Takeaways: In Bob Boughner’s debut, Sharks haunted by familiar issues
SAN JOSE — Bob Boughner went though his first full day as the Sharks’ interim coach on Thursday.
He’s really looking forward to day two.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Boughner said after the Sharks’ 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday. “We need a good practice day (Friday). Sort out some of the things we need to sort out.”
There’s no shortage of issues, as the problems that have plagued the Sharks for most of this month were all too apparent again Thursday night.
The Sharks didn’t shoot enough, didn’t defend hard enough — especially when they had a third period lead — and didn’t get good enough goaltending.
Add it up and the Sharks have been outscored 28-10 in their now season-long six-game losing streak, as they remain in sixth place in the Pacific Division, five points out of a playoff spot.
“Guys got to, and I feel like I say this all the time,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said, “but we really got to look in the mirror and start playing winning hockey.”
Some takeaways from Thursday.
1. No easy solutions: One of the reasons why general manager Doug Wilson felt he needed to make a coaching change was because the Sharks were giving up far too many Grade A scoring chances, were taking too many penalties and had been dominated at even strength for most of the season.
The Sharks checked all of the boxes in the third period against the Rangers.
With forward Barclay Goodrow in the box for tripping, Zibanejad scored on a shot from the top of the circle got past a screened Jones to tie it up at the 8:49 mark.
Zibanejad then scored again at even strength on a shot from the outside with 6:50 left in the third period, finishing a dominating shift by his line, and Artemi Panarin all but put the game away with a second chance goal with 3:11 left in regulation.
On both of those goals, the Sharks looked absolutely gassed, or just the less energetic of the two teams.
The Sharks have been outscored 10-4 in the third period over the course of their six-game losing streak.
“You get a lead with 15 minutes left, you’ve got to defend a little harder, not turn the puck over like we did,” Couture said. “Play harder in our own end, which we did not. We wanted to defend our slot harder tonight. I don’t think we did.”
2. Getting too cute: The Sharks passed up way too many opportunities to get pucks on net, as they finished with 18 shots on goal, their second-lowest total of the season. They had two shots on goal in the third period.
Time and again, there were simple plays to be made, either to get the puck out of their own end or to be more direct in shots toward the net.
“That’s not good enough, not nearly good enough, not close enough to good enough,” Couture said. “We passed up too many shots, which has been a story lately, and we weren’t hard enough winning battles in the o-zone.”
“The difference is they had a shooting mentality and we didn’t,” Boughner said. “Their goals were from outside shots, really.”
3. Who is the No. 1 goalie?: Martin Jones was making his fourth straight start Thursday, and was playing his 27th game of the season.
Jones has been the unquestioned No. 1 goalie since he came to San Jose in 2015. But after five straight losses this month for Jones, it sounds like Boughner is open to just going with the goaltender who he feels gives him the best chance to win on a nightly basis.
Jones allowed three goals on nine shots in the third period and five goals on 29 shots for the game.
“They’ve got to push each other,” Boughner said of Jones and Aaron Dell. “Just like a forward or a defenseman, we’ve got to make sure if someone’s playing well, you reward them. If they’re not playing well, someone else gets a chance.”
“It’s on me and Aaron to play better,” Jones said. “That’s the bottom line.”