|
|
Homesick
Fans leave disappointed again on Saturday night
| 12/5/15 - By Paul Krill -
|
|
The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Sharks, 4-3, on
Saturday. The obvious bad news is, the Sharks lost at home again. The
more-obscured good news is, there are fewer fans on hand to see them lose in
San Jose these days.
This loss, which turned into a nail-biter in what
football fans would call end-of-the-game "garbage time," brought their home
record this season to an abysmal four wins and eight losses and 1-4 when I'm
personally in attendance.
I haven't seen them win in person since
opening night nearly two months ago. But given the New World Order, in which
sellouts at home are becoming a rarity rather than the exception, I did enjoy
the less-crowded concourse and shorter lines at the concessions stands and
restrooms.
Getting back to the game, though, it's difficult to win
when goalie Alex Stalock is giving up weak goals, including one where he simply
didn't know where the puck was after making a save. Tampa's Brian Boyle helped
Stalock find the lost frozen rubber disk by depositing it in the net behind the
Sharks' backup goaltender and making the score 4-1.
So much for all the optimism of a couple of weeks ago.
Everything seemed like it was going in the right direction when the Sharks
barely beat a bunch of mostly mediocre teams on their recent 6-0 road trip. The
Sharks, though, had to come home eventually, where the losing resumed. The
Sharks also lost on the road in Anaheim the night before the loss to Tampa Bay.
The problem we have here is this up-and-down team is simply mediocre.
About the best we might hope for this season is a short playoff run, based on
what we've seen so far. And the constant losing at home is going to thwart all
efforts by the Sharks' marketing department to woo the fans back. It's time for
the Sharks to again make the Shark Tank a tough place for opponents to play,
instead of what it is now: a place where opponents can be pretty confident of
collecting two precious points on the road.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| TB |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, TB,
Kucherov 7 (Hedman), 2:19. 2, TB, Condra 3 (Sustr, Brown), 11:20. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Tennyson 1 (Braun, Hertl), 13:35, (pp). 4, TB, Kucherov 8 (Stamkos), 16:44,
(pp). |
|
|
| 3rd period - 5, TB,
Boyle 6 (Brown), 3:01. 6, SJ, Ward 10 (Burns, Pavelski), 8:26, (pp). 7, SJ,
Burns 10 (unassisted), 14:32, (pp). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Pavelski,
SJ (high sticking), 8:09; Boyle, TB (hooking), 16:33. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Bench, TB
(too many men), 1:29; Wingels, SJ (goaltender interference), 1:53; Coburn, TB
(holding), 9:20; Sustr, TB (holding), 11:55; Tierney, SJ (tripping), 15:03;
Ward, SJ (tripping), 16:05. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Strallman,
TB (tripping), 0:40; Garrison, TB (interference), 5:42; Hedman, TB (cross
checking), 8:13; Killorn, TB (boarding), 13:47. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| TB - Bishop |
26 |
24 |
| TB - Vasilevskiy |
8 |
7 |
| SJ - Stalock |
20 |
16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| TB |
6 |
8 |
6 |
20 |
| SJ |
4 |
14 |
16 |
34 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Charron,
Kozari. Linesmen: Devorski, Berg. |
|
|
|
|
|
