The San Jose Sharks entered this season with high expectations. As they prepare to host the Calgary Flames on Monday, coach Ryan Warsofsky makes no bones about his belief that his team is falling short.
The Sharks, coming off a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, have just one win in their past four games and a middling 7-7-1 record.
Sure, that leaves San Jose just outside a playoff position and firmly in the mix, but Warsofsky’s disappointment is about more than simple wins and losses.
“We’re 15 games into it, and we probably still haven’t played really a complete game,” Warsofsky said. “Maybe Florida (a season-opening 4-3 overtime win), but that was so long (ago). We’re still off in our game and have to find it quickly.
“It’s not good enough. We’ve got to go back and look at everything, look at it all and get to work.”
San Jose tied the score at 1-1 late in the first period against Ottawa on a goal by Michael Misa but surrendered four unanswered goals. It was the seventh consecutive game in which the young, talented Sharks were outshot.
The expectation heading into the final game of a four-game homestand is much better.
“I think we have a lot more, a lot more to give,” Barclay Goodrow said. “We’ve shown in spurts the kind of team we can be when we’re firing on all cylinders and the way we’re capable and supposed to be playing. It comes down to consistency. We look forward to finding a way.”
The Flames arrive in San Jose following a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche that kicked off a three-game road trip that will end in Seattle on Wednesday.
Calgary trailed 4-0 before the midway point of the game and cut the deficit to 4-2 on Martin Pospisil’s early third-period goal, but Colorado pulled away while playing the second half of a back-to-back.
“We had some stretches where we had some pretty good zone time, but not able to generate,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said, alluding to a couple of golden opportunities when it was a 1-0 game. “So there are certain hard parts of the game that I felt like we needed more.”
Calgary has lost two of its past three games after a four-game winning streak, which should come as no big surprise for the rebuilding club.
That said, there are some positive signs. Among them is the play of Joel Farabee, who put the Flames on the board in Denver. Farabee has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.
“We actually did a lot of good things, and they’re a really good team and they score if you give them the chance,” Farabee said of the Colorado game. “They just got a couple quick, and it’s tough to get back. But I don’t think the score really told the story of that game. I thought it was a lot closer, and we had a lot of chances early in the third, too.”