San Jose Sharks Find Themselves In Familiar Position

The San Jose Sharks find themselves in an all too familiar position as they are about to embark on a five-game road trip that will take them into the Christmas break.

Heading into this eight-day trek, the Sharks are playing their worst hockey of the season as they have lost six straight games and seven of their last eight.

It’s been a dismal performance from the boys in teal as San Jose has failed to pick up a victory during the month of December and only has one point to show for their efforts.

As it stands now, San Jose has a record of 14-14-1, good for fourth place in the Pacific Division with 29 points, but also, only two points out of last place.

Unfortunately for Sharks fans, this is a familiar situation they find themselves in as, after winning their first four games of the season, San Jose would go on to lose eight of their next 11 games, leaving the Sharks one game under the .500 mark as they were about to embark on their season-high, six-game road trip.

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At the time, I wrote about how this team could use the road to come together and begin to gel as a unit.

It appeared they did as they set a franchise record by winning all six games on that particular road trip. However, San Jose has yet again done away with all the positive momentum by losing seven of their last eight games to find themselves in their current position.

The troubling aspect for the Sharks beyond the obvious losing streak is they can’t seem to put all the pieces together. On nights when the defense and goaltending are solid, San Jose can’t score, as evidenced by their 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild last time out.

On the other side of the coin, the nights when their offense is able to score a couple of goals, the defense can’t make it hold up. The fact of the matter is this is a Sharks team still trying to find themselves 30 games into the 2015-16 season, which is not a good thing.

This team is in need of an identity, something they can rely upon on a night-in and night-out basis.

Luckily for the Sharks, San Jose resides within the Pacific Division, perhaps the worst division in hockey. While they are just two points out of the cellar, they are also just one point out of second place which goes to show that the Sharks have time to turn things around.

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It would help if San Jose could channel the efforts from their perfect road trip and funnel those into this one as the Sharks need to find the win column again. This trip won’t be as easy as their last one as they start off in Montreal, play three games in four nights, before wrapping it up against two of the best teams out West in the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings.

The time is now for the Sharks to wake up and draw upon earlier this season when they responded with their backs against the wall. During their recent run of play, San Jose has failed when their best has been needed. They’ll need to correct that fast, otherwise it will make for a very sour holiday season.

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