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‘Do you just take up space?': McLellan rips Sharks after loss to Ducks

mclellangetty

Todd McLellan wasn’t mincing words following one of San Jose’s worst losses of the season.

“You have to look at yourself individually. I challenged to do that on the plane on the way home,” he said following a 6-3 defeat to Anaheim, per CSN Bay Area. “What do you do? What do you bring to the team? Moving forward, are you an energy guy, do you hit, do you block shots, or do you just take up space?

The comments came after Anaheim scored four times in a five-minute span between the second and third periods to break open a 2-2 tie. By the time the Sharks recovered, the score was 6-2 (Bracken Kearns scored to make it 6-3) and the club was left lamenting what went wrong.

Tyler Kennedy, who has been a healthy scratch this season, finished minus-3 on the night. Logan Couture went just 47 percent in the faceoff circle and Brent Burns, often relied upon to get the forecheck going and provide physicality, finished with just one hit. (McLellan has critiqued Burns’ play recently as well.)

In blasting the team, McLellan alluded to several players not understanding their roles. But it was interesting to hear how sharp a tone he took, especially since the Sharks had won four games prior to the Anaheim loss.

“We’ve got some guys right now that’s it’s been going on for a little while,” he said. “They need to perform a little bit better.”