San Jose Sharks Edge Vancouver Despite Lackluster Effort
The San Jose Sharks wrapped up the home portion of their exhibition schedule on Tuesday night, playing host to the Vancouver Canucks for the third time this preseason. Peter DeBoer decided to ice a very strong lineup in giving the fans a chance to see some of San Jose’s top players for one final time before the the regular season kicks off.
The SAP Center fans clad in teal didn’t see a great Sharks effort, but Martin Jones was very sharp between the pipes. San Jose goals from Tommy Wingels and Brent Burns was all the support Jones needed as he took home first star honors after making 30 saves in leading the Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the Canucks.
Jones has been everything general manager Doug Wilson said he was when he acquired Jones from the Boston Bruins this offseason. He’s been poised and in command of his crease, stopping 79 of 82 shots (.963 save percentage) thus far during his three preseason starts. I don’t know if we will see Jones again this preseason, but he already looks like he’s ready to roll when the regular season kicks off in just one week.
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Also, Burns continued his strong preseason play with another goal and plus-two rating with a team-leading seven shots on goal. While Burns still needs to clean up his game in the defensive zone, his offensive prowess appears in midseason form already, generating plenty of shots from the point.
On the flip side of the coin, it was disappointing to see the Sharks struggle at different points in the game. The sloppy play that characterized the San Jose Sharks last season seemed to creep back into their game, highlighted by a dreadful giveaway by Matt Nieto that led directly to the lone Vancouver goal by Jared McCann.
After outshooting the Canucks 13-10 through one period of play, San Jose registered just nine shots on goal the rest of the way. Again, it’s still preseason and many veterans are looking to get their conditioning up, but you don’t want to see the same mistakes creeping back into their play.
However, one big takeaway is Jones could be a great equalizer for this team in ways Antti Niemi couldn’t be a season ago. Jones was there to thwart multiple Vancouver attacks and covered for his teammates when they made mistakes. Don’t know if you could ask for any more out of Jones than what he’s done to date.
San Jose improved to 3-1-1 thus far in the preseason and hit the road for their final two exhibition tune-ups. The Sharks will head to Arizona for a matchup against the Coyotes on Friday, Oct.2 before traveling to Southern California to close out the preseason against the Anaheim Ducks one night later.
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