The San Jose Sharks, for the most part, played the way that head coach Ryan Warsofsky wanted them to play. They still lost 2-1 to the Calgary Flames.
The Sharks have lost four of their last five.
"You can feel it on the bench and in the dressing room, I think our game's coming," Warsofsky said.
Believe that or not, the wins must start coming soon for San Jose.
So how did the San Jose Sharks adhere to their coaching staff's direction on Monday night?
In morning skate, the Sharks emphasized strong-side breakouts, basically coming up the ice together where the puck is.
This type of breakout, in theory, simplifies zone exits, shortens passes, is a faster way out, and reduces defensive risk. It's a safer way to play.
Here are a few examples of it, successful and failed, from last night.
Per Stathletes, the San Jose Sharks tried 25 5-on-5 Stretch Passes against the Flames — a number of them when they opened up the game after falling behind 2-0 — their second-lowest total of the season, just ahead of 24 on Oct. 13 versus the Boston Bruins.
That's atypical: Through Nov. 1, the Sharks averaged 40.93 5-on-5 Stretch Passes a Game, the most in the NHL. For context, the Florida Panthers averaged a league-least 29.08, which might suggest where Warsofsky wants to take San Jose.
"We were supporting each other better on our breakouts, playing a little bit more connected, and we were able to get the puck out of the zone a bit easier," Nolan Allan said.
This support also led to 37 5-on-5 Successful Controlled Entries, which was a team-high this season. San Jose was about average in this category, going into this game.
But the fact of the matter is, the Sharks still couldn't score, until they opened the game up.
Down 2-0, Michael Misa (77) stretches the zone, Jacob Trouba (65) finds him, and a beautiful Misa pass to Mason Marchment (27) kicks off the chaos that leads to a Sam Dickinson (6) goal.
There's obvious defensive risk in a stretch-heavy game, as we've seen by the Sharks' reliance on it this season, and the results that it's brought.
The San Jose Sharks simply haven't found that balance of good defense leading to good offense yet.
Dickinson spoke to these two faces of the Sharks.
Defensively?
"We were playing pretty well into our structure. I don't think there was too much chasing around or anything like that," he said. "Things go wrong in the D-zone when you start just scrambling and trying to do too much or whatever."
Offensively?
"There's obviously some frustration and some tension in the room. I think, at times, you just got to relax and go out there and play hockey," Dickinson said. "You see that when we started to play our best, especially in the third period today when we needed that offense, you saw a lot of our skill come out. When we have the puck, we're a pretty dangerous team."
Dickinson isn't contradicting his coach. There's just an offense-defense balance that hasn't been struck for San Jose yet.
Dickinson added that the Sharks also have to be "smart with the puck. Not trying to do too much and just trust our instincts."
San Jose did do well in two of my KPI's for them: They outchanced the Flames 16-8 at 5-on-5. They also outchanced Calgary 6-3 off the rush.
They defended better and following their structure, were still able to lean into their strength, which I believe is off the rush.
Warsofsky, I think, believes in creating more offense from good defense, first and foremost: "There are opportunities for us to get our D up the ice a little bit more. Get some more support off the rush. And opportunities to get to the net a little bit more in the offensive zone."
They also limited the Flames to a season-best 2:51 5-on-5 Possession Time OZ and also enjoyed 4:31 in the OZ themselves.
Was last night a step in the right direction, as Warsofsky believes, or just a mirage for a team hasn't been able to score and defend at the same time on a regular basis, one month into the season?
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