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December 23, 2002 By: Gary Araki SAN JOSE SHARKS GO 1-2-1-1 AND HOPE COMING HOME WILL HELP The Sharks went back on the road last week with a trip that ended tonight in Boston, and it’s a trip that they don’t want to remember. Making their way through places in the east such as New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and finally Boston. When this trip was finally done, the Sharks only won one game, 3-1 in Montreal, but on the entire 5 game trip, the Sharks were outscored 20 to 12 by the opposition, and including the disaster in Ottawa in which the Sharks gave up 9 goals. Some shaking of heads has to be going on in the upper management ranks of the San Jose Sharks, trying to pin down exactly what can be done this far into the season to get this team to play better. The Sharks are going to be home for a good part of January with 14 of the next 17 games at Shark Tank, with two games away from home, with two games in Los Angeles, and one game in Phoenix. The question is will playing at home make a difference for this team? It’s still too early to really look at Ron Wilson is doing, since he’s only had less than 2 weeks to make changes in this team. Some changes have already been seen, with different lines, and some better outcomes with those lines. Scoring is up, but the killer is still in killing power plays. The Sharks gave up 6 power play goals just during this road trip alone. Also, the old problem with losing games in which they’re either in the lead and give it up in the 2nd and 3rd period happened again, with the 2-1 loss to New York, and even tonight they were bombed by Boston in the 2nd and 3rd period. The Sharks just can’t come back once their opponent had taken the lead. So the Sharks come home after this road trip they’d like to forget. Anaheim starts this long home streak on the day after Christmas. The Sharks have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, so they should have a little time to reflect on what’s going on with this team and trying to find a way to get this team back on track. They sure don’t have much time left. |
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