The thing that bothers me

The Sharks really haven't played badly. Yes there were a couple defensive breakdowns that led to goals against the Ducks and ultimately cost us the game... but as a whole in the last three games, though less so against Ottawa, they have played pretty well, gotten shots, not to mention all the ones that have sailed past the net... which is sort of my point.

They are playing decent defense, they are getting shots and they are playing fairly physical and yet they can't finish for the life of them. When you get 30 shots on goal, and probably another 30 that sailed wide or high, and still can't sink one... that's what bothers me. I can live with most of the play I've seen, but the inability to finish is what worries me. They just haven't found the touch, and the timing on set ups and being where they need to be isn't there. I guess it will come, it's almost the same thing the Ducks have been dealing with, though I saw a marked difference in the Ducks play tonight than I have in the last couple games they had. You could tell they had it back, so I guess it will come, we have guys that can finish, but it's so frustrating to watch. And I just don't think time is on the Sharks side. The schedule is in their favor these next few games so if it's going to happen it need to happen now or this season is going to get much more grim in a hurry.

The difference between the Ducks and the Sharks is that the Ducks have
several outstanding forwards - Fedorov, Sykora, Chistov, Prospal, Lupul with top end scoring ability while the Sharks have maybe one - Marleau.
If the Ducks forwards mesh they will eventually move up the standings. The Sharks will languish at the bottom without the addition of a couple of snipers.

Note: I have denigrated Prospal for several years but it is was apparent last season that he is capable of 60-70 points in the right situation.

Finishing isn't a problem when the passing is "on". This team cannot pass, they dont know who's on each line because they are being shuffled around so much, and their team speed is being hampered by an inability to lead a rusher properly.

There also is probably only one or two players on the entire team that know how to execute a saucer pass properly. Most of the wings think there are two types of passes... Hard and Soft. Most of the passes are hitting sticks, and never getting to their intended target.

I agree that they have been a more entertaining center ice team because of some of the rushes that are being put together, but in just about every rush comes a bad pass that either leads to slowing the rush down completely, or turning the puck over.

Ricci said it on the air. paraphrased~ "you just have to find a way to win, and we aren't doing that right now..."

End Result is SJ has got to have its money players play like it. Damphousse, Marleau, Thornton, Sturm (kinda)...that's all we really have.

Everyone else is like fluff in a porn flick, nice but superfluous.


NOTE: I am copying this to all similar threads for the sake of being lazy!