DETROIT \u2014 Why do the San Jose Sharks keep blowing late leads?<\/p>\n
On Saturday, for the fourth time this season, and for the second-straight game, the Sharks blew a two-goal lead in the third period.<\/p>\n
This time, San Jose did not escape with a victory, dropping a 4-3 shootout decision to the Detroit Red Wings. On opening night against the Florida Panthers and Oct. 3 against the Los Angeles Kings and Oct. 15 at the Nashville Predators, the Sharks were able to overcome themselves and eke out two points.<\/p>\n
Sharks tools<\/p>\n
Ex-Toronto Marlies assistant coach and hockey tactics expert Jack Han does think the San Jose Sharks are playing differently with the lead. For what it\u2019s worth, he puts it more on the players than the coaching staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks to me they just started playing safer on their own,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s natural for players to be more conservative with a late lead, and it\u2019s not like they went into a shell.<\/p>\n
At 5-on-5, between Emmett Finnie\u2019s goal that cut the Sharks lead to 3-2, and the game-tying Alex DeBrincat<\/a> goal, San Jose actually out-attempted Detroit 9-5.<\/p>\n Han saw it more as a problem of the Sharks shifting, after going up 3-1, from what\u2019s their relative strength, offense, to their relative weakness, defense.<\/p>\n \u201cPer SPORTLOGiQ, the San Jose Sharks had an edge in controlled entries and recovered dump-ins in periods one and two, but Detroit had more in the third,\u201d Han said. \u201cSo quantitatively, the Sharks did sit back more and gave the Red Wings some momentum. It\u2019s not unusual, [that\u2019s] score effects.\u201d<\/p>\n While San Jose had more 5-on-5 shot attempts, no doubt, Detroit got inside more. But the Sharks failed to handle that pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is that the Sharks are not the best team in its own end,\u201d Han said.<\/p>\n That\u2019s suggested by defenseman Dmitry Orlov<\/a> getting beat by Finnie, then what Han saw as defenseman Sam Dickinson<\/a> not being as effective as possible in the lead-up to DeBrincat strike.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important KPI for this team is can they generate more successful entries?\u201d Han opined. \u201cWhich they did up until the third period when they started became more passive defensively and less interested in continuing to build their NZ transition advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n So if there\u2019s anything that you want to put on the coaching staff here, it may be that they should encourage the Sharks to keep attacking and taking risky chances even when up 3-1. It\u2019s counterintuitive to what most hockey coaches would do, would bite them back at times, and probably is not a formula for playoff success, whenever San Jose gets there again, but led by Macklin Celebrini<\/a> up front, that is probably what the team is best at.<\/p>\n As for Dickinson, he\u2019s a 20-year-old blueliner who\u2019s shown growth recently, highlighted by a career-high 24:39 played against the Predators, but defending 5-on-6 is still a work in progress.<\/p>\n At Nashville, with 12 seconds left and a 2-1 lead, Dickinson played a puck in the corner, which was not his coach\u2019s preference.<\/p>\n \u201c12 seconds left,\u201d Warsofsky said, \u201cwe should probably eat that puck in the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n