scoreboard watching continued last night with the hopes that the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks would help the Sharks in the standings by losing against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs (of all teams) respectively. That was unfortunately not the case as the Jets pulled away with a 2-1 victory over the Lightning and the Leafs lost in a 4-1 rout against the Canucks. The good news, though, there was one team that did help them, the Nashville Predators, knocked the Los Angeles Kings out of the 8th seed with a 2-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Still, the Sharks know they can’t just rely on the teams they’re chasing to drop in the standings. And along with Saturday afternoon’s loss against the Chicago Blackhawks at home, this makes San Jose’s road trip that much more critical. They would have to win 6 out of those 7 games which, given how the Sharks have done all season, is basically mission impossible. But this road trip tells us whether or not the Sharks still have enough left in the tank to go for a playoff run.
Honestly, I don’t know what else to say other than the Sharks shot themselves in the foot a long time ago. They really did. The off-season and off-ice drama just added to it. If they can pull off some kind of god forsaken miracle in the final stretch of the season, then I guess the Hockey Gods really are on our side. Regardless, if the Sharks don’t make the postseason, the saying “there’s always next year” is no more.