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Greg Wyshynski
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Chris Peters
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ESPN staff writer
- Chris Peters is ESPN’s NHL draft and prospects analyst. The Chicago native previously covered the NHL for CBSSports.com and founded the popular independent blog UnitedStatesofHockey.com where he covered the game at all levels since 2010.
As each NHL team is eliminated from playoff contention, we’ll take a look at why its quest for the Stanley Cup fell short in 2018-19, along with three keys to its offseason, impact prospects for 2019-20 and a way-too-early prediction for what next season will hold.
What went wrong
Their luck ran out.
Oh, the San Jose Sharks had a good amount of it throughout this playoff run. Witness that infamous Game 7 comeback against the Vegas Golden Knights after Joe Pavelski‘s horrific injury, scoring four times on a botched five-minute major penalty for which the NHL would apologize. Witness the successful coach’s challenge on a rarely called offside in Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, as a goal came off the board due to Gabriel Landeskog standing near the bench on a change. Witness Game 3 against the St. Louis Blues, when Erik Karlsson scored in overtime after a hand pass went undetected by the on-ice officials — who, like the officials from the Vegas debacle, would not appear again in the postseason.
But the karma turned after that. The Blues outscored the Sharks 12-2 in winning three straight games to eliminate them. Injuries became the story: The ongoing groin issues for Karlsson took him out of most of the third period of Game 4; most of the second and all of the third period in Game 5, where he factored into two Blues’ goals before departing; and all of Game 6. Also absent from Game 6 were Tomas Hertl and Pavelski, both injured in Game 5.
The Sharks are a deep team. But not that deep.
Saying that San Jose had a run of good fortune in the postseason isn’t meant to diminish their accomplishments. They rallied from a 3-1 series deficit against Vegas, winning a Game 6 in double-overtime on the road, and won Game 7 in overtime. Their series win over Colorado came with Pavelski out of the lineup for six games. The battled the Blues until their tank hit “empty.”
GM Doug Wilson meticulously constructed a roster of franchise stalwarts (Joe Thornton, Pavelski, Logan Couture, Hertl, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic), imported stars (Evander Kane, Karlsson and Gustav Nyquist) and a solid young supporting cast. It was a team that amassed 101 points in the regular season and scored the second most goals (289) in the NHL. It was a team that saw goalie Martin Jones have a mediocre regular season, start the playoffs losing three of four games, and then rebound with a series of solid efforts.
They were a team built to win the Stanley Cup this season. They won’t. And now they’re looking at an uncertain tomorrow.