San Jose Sharks look to ease home woes against Maple Leafs
The San Jose Sharks home woes turned from frustration to anger recently.
In a 2-1 Thursday defeat at SAP Center to the Detroit Red Wings, Joe Thornton physically vented on Red Wings forward Luke Glendening at the end of the game. He received a double-minor for roughing Glendening and a game misconduct.
San Jose fell to 5-12-0 at home with the defeat, and slipped further down the standings – just one point clear of the Edmonton Oilers out of last place in the Western Conference – though the Sharks have played four fewer games.
There’s a sense of urgency with the group heading into Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They understand they’d be squarely in the playoff mix with more home wins.
Said coach Peter DeBoer via CSN Bay Area.
“[Thornton is] a competitive guy. [He] doesn’t like to lose and doesn’t like where we’re sitting in the standings. He’s a ‘show me’ guy. He always has been. He’s not going to tell you about it, he’s going to show you. That’s a good thing.”
The Sharks aren’t getting much scoring from some of their role players. Forward Joel Ward has one goal in 10 games and youngster Tomas Hertl has two scores in 34 games played.
Said DeBoer in another story via CSN Bay Area:
“We’re looking for production,” DeBoer said. “If we’re going to use guys for 12, 13, 14 minutes a night, you can’t just take up space or be a good guy or good teammate. That’s great, but we need some of the depth here to make a difference. It’s not your turn every night, but we need some type of production there.”
Improving their home record won’t be that easy against Toronto. The Maple Leafs have won three of their last four games, mostly on the strength of solid goaltending. Jonathan Bernier won three of those games, and James Reimer returned from a groin issue to stop 39 of 41 Los Angeles Kings shots on goal in a 2-1 loss at Staples Center on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs have clawed their way back to .500 after starting the year 1-7-2.
With a win, the Maple Leafs can finish their California swing at 2-1-0. They beat the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, before falling to the Kings a day later.
“I think we’re on the ‘up and up,’” forward Peter Holland said after the loss at the Kings. “I think we’re starting to build our identity as a team. Game in, game out, everyone knows what to expect. We’re going to come hard and play a tough style of hockey to beat. That’s something we can build confidence in our room with.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
