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Video: Todd McLellan thinks the Sharks played ‘dumb hockey’ versus the Sabres

Todd McLellan

San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan yells to his players during the third period against Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, April 26, 2014. Los Angeles won 3-0. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

AP

“We come out in the second and third period and we play dumb hockey. Just flat-out dumb. Pinching (and) giving up 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s. We’d only given up 10 shots after two periods, and we’re down 3-0. Just dumb hockey.”

You can understand his frustration. San Jose’s record fell to 10-9-2 with last night’s 4-1 loss in Buffalo, and McLellan believes there’s room for improvement in “a lot of areas.”

While the Sharks played well at times during their just-concluded six-game road trip, which was highlight by an impressive 2-1 victory in Tampa Bay, they were flat in other outings. Even in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Carolina they were outshot by a wide margin (45-19).

“Individuals have to pick it up,” said McLellan. “We’ve had guys that have only scored on the power play in their last 15, 16 games. Key guys. That’s not good enough.”

P.S. -- Patrick Marleau has gone 16 games without an even-strength goal. And yes, he does have a power-play goal during that stretch.