After two games, the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues are tied 1-1. Upon watching the highlights of Game 2, there are a few things the Sharks will need to do in order to take Game 3 in San Jose on Monday.
There are four simple words for the Sharks for the next two games:
Keep It Simple Sharks
- Stop playing cute – Don’t do the pass, pass, pass, pass, shoot crap. When you see the open lane, take your shot. 60 shots on net and only 3 have made it to the back of the net? That’s one goal per twenty shots.
- Don’t take stupid penalties – There’s no need for it. It only puts them a man down and in this series, the Sharks have given up two goals while on a penalty kill. And in just two games, the Sharks have racked up a grand total of 74 penalty minutes which includes two game misconducts. For a team that ended the regular season 7th in least amount of penalty minutes, the Sharks seem to have been provoked.
Justin Braun and Douglas Murray both took game misconducts at the end of Game 2
- Keep the pressure on – Forcing the Blues to the puck more means more chances for pucks to the net. Creates turnovers, which created scoring opportunities.
- Don’t dump and chase – Now I understand that it has to be done in order to get a line change, but take the puck in. Throwing it in just on the right side of the red line isn’t going to allow for scoring chances. It only means racing for the puck, slamming into the boards, etc.
If the Sharks can do all that, they just might have a chance at winning Game 3, maybe Game 4. However, no matter how you look at it, this series is going to get pretty nasty.