CALGARY — Two games in and the whispering has begun. What's the matter with Joe Thornton? One assist in two playoff games? Is he hamstrung, feeling frustrated? Are the Calgary Flames doing that good a job on him?
Coaches and athletes like to say statistics never tell the whole story, and in the case of Joe Thornton, that's especially so. That the San Jose Sharks' leading scorer hasn't singed the Flames in a playoff series knotted 1-1 is true. That he's been something of a dud is not.
Thornton has been averaging just more than 22 minutes of ice time a game and has been the centre of Calgary's attention every moment. He has moved the puck and protected it, but the glaring shortcoming, the one thing that has prompted those early Where's Joe? whispers has been the San Jose power play. It had produced just one goal in 10 tries before last night's third game in the series, the first at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
Normally, the NHL's top assist man (67 in the regular season) thrives on the power play and uses his bulk and savvy to draw defenders in before dishing off a sneaky pass to one of his linemates, Jonathan Cheechoo or Milan Michalek.
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That hasn't happened through the opening two games, and at times it did look as if Thornton was getting irritated by the lack of production. Even Thornton acknowledged yesterday his game had plenty of room for improvement.
“Obviously, I'd like to get better,” he said. “I will get better. It's been a tight series. I assume it'll be a low-scoring game [at the 'Dome].”
Rather than critique his team's top scorer, and perhaps drop a bucket of pressure on Thornton's head, Sharks coach Ron Wilson chose a different approach. Instead of blaming Thornton or anyone else, Wilson praised Calgary's most outstanding performer in the first two games, goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.
“Joe can make as many plays as he wants,” Wilson said. “If Kipper makes all the saves, [Thornton] won't get any assists. It's like baseball: great pitching will neutralize great hitting every time. If the goalie's on, our job is to screen as many shots as we can and make Kipper's life miserable.”
The Flames did stellar work against Thornton in their four regular-season encounters, holding him to just one assist and winning three of those games. In the postseason, Calgary's approach hasn't changed: control Thornton and you control the Sharks No.1 line. Do that, and you increase your chances of winning the game.
“It's that old motto,” Flames defenceman Cory Sarich said, referring to that timeless nugget: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. “If you shut him down, you can shut down the other guys. The risk is if you're too aggressive, he can go around you. Five on five, we've done a really good job playing him. On the power play, we can't keep giving a guy like that opportunities.”
Calgary forward Wayne Primeau has played against Thornton many times over the years and was included in the 2005 trade that brought Thornton to San Jose from the Boston Bruins. According to Primeau, Thornton has another attribute that makes him so difficult to stop. He's not one to lose his game by losing his cool.
“He's not a guy you can rattle,” Primeau said. “He seems to be a pretty relaxed guy and he can shrug off a lot. The best way to make him frustrated is to keep him off the scoresheet and by making his team lose the game.”
The Sharks lost the opening game when Calgary jumped quickly to 2-0 lead in San Jose. In the second game, the Sharks took a 2-0 advantage and held it to the end. Wilson made a point of noting that scoring first had been a pivotal matter in every series heading into last night's games. That being the case, the Sharks need Thornton scoring goals or setting them up. They need his offence, and the Flames know it.
“He's a big, strong player with a lot of skill,” Sarich said. “Certain players you can't take a run at, like Joe, although you might be able to surprise him.”
So far, the Sharks are not the least bit worried about their ace forward since, as teammate Jeremy Roenick noted, “He's been our go-to guy all year. Joe's controlling the play and he's been involved.”
As for the Flames, they won't stop worrying about Thornton until this series is over, and that says a lot about how critical he is to whatever will happen next.
