The San Jose Sharks wrapped up a historic road trip over the weekend, becoming the first team in franchise history to sweep a road trip of at least six games. Now, the Sharks are facing a new challenge and it’s an unfamiliar one at that. San Jose must translate their play and success on the road to their home rink at SAP Center, where historically, the Sharks have been a dominant team.
As it stands right now, San Jose has the most wins of any team in the league away from home ice with 10 victories, but they have a measly 3-5-0 record at SAP Center. The Sharks have won seven straight games on the road, while they lost three out of four on their most recent home stand.
It’s been a pretty stark contrast for San Jose between their home-and-away performances for a team that is used to thriving on home ice. This season, the Sharks are tied for 23rd in the league with 2.25 goals per game at home, while they’ve allowed 2.50 (tied for 14th), good for a -0.25 differential. Also, San Jose has scored only 18 total goals on home ice, which is tied for last in the league with the Philadelphia Flyers, while they have yet to find the back of the net on the power play at SAP Center (0-for-21).
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Finally, the Sharks save percentage at home sits at a meager .906, so for whatever reason, the goaltenders aren’t performing as well either. Case in point, Martin Jones, who was recently named the NHL’s First Star of the week, was pulled from two games during San Jose’s most recent home stand.
Meanwhile, the Sharks have been one of the best road teams, ranking sixth in the league with 3.08 goals per game on the road, while allowing just 2.38 (ninth in the league), a differential of +0.69. Also, San Jose’s power play is tied for 12th with the Washington Capitals, converting at a 20 percent clip away from SAP Center.
Furthermore, the Sharks netminders have performed better on the road, posting a .920 save percentage. For some reason, San Jose has been able to establish a more consistent game when they’ve been on the road this year.
After consistently being one of the better teams on home ice, the Sharks have been poor last year and at the beginning of this season. Last year, and it was one of the reasons why San Jose missed the playoffs, the Sharks finished with a 19-17-5 record at home, including failing to register a win at SAP Center throughout the entire month of February. That comes off a season when San Jose finished with one of the best records on home ice in 2013-14, when they compiled a 29-7-5 record.
While their road performance to date has certainly been impressive, the Sharks need to start playing better at home. If San Jose can turn things around at SAP Center, they could really start rolling and start distancing themselves from the rest of what’s been a poor division through the first quarter of the season.
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The Sharks get their first opportunity to build back their play on home ice when they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to SAP Center tonight. It’s a perfect challenge for this San Jose team to see how they stack up against the defending Stanley Cup champions, and also, prove themselves to their home fans.