Joe Pavelski Named Sharks December Player Of The Month
While the San Jose Sharks struggled during the month of December winning just four times in 13 games, it wasn’t because of the efforts of their captain. Because of this, Joe Pavelski was recognized as the Sharks Player of the Month for December after leading the team with eight goals and 15 points during the final month of 2015.
It was an easy choice to recognize Pavelski with this award as he’s been San Jose’s most consistent performer this year. Some of his highlights during the month of December included racking up at least one point during the Sharks’ five-game road trip.
Capping off that road trip, Pavelski powered San Jose to a big, comeback win over the Los Angeles Kings in which he scored two power-play goals in a 92-second span to lead the Sharks to a 5-3 victory over their division rivals.
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Overall, Pavelski ranks sixth in the league with 20 goals on the season, including a league-best seven game-winning goals. He’s been everything Peter DeBoer and the Sharks organization has hoped when they named Pavelski as the latest captain for San Jose.
He leads the Sharks with his 20 goals, 38 points and a plus-six rating and a team-best 18.9 shooting percentage, all while averaging 20:23 of ice time which ranks first amongst all San Jose forwards. It’s been remarkable the way Pavelski has been able to up his game each and every year despite his lack of size and speed.
Basically, he’s done it all for the Sharks while trying to keep them in the Pacific Division race as they’ve struggled with consistency all year long. Part of the reason for their struggles is they haven’t had players step up alongside Pavelski throughout the course of the season, but that will need to change if San Jose wants to make it back to the postseason.
One thing we know for sure is the Sharks will be able to rely on Pavelski as they have all season long. He’s been rock solid and you can expect for that to continue as San Jose heads into the new year. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if Pavelski finds a way to garner this honor at least one more time before the end of this season.
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Pavelski joins Joel Ward and Brent Burns as winners of the Sharks Foundation Player of the Month award this season, and this is the sixth time he has been recognized with the honor during his career.