A week ago yesterday, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan showed his displeasure with his club by canceling a previously scheduled day off after San Jose dropped a turnover-filled 5-3 decision to Florida. A hard-skating 50-minute practice, featuring several battle drills along the boards, was a sure sign of his irritation.
The Colorado Avalanche, whom the Sharks visit on Tuesday, got to experience the same thing on Sunday from their coach, Joe Sacco.
Colorado has lost three straight games by a combined score of 13-3, including a 4-1 loss to Edmonton on Friday night. All of the losses came on the road.
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According to the Denver Posts Adrian Dater:
The Avs were put through a grueling, end-line-to-end-line "bag skate" by coach Joe Sacco. It was the second such punishing skate in the past month, but this one was much longer and much tougher than the blue-line-to-blue-line one before."It's nothing unusual," Avalanche captain Milan Hejduk said. "Sometimes it brings a team together. We won three in a row, now we've lost three in a row. There are ups and downs in a season, and now we have to bounce back."Most every player finished the nearly half-hour "bag skate" hunched over their sticks, gasping for air.
Conversely, San Jose, which already won at Colorados Pepsi Center, 4-1 on Nov. 20, did not skate on Monday save for the injured players and scratches from Sunday against Chicago. The Sharks are in the midst of a four-games-in-six days stretch, and lacked energy at the end of the 3-2 overtime loss to the Blackhawks.