Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
The San Jose Sharks‘ 2014-15 season can be summed up in one word thus far: Inconsistent. The Sharks just can’t seem to string together a stretch of positive play and that has their consecutive playoff streak in jeopardy as San Jose enters the All-Star break.
San Jose was able to face the one team that usually brings out the best in them in the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks defeated the Kings 4-2 on Wednesday night to head into the break with some positive momentum and take over second place in the Pacific Division.
Unfortunately, whenever San Jose has appeared to figure things out this season, they’ve fallen back down to earth. The Sharks opened the season winning four of their first five games, but dropped four straight games after that. Then, after another four-game losing streak put the Sharks at .500 with a 10-10-4 record, San Jose responded by winning nine of their next 10 games to vault themselves into playoff position.
The Sharks have continued their inconsistent ways in 2015, having won two games and then lost two games since a Jan. 5 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
If San Jose wants to turn things around for the rest of this season, they will need to follow the lead of forward Joe Pavelski who has been dominant all season long. Pavelski leads the Sharks with 24 goals and 42 points, and he scored for the second consecutive game with a third period power play goal that proved to be the game-winner against the Kings. The power play goal tied him for the lead league in man-advantage tallies with Alexander Ovechkin with 12 goals apiece.
One player who San Jose needs to kick-start his game into high gear is Patrick Marleau. Marleau was hot out of the gates with four goals and three assists in the Sharks’ first five games. Since that point Marleau has cooled off drastically with only five goals, but he did get one against Los Angeles. The Sharks are hoping the goal can help jump-start Marleau in the second half of the season, because they will need his offense to make some noise in the postseason.
The All-Star break will serve as a chance for Marleau and the rest of the Sharks to gear up for another Stanley Cup playoff run. In order to do so, San Jose needs to find a consistent effort on a nightly basis and string some wins together to vault up the standings in the Pacific Division.
It won’t be easy for the Sharks to make their 11th consecutive playoff appearance, but they are more than capable of making it happen. It’s just a matter of how badly they want it.
Patrick Leiva is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleiva4 and add him to your network on Google.
