Balanced Scoring Attack Leads San Jose Sharks to Undefeated Start
The beginning of the 2014-2015 season has gone exactly according to plan for the San Jose Sharks with a perfect 3-0-0 start.
They went on the road to begin the year and had to watch the Los Angeles Kings raise their Stanley Cup banner from the locker room at Staples Center. San Jose then proceeded to defeat their inter-state rivals 4-0 with some dominate goaltending by Antti Niemi.
Niemi sent all 25 opposing shots aside, while also going a perfect 6-6 on power plays. The Sharks hung up four goals on Jonathan Quick through the first two periods, forcing his early exit.
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Three nights later the Sharks and backup goalie Alex Stalock opened the Shark Tank for the first home contest of the year and defeated the Winnepeg Jets 3-0. Stalock saved all 30 shots sent his way and, like Niemi, was also a perfect 6-6 on power plays.
San Jose had 15 shots on net in the first period, 11 shots on net in the second, and zero shots on net in the third period.
Game three started out well for the Sharks as they jumped out to a 4-1 lead, only to watch their lead over the Washington Capitals dwindle as the Caps tied the game 5-5 with under four minutes remaining in the game. Overtime plus a shootout would be needed, and Joe Pavelski was the only man to score in the shootout to capture the overtime victory for San Jose.
The statistic that stands out the most about the Sharks early season success is that 16 skaters have registered at least one point.
Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau, and Tommy Wingels lead the squad with four points a piece, while Wingels also leads the team in goals with three. John Scott even scored his third career goal in his 237th career game in the game against Washington.
The two rookies, Tye McGinn and Chris Tierney, who have played each game have each posted two assists. Only Scott Hannan and Andrew Desjardins have played in all three games and not tallied a point on the stat sheet.
With the scoring coming from each line and with the defensemen chipping in from the blue line, the newfound balanced offensive attack for the Sharks should continue to prove big dividends in the long run.
San Jose will look to continue their early season success when they take on the New York Islanders Thursday night.