San Jose Sharks Beat Flames In 5-2 Rout

The San Jose Sharks tried to generate momentum on home ice against the Calgary Flames. They were able to do that as the Sharks cruised to a 5-2 victory. Here are some things that you might have missed.

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First of all, the pregame was great as Ryane Clowe received a standing ovation for his time in San Jose. As most of you know, Clowe displayed a solid blend of skill and physicality that any team could use. Unfortunately, his career had to end early due to concussion symptoms.

So good on the Sharks for honoring a storied player in their franchise, who was an integral part of their lineup for many years.

For once, the Sharks had a solid start as Tommy Wingels deflected a shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.

Followed up by a snipe from Tomas Hertl, the Sharks had Calgary on their heels early. Something Sharks fans aren’t used to this year.

These goals would amount to what would be a dominant first period from the home team.

The second period would be defined by a slew of penalties taken by both teams. Luckily for the Sharks, the Flames are horrid at both parts of special teams. These events would lead to a 5-on-3 which the Sharks would capitalize on as Joel Ward took a feed from Joe Pavelski to put the Sharks at an all-too-familiar 3-0 lead.

But the Sharks wouldn’t relinquish this lead as Patrick Marleau would score another power-play goal right after Ward’s goal, extending San Jose’s cushion to 4-0.

One of these penalties was courtesy a vicious check from Mirco Mueller. While rare, I’ve seen Mueller penalized for similar hits while playing for the Everett Silvertips. So as long as these hits are clean I wonder if we will see more physical play from him moving forward (including a fight that occurred as I was typing this).

Afterwards, the Sharks finished the game by not allowing many scoring chances despite Markus Granlund breaking the shutout bid for Martin Jones.

Vlasic and Michael Ferland would trade goals late, but the Sharks had this game in hand.

As much as Calgary lucked into the playoffs last year, they have been as unlucky this year. Their goaltending has been bad and their high shooting-percentage scoring depth has dried up. Fans could say this team has regressed to the mean but I have to think the Flames are better than their record indicates.

Consider this, after being a top-five team in PDO last year the Flames are now ranked 28th in this category. As a result they have dropped over four percentage points in combined shooting and save percentage. Such a drop will sink every team in the NHL.

While their possession metrics have improved, I can’t understand what Bob Hartley is doing with his squad. Every Calgary breakout starts with a risky stretch pass that rarely works and half of their defenseman are too willing to block a shot to concentrate on getting the puck out of the defensive zone. As long as the Flames keep playing this way, they will never be an elite team.

However, they do have hope for the future with Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett, Dougie Hamilton and Oliver Kylington on the way. That is a solid core to build a team around but as Sharks fans have now seen, success is all about execution.

Next: Sharks Three Positive Takeaways At Quarter Mark

As for the Sharks, this was a solid win that will put away concerns about this team’s play at home for now. Although they gave way to score effects, such play can happen to any team. Let’s be happy they beat a team they should beat which wouldn’t have happened last year. We’ll look forward to their next game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. See you then.