DALLAS – In just two-and-a-half weeks, the Sharks will have the opportunity to defend their Western Conference title when the Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway.
(Take a deep breath. They won't fall out of playoff position.)
Still, it's a terrible time for them to be playing their worst hockey of the season, and going through the foulest stretch of coach Pete DeBoer's two-year tenure.
The Sharks were flat-out embarrassed by the Stars on Friday night in their fifth straight regulation defeat, 6-1 in Dallas, showing no signs of life for the duration. Not even a verbal tongue-lashing from their normally reserved head coach in full view of the cameras in the second period got their motors going.
How do you explain this one, Joe Pavelski?
"I don't know, good question," said the captain. "There's a commitment that needs to be there to win in this league right now consistently. Right now, we're searching for that."
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DeBoer, too, was puzzled.
"You have a handful of those a year where nothing goes right and nobody's got any kind of legs or energy," he said. "It was one of those nights. I don't have an explanation for it. I felt we prepared the right way the last couple days. I thought we felt pretty good about ourselves. Then, the puck dropped and everything went bad."
It was evident early that the Sharks were off, as they couldn't figure out a way to get the puck through the neutral zone for the first several shifts and didn't register a shot on goal until 7:17 into the first period. The first of three Adam Cracknell goals – yes, Adam Cracknell – had them trailing 1-0 after the opening frame.
Traditionally, the Sharks would have found a way to jolt themselves to life at the intermission, as it was so plainly obvious that they didn't seem focused or driven over the first 20 minutes.
This was a game, too, in which they were healthier, getting Jannik Hansen back in the lineup, and more rested than the Stars, who were playing their second game in as many nights while San Jose was coming off a rare two-day break. Furthermore, the Sharks have seen a nine-point lead in the Pacific Division evaporate to just two points headed into Friday's action. Motivation should have been easy against a team that shut them out on Monday, to boot.
But the mental mistakes to start the second were even worse. Brett Ritchie was left alone by Brenden Dillon for a goal just 1:58 into the middle frame, and at 5:19, Brent Burns was caught staring at the puck off of a faceoff as Jamie Benn got free in front of the net to push the Dallas lead to 3-0. DeBoer's timeout and screaming session after that third goal did nothing, as Dallas got two more goals off of the rush and another on a breakaway by Cracknell after a gift turnover by goalie Aaron Dell before the night was through.
"That's a month worth of mistakes in one night, so hopefully we get it out of the system," DeBoer said.
The defensive miscues should be easily correctable, according to Dillon.
"If you look at a good chunk of those goals, we kind of know whether it was d-zone coverage, or off the rush, or just communicating with one another," he said. "Stuff that's not like us. I think if we watched the other 70 games this year, those kind of things don't happen."
Of course, the defensive errors become all the more glaring when a team isn't scoring, either. The Sharks managed just one Joe Thornton power play goal, and have just five total goals in their last five games.
That part of their game wasn't any better against Dallas than their defense, as Kari Lehtonen had a relatively tranquil evening.
"We have a lot of guys that are going through some tough times right now and struggling to get on the scoresheet," Logan Couture said. "We're going to need all of those guys to bring more. That's from our top guys, including myself and on down. We need to do more offensively. Score goals, and do more defensively, as well."
They have just eight more games to figure it all out.
"It's not ideal, by any means," Dillon said. "I think it's maybe a bit of a wakeup call for us. … You can't take a night off and you have to be emotionally invested. You've got to take every shift as hard as you possibly can."
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DeBoer had no update on Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who didn't play in the third period. The defenseman was seen leaving the dressing room under his own power, but looked to be walking a bit gingerly.
