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THE SCORE OF THE BOX
If watching the Sharks lose the third game for their playoff series in the first round of the playoffs was painful for the fans, watching the fourth game was simply frustrating.
The Vegas Golden Knights were eliminated on Tuesday, but the Sharks are about to be eliminated after a 5-0 loss in the fourth game. Some compositional changes have injected life into the team, but the puck has not rebounded – or stay out of their net.
Here are three takeaways since the Sharks are 3-1 in the series.
Fleury on fire
There is no doubt. The Sharks could have been ahead of the Golden Knights at the end of the first period thanks to their hard offensive work. The four newly formed lines of San Jose insisted on finding the back of the net, without showing any relaxation or abandonment.
But Fleury, whom the San Jose offense was able to frustrate so well in the first game, simply did not move. Even before stopping Evander Kane on a breakaway chance in the second period, it was clear that he was arguing for the first star of the evening.
Fleury's defense also did its part to put an end to the Sharks' best attempts at being on the table. Although San Jose did a good job of keeping the puck in the offensive zone and continued to press, Vegas' defensive efforts added to Fleury's stunning performance by blocking 18 shots in the evening.
Even when the Sharks managed to get around the Vegas defense, they did not find a way to score. On the other side of the ice, however …
No help between pipes
The Sharks fans may have been tempted to breathe a sigh of relief when goalkeeper Martin Jones did not allow the first goal of the game in the first minute of the first period – until that time. that Max Pacioretty scores the Knights 11 seconds after the end of the match. The San Jose attack pushed to the other end to try to tie the game, beating Vegas 18-7 in the first period.
But the Knights scored the next goal, taking a 2-0 lead in the second period. This is probably the goal that changed the game, and it was not surprising to see Aaron Dell take over the roles between the pipes from the second stanza.
The Sharks' defense should not have allowed Shea Theodore to make her way through the Sharks area so easily, but Jones still had to stop the puck in that game. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said during the team's defeat in the final stretch that he was not making the necessary stops, and the first period of match 4 was the perfect one example.
Given the number of goals Jones conceded in the last three games – in the first five minutes of the period or otherwise – DeBoer decides to launch Dell at the net when the series returns to San Jose for the fifth game. Thursday.
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The defensive effort is not done
San Jose had bodies to fill for the injured players, but it was obvious in the fourth match that Marc-Edouard Vlasic still misses them. Really, the big defensive troubles of the Sharks began in the second game after Vlasic's departure after being shot by Shea Theodore.
Erik Karlsson has not appeared in good health since Game 3, nor has the Sharks plenty of turnovers since the series has changed Sin City. The mismanagement of the puck gave the Knights plenty of opportunities to capitalize, and they did it.
San Jose now faces elimination Thursday as the series returns to the SAP Center for the fifth game. The defensive efforts of the Sharks let the team lose two games in a row. If they are going to have a chance to defeat the Knights on Thursday and keep their hopes of participating in the playoffs, their defense will not be able to play as it did on Tuesday in Las Vegas. There is no other way to get around it.
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