Shorthanded San Jose Sharks Fight for Series Lead in Game 3 Versus the Vegas Golden Knights

After a game where the special teams fell flat. The San Jose Sharks seek to jump-start their game early in a game 3 match-up at the T-Mobile Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Team Teal put together a ferocious comeback in-game 2 after trailing early to the Vegas Golden Knights. However the San Jose Sharks fell short and possibly lost their best “defensive defensemen” Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the process.

That means in game 3 Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns are tasked with the difficult defensive assignment of matching up with the top two lines of the Vegas Golden Knights. Not only will this be a tough task defensively for the two blueliners, it will more than likely stymie their offense. EK65 and Burns already had a tough enough time getting the puck cleanly to their forwards in the neutral zone with Vegas suffocating fore-check at full force.

Vlasic took a bulk of the defensive zone starts so someone has to be tasked with suppressing shots and exiting the puck from their own zone. Keep an eye out for how Coach Pete DeBoer handles this game of chess without his crutch on defense.

The San Jose Sharks struggled mightily on special teams going 1/8 (yikes) on the powerplay and coughed up two short-handed goal. This was is inexcusable but unlikely to repeat considering the talent on this roster. They failed to get the puck in tight near Marc-Andre Fluery and settled mostly for shots from the points which often times failed to squeak through the many Vegas Golden Knights bodies screening the shooter.

Expect Team Teal to make some tweaks to the top unit if they don’t generate any dangerous looks on the man-advantage in their first couple of tries. Perhaps they separate EK65 and Burns and put Labanc back on the top unit at right point. That gives them two options on the right side if Labanc were to pinch down and join the play near the slot area.

The line of Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, and Timo Meier got the better of Vegas in game 2 but were unable to convert on their chances at 5v5. It appears that the Knights have settled on matching up their better defensive units against the likes of Kane, Hertl, and Nyquist at 5v5. There is not doubt that the Captain, Cooch, and Timo can exploit the bottom tier of the Knights line-up if they are given the opportunity.

All signs point to Martin Jones being in between the pipes in game 3. He was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 7 shots on Friday night. Aaron Dell answered the bell and performed well saving 14 of 16 shots on goal, and was able to successfully stifle the Knights at 5v5.. Jones will be alright barring he gets past the first 5 minutes of the contest…

The San Jose Sharks need to respond with winning an away game to tilt the series back in their favor. Consider that easier said than done with the Vegas Golden Knights riding the momentum they generated in game 2.

Coming into game 3 here’s what to expect from the two clubs as far as forward configurations, defensive pairings, and starting netminders.

San Jose Sharks

Forward Combinations

Timo Meier ~ Logan Couture ~ Joe Pavelski

Evander Kane ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Gus Nyquist

Marcus Sorensen~ Joe Thornton ~ Kevin Labanc

Micheal Haley ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Melker Karlsson

Defensive Pairings

Joakim Ryan ~ Brent Burns

Brenden Dillon ~ Erik Karlsson

Tim Heed ~ Justin Braun

Goalie

Projected Starter ~ Martin Jones

Backup ~ Aaron Dell

Vegas Golden Knights

Forward Combinations

Jonathan Marchessault ~ William Karlsson ~ Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty ~ Paul Stastny ~ Mark Stone

Tomas Nosek ~ Cody Eakin ~ Alex Tuch

Will Carrier ~ Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ~ Ryan Reaves

Defensive Pairings

Nate Schmidt ~ Deryk Engelland

Brayden McNabb ~ Shea Theodore

Jon Merrill ~ Colin Miller

Goalie

Projected Starter ~ Marc-Andre Fluery

Backup ~ Malcom Subban

Team Teal is looking to bounce back from a home loss where they failed to execute on special teams. Today is a different day and it’s hard to imagine the Sharks falling flat again on power play.

Puck drop for tonight’s game at the SAP Center is at 7:00 PM PT. The game will be televised nationally NBCSN but is also broadcasted locally via NBCSCA. The audio can be streamed on the Sharks App courtesy of 98.5 KFOX.