Noah Gregor cannot buy a goal right now. The Sharks’ advice? Don’t change a thing
Noah Gregor: “There's not much you can do. You’ve just got to keep getting chances and hopefully, they go in.”
One 10-second sequence encapsulated both the good things that Noah Gregor has been doing for the Sharks in recent games and also the amount of frustration he’s felt over the last several weeks.
Gregor chased the puck behind the Pittsburgh Penguins net early in the second period Saturday, hit defenseman Kris Letang on the forecheck, and skated away with possession. He then fed Logan Couture back behind the net, worked his way toward the crease, and was all alone in front when Couture hit him with a return pass.
Gregor’s shot from point-blank range, though, was stopped by goalie Louis Domingue, as were six other shots that the Sharks winger put on net in what turned into a 2-1 overtime loss to the Penguins.
“You’re in front of the net, you’re wide open, it’s just you and the goalie and you hit him in the arm,” Gregor said of the play. “If that puck is down two inches or up a centimeter, that goes in.”
The Sharks have scored just once in their last two games and enter Monday’s game with the Los Angeles Kings on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with an average of 2.69 goals per game – 23rd-best in the NHL.
No one, though, has been thwarted on offense more than Gregor.
Since his one goal on Nov. 30 against the New Jersey Devils, Gregor has had 55 consecutive shots on goal stopped by opposing goaltenders for a 1.4 percent shooting percentage this season. He’s had 22 shots just in the last four games.
The message from coaches and teammates? Stay the course.
“You’ve got to have in your mind that if you keep getting chances, at some point, you’re going to break through,” said Gregor, who also has five assists in 23 games. “You’ve just got to keep doing the right things and I think basically since the break, I’ve been doing that. I’ve been playing some good hockey, getting lots of looks.”
In the meantime, Gregor, 23, is showing he can play a detailed game, as he, Couture and Jonathan Dahlen held Sidney Crosby’s line off the scoresheet through three periods before Crosby assisted on Jake Guentzel’s overtime winner.
“I thought Noah was one of our better forwards,” against the Penguins, Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Sunday. “Obviously, he’s probably a little bit frustrated. But he adds speed to (Couture’s) line. I think he’s doing a lot of great things defensively.”
One wonders, then, what Gregor’s ceiling could be if he can recapture the scoring touch he had in the AHL, as he had 12 points in eight games with the Barracuda to start this season. He’s got the speed, his hockey IQ is there. Now can he find a way to put the puck in the net a little more often?
The Sharks feel that with the number of chances Gregor has generated, it’s only a matter of time before he cashes in.
“If you’re getting those looks and the puck’s not going in, you feel good about your game, even though it’s tough,” Couture said. “When you’re going through those slumps that every player in this league, except for a couple, goes through, it’s not fun.
“You’ve just got to stick with it. Keep doing what you’re doing. I think he’s skating really well. He’s on the forecheck. He’s making plays.”
Boughner indicated that there was a chance that Alexander Barabanov could test out of the NHL’s COVID protocol, which, if it happens, would alter the Sharks’ forward lines.
Barabanov tested positive last Wednesday but one of the ways a player can end his five-day isolation early is if a lab-based PCR test has a cycle threshold value greater than 30. CT values can measure whether a player is still contagious, and the higher the number, the less contagious the person is.
Boughner said Barabanov was going in the right direction on that front, “so I think that remains to be seen how he does today and tomorrow.”
Gregor might slide down in the lineup if Barabanov returns. But his approach won’t change.
“There’s not much you can do,” Gregor said. “You’ve just got to keep getting chances and hopefully they go in.”
NOTES: Other than possibly having Barabanov available, Boughner didn’t anticipate making any lineup changes for Monday. Boughner said he had not decided what goalie he was going to start. James Reimer is now available but Adin Hill has a .932 save percentage and 1.99 goals-against average in his last five starts. … Defenseman Erik Karlsson was given a maintenance day Sunday and did not practice.