Honestly, I don’t want to pile on to the misery of San Jose Sharks fans. Really, I don’t, but when a team starts 0-10-1, you have to mention it. It’s not just the losing streak, it’s how anemic their offense has been during the stretch. Over the 11 games they played they’ve posted a Goals For Percentage of just 14.29% at 5v5. And it’s not getting better considering they were outscored 14-0 at 5v5 in their last two games. That’s not great. They are likely to end up with the worst season in their history.
That got me to wondering about some of the slow starts in Tampa Bay Lightning history. Specifically, the 1997-98 season. For those who weren’t around, or who have blacked it out of their memory, the 1997-98 Lightning picked up just 26.8% of the points this year, finishing with a record of 17-55-10. While it wasn’t historically bad, it comes in at 19th in most losses by a team in one season, it still bad, really bad as a fan. It did end on a positive note as they secured the number one pick which they used on franchise icon Vincent Lecavalier.
The season didn’t start out that bad honestly. After a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth game of the season they had a 2-1-1 record. After that game, things went off the rails. By the time they won again, they would be on their third coach and getting ready for Thanksgiving. We’ll get to that losing streak in a minute, let’s look at the first 11 games.
The Lightning went 2-7-2 over that time posting a 5v5 GF% of 38.2%, scoring 13 goals while giving up 21 at even strength. Their leading scorer was Dino Ciccarelli with 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists). That’s the same amount of points that Tomas Hertl has posted for this year’s Sharks (1 goal, 6 assists). The big difference between the two teams right now is that Sharks’ head coach David Quinn still has a job while the Lightning fired the only head coach they had ever known in Terry Crisp.
It would get worse before it got better as they went 0-6 under interim coach Rick Paterson and then lost three more before Jacques Demers finally celebrated his first victory on November 19th (their actual winless streak was 16 games counting ties). By that time the Lightning’s record was 3-16-2. So, while their start was better than the Sharks, San Jose still has time to outpoint the Bolts over the first 21 games of the season.
How do Tampa Bay’s stats over that 10-game losing streak compare to what San Jose is going through now? Still better than the Sharks. The Bolts posted a 28.6 GF%, scoring 10 while conceding 25 at 5v5. Alex Selivanov had 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) overall while posting 2 goals and an assist at 5v5. Selivanov, Mikael Renberg, and Paul Ysebaert accounted for 6 of the 10 goals, so things weren’t exactly spread out.
Their power play was barely functioning at an anemic 11.1% over that stretch, but their penalty kill was a respectable 84.4%. They also outshot their opponents 294 to 260, garnering 53% of the shot share (that’s in all situations since the data from back then isn’t broken down). The Sharks are at 40% of the shot share in all situations with an 18.2% power play and 67.4% penalty kill.
I’m not sure what all of these numbers mean, other than both of our fan bases have experienced a lot of misery in a short amount of time, but it’s always fun to reminisce about the bad old days. Years from now, a San Jose fan will do a similar look back at this season. Hopefully, they’ll have a few Stanley Cups to under their belt to distance themselves from the pain they’re feeling right now.
Lightning / NHL News
Lightning assign Merela to Syracuse [Raw Charge]
The rookie will see a little more playing time in Syracuse and a roster spot opens up for Tyler Motte.
Bally Sports offers seven-day credit for glitches [Sports Business Journal]
It wasn’t just Lightning fans that were annoyed at the bankrupt regional sports network and their technical issues last week. In response, they’re offering their users a seven-day credit. It’s better than a kick in the shins I guess.
Should the Senators consider a coaching change? [Daily Faceoff]
Why do it now? Might as well wait until the new GM is hired since they will likely want their own guy running the bench.
The Carberry Capitals [For Hockey Fans]
The Caps are sitting at 5-4-1, how have they gotten there under their new coach, Spencer Carberry? Honestly, it’s a better record than you would think considering Alex Ovechkin has a whopping 2 goals on the season and Nik Backstrom isn’t playing.
Another lawsuit against Chicago [The Chicago Tribune]
A teammate of Kyle Beach and former “Black Aces” squad member of the Chicago Blackhawks has come forward in a lawsuit to allege that he was “groomed, harassed, threatened and assaulted” by then video coach Brad Aldrich.
Andrew Mangiapane suspended for one game [Department of Player Safety]
Don’t crosscheck your opponent’s head into the ice, folks. It’ll cost you $30,208.33 and a day in a suit instead of a sweater.
Mathew Barzal fined $5,000 for high-sticking [Sportsnet]
Barzal avoided the wrath of the DoPS, probably because he didn’t try to scramble someone’s brains with a hit, but did get hit with a fine. His high-sticking of Tony DeAngelo in Saturday’s game cost him $5,000.
Carl Banks hockey roots [NHL.com]
The former New York Giant grew up in Michigan watching the Red Wings and skating on local ice ponds. Imagine a 6’4″, 235 lbs. forward absolutely wrecking people in the 1980s and 90s when head shots were considered highlights? Luckily for Gretzky, Forsberg, and the rest of the stars from that time frame, Banks gravitated to football as he grew older.
Sunday, Grump Sunday [Pension Plan Puppets]
Let us check in on how the Leafs fans are doing at the moment. Oh, that’s not great.
Each team’s biggest concern a month into the season [The Athletic]
A lack of 5v5 offense for the Bolts was their answer. They have turned things up in that department of the last few games, but it’s still something to keep an eye on.
