At the Skate: Boosting the team

VANCOUVER — Joe Thornton did what a leader does on the morning of Game 5. The San Jose Sharks best player strapped on his gear, took the morning skate, and told the media loud and clear that he’s ready to go in Game 5 tonight.

“Any doubts of playing?” he was asked.

“None.”

Reporter: “Any limitations?”

Thornton: “No. I’m 100 per cent.”

Reporter: “What would it take to get you out?”

Thornton: “Well, I’m sure there are quite a few injuries but this isn’t one of them. Whatever it is, it is fine today.”

It was the first time Thornton, who like the Sedins doesn’t miss a day with the media at this time of year, has spoken publicly since taking the hit from Raffi Torres that forced him out of Game 4.

Experience tells us there is a needle in Thornton’s future today, to freeze the right shoulder that appears injured. He’ll try to avoid contact, obviously, but we’ll get a good read on the severity of the injury by the amount and importance of the faceoffs he takes.

Normally, Thornton is San Jose’s go-to faceoff man, with a 59.4 percentage in the post-season. He may not be that tonight, with a bum shoulder.

“When it comes to him I’m not surprised at all,” said big defenceman Doug Murray. “No one has ever talked about him playing through different things because people don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors. I can’t ever remember him missing a game because of injury — and he’s had his fair share.

“He’ll be fine and it’s a huge boost for the team. We have to feed off that.”

And, of course, he’ll be a target for the Canucks. Even if they weren’t admitting that on Tuesday morning.

“I don’t think we’ll really focus on his shoulder too much. He’s a pretty hard guy to hit as it is. He’s pretty slippery,” said Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa. “For me, if I get a chance to put him through the boards I do that, regardless of if he’s got a sore shoulder or not. If don’t (get that chance), I don’t chase it.”

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On This Day…

It was 17 years ago to the day Tuesday, that the Canucks Greg Adams beat the Toronto Maple Leafs Felix Potvin 14 seconds into the second overtime of Game 5 to advance to the 1994 Stanley Cup final. Kind of cool, when you think about it — if only the Canucks would allow themselves to.

“I don’t even think we’re thinking about 17 years, or the day, or anything like that,” that kill-joy Ryan Kesler said. “We’re just trying to win a game. We know the fourth one is the hardest one to win, and we’re treating this like a Game 7. We have to play our best game of the playoffs tonight. We know they’re going to be ready for us and we have to make the push here.

“You’ve got to be mentally tough, you have to stay in the moment. This is why we play the game.”

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Show Up, or Go Home

It’s no secret to anyone around this San Jose Sharks team, they’ve got a few key components that simply aren’t delivering in Round 3.

“We have some players that are under-performing, some players that have to perform better,” admitted head coach Todd McLellan. “All teams at this point do — all four teams that are left have them. It’s just, who has the fewest?”

McLellan has Devin Setoguchi on his first line, with one assist and a minus-5 in this series. Dany Heatley on his second line, one assist. Third-line centre Joe Pavelski, one assist. Even second-line centre Logan Couture only has 1-1-2 in four games.

If these guys don’t up their game in short order, the Sharks will be swinging a golf club by the weekend.

Because the teams that win, McLellan said, have the players “that under-achieve the shortest amount of time. You can’t be perfect, no such thing as a perfect player or perfect game, you’re going to make mistakes. It’s just we’ve got to minimize it, shrink it up a little bit.”

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Mark Spector is the lead columnist for Sportsnet.ca

Follow me on Twitter.com @SportsnetSpec