With only three games remaining in their regular season, the San Jose Sharks are only three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Pacific Division crown. Their success in the second half grabbed some by surprise, as the Sharks appeared to be past their prime. However, if the Sharks do a few things right, they have the potential to make a deep playoff run.
The first thing that must be worrying Sharks fans is how will their inexperienced goaltender fare in the playoffs? Martin Jones was a part of the Stanley Cup winning Los Angeles Kings, but he was very much overshadowed by the superstar goaltender Jonathan Quick. Jones only has seven saves in his post-season career, and is just about a rookie when it comes to playoff hockey. The team brought back up in case Jones gets overwhelmed in the form of James Reimer, who has seven starts in the post season.
One way that the team can overcome this potential weakness is by puck possession. The San Jose Sharks are tied for the least amount of shots given up per game in the NHL. That lack of pressure allowed Jones to ease his way into the starting goaltender role. The problem now though is that every team the Sharks face is going to have fantastic forwards that are going to try to test Jones. Brent Burns has been having a Norris Award winning caliber of a season, averaging 25:58 minutes per game. They will need a super human effort out of their superstar defender to keep the shot totals low.
The team also needs to play to its strength, which is its offense. The team is third in the NHL in offense, which is a testament to the depth of scoring the team has. Joe Thornton has been one of the best scoring forwards over the past decade. Thornton has 60 assists in this season alone, and has been putting up points at an elite level for a long time now.
Getting Logan Couture back healthy will be a big boost for the Sharks this post season. He has only been available for 49 games this season, but has managed to put up 14 goals and 33 points. Imagine how good the already third best offense in the NHL could have been with one of its best players not gone for half the season.
Finally, if the Sharks want to compete with the best in the playoffs, they need Joe Pavelski to compete with the elite centers of the NHL such as Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf. Pavelski has emerged as one of the best snipers in the league over the past three years, scoring 30 or more goals over those three years. Pavelski, though has a -3 +/- in the post season over the last three seasons, and needs to prove that he is just as good a two way forward as Getzlaf and Toews or else the Sharks will have a disadvantage when it comes to their top line forwards.