San Jose Sharks Getting Stronger As Series Wears On
San Jose appears to be getting stronger in this Western Conference Final series while St. Louis seems to be wearing down with each game.
It’s been only three games in the Western Conference finals between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues, but it’s been clear to anyone watching which team has controlled the run of play. That would be the boys in teal who put forth another quality effort in Game 3 as they shut out the Blues for the second straight game to take a 2-1 series lead.
San Jose has outplayed their counterparts because they are the faster team that is peaking at just the right moments. Their offense is humming along as they have now scored the past seven goals in this series, while their defense has posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time in franchise history.
The Sharks top players are their best players, while the Blues core players are nowhere to be found. San Jose has been the aggressor and have forced St. Louis to make changes in response to what team teal is doing.
Peter DeBoer has harped on his depth all season long and that commitment to rolling four lines and three defensive pairings is paying dividends right now. DeBoer’s insistence on utilizing everyone in the lineup has allowed the Sharks to carry the play and maintain a very quick pace of play throughout this postseason.
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Brent Burns leads San Jose with 25:30 of ice time per game but Brenden Dillon is providing solid minutes on the third pair with more than 15 minutes of action. That’s pretty impressive come playoff time when head coaches tend to lean on their top-notch guys for seemingly half the game.
It’s not just on defense either as every Sharks player that has suited up in these playoffs has averaged more than 10 minutes of ice time per contest, headlined by who else but Joe Pavelski with 20:30 per game.
DeBoer isn’t reluctant to place any one of his four lines out there at any point in time and doesn’t seem to mind the matchups. He trusts his guys and lets them play and they are rewarding his faith in them.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ken Hitchcock has been much more reliant on his top guys with Alex Pietrangelo leading the way at more than 29 minutes per game. However, his bottom blue liners are averaging right around 11 minutes per game, and his fourth-liners are only giving him around eight minutes of ice time per game.
Everyone came into this series lauding the depth of the Blues, but it’s been the Sharks who have actually used theirs to create an advantage.
St. Louis went through two grueling seven-game series prior to meeting San Jose and they don’t appear to have much left in the tank. They came with a push to begin Game 3, but could only sustain that for the first 10 minutes of the contest.
From there, team teal controlled the action and the Blues didn’t make much noise over the last 50 minutes of play.
Over the course of these playoffs, San Jose looks to be gaining steam while St. Louis appears to be waning. The Sharks have played some of their best hockey in the past week, all at critical junctures. Games five and seven against Nashville and the past two games of this series have been some of the most dominant performances in San Jose’s playoff history.
Next: Sharks Top Line Dominant Thus Far
It’s no surprise the Sharks are as close as they’ve ever been to the ultimate prize, but there is still plenty of work to be done. It’s a race to four and not a race to two and San Jose knows St. Louis is capable of more.
How much more remains to be seen, but the Sharks know what they have to bring in order to be successful. San Jose is the faster, stronger team, and the Blues find themselves in real trouble as they search for answers ahead of Game 4 tomorrow night.