The San Jose Sharks lost Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals 3-2 in double overtime Tuesday night in Vancouver, giving the hometown Canucks a 4-1 series victory.
Much like last year”s trip to the conference finals (a four-game sweep by the Chicago Blackhawks), the Sharks appeared outmatched in their attempt to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in team history.
Vancouver scored seven more goals than San Jose despite taking fewer shots during the series. The starkest illustration of Vancouver”s offensive efficiency was Game 4, a 4-2 Canucks victory in which the Sharks out-shot them 35-13.
Though Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had a superior series, stopping Sharks” shots almost at will, the big difference in the series proved to be penalties.
Inexcusable, dumb penalties became an inescapable trend for San Jose, and Vancouver seemed to capitalize on every important power play opportunity.
Overall, the Canucks scored nine goals on 25 power play chances (a 36-percent rate), whereas the Sharks could only manage seven goals on 23 power plays (a 30.4-percent clip). Vancouver power-play goals pretty much decided Game 2 and Game 4.
As a result, the Sharks returned to the Bay Area with hung-heads while their Canadian counterparts advanced to the championship series.
Yet another year of regular season success followed by playoff disappointment leaves the franchise with an uncertain future. Changes will be (and have to be) made during the offseason, but the question is how extreme will the makeover be?
Todd McLellan”s status as head coach would appear to be in jeopardy. In his three seasons, the Sharks won the Pacific Division and finished with one of the top two Western Conference regular-season records only to be ousted from playoffs before the Stanley Cup Finals.
Though McLellan has amassed a respectable 19-20 postseason record, the Sharks” front office has in the past parted ways with coaches who didn”t deliver a championship. However, McLellan shouldn”t be on the hook for the 2011 Western Conference Finals loss; that onus should fall on the players.
Poor on-ice decisions cost the Sharks this year: bad penalties, lazy turnovers and missed assignments, which are solely the result of players” actions, not coaching direction or strategy.
Many of the core Sharks have been with the team for several years before McLellan”s arrival: Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Douglas Murray, to name a few.
On the other hand, several talented players acquired by San Jose during McLellan”s reign haven”t spent that much time with the team (Dan Boyle for three years, Dany Heatley for two and Antti Niemi just one).
And young, talented goal-scorers Logan Couture and Devin Setoguchi barely have five years of experience between them.
The bottom line is that though many of these players have been symbols of San Jose”s playoff inadequacy, this group hasn”t played together for all that long. New on-ice blood is needed, but the front office should resist the urge to dismantle the current roster.
The Sharks” brass should instead focus on strengthening the team”s third and fourth lines, which were thoroughly outplayed in the Vancouver series.
During most of the postseason, it seemed as if the top two lines were either overly cautious or forced to press because of their ineffective bottom-line teammates. Adding consistent bench depth would help the top-line talents play more freely come playoff time.
Still, this playoff disappointment could force a big change somewhere, and perhaps it”s time for the higher-ups to look closely at one of the team”s constants since 2003, general manager Doug Wilson.
Wilson, the architect of these recent teams known for excelling in the regular season but folding in the playoffs, has successfully avoided falling victim to franchise reinventions resulting from his teams” on-ice failures.
It”s obvious that the 2010-11 Sharks did not have what it takes to win a Stanley Cup, but by making it to the final four for a second straight year, showed they were close.
This coaching staff and group of core players, which have really only had one season together as currently configured, should be given one more chance at a title run. If, however, they find themselves prematurely departing from the 2012 playoffs, it would be time to provide Sharks” fans with fresh meat.
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com.
