CSN Bay Area

SAN JOSE – The last time the Sharks had a break, things didn’t go so well coming out of it.

San Jose went into Christmas playing its best hockey of the season, posting a 9-1-1 record before the holiday. Then came a four-day breather to spend time with family and friends, open some presents and drink some egg nog.

The season resumed on Dec. 27 in Los Angeles, and the Kings claimed a fairly convincing 3-1 win. Another division loss to Vancouver followed on Dec. 30, and the Sharks ended up losing five of eight games, including a pair of 7-2 spankings at the hands of the St. Louis Blues.

Now that the All-Star break has come and gone and practice has resumed, the focus now will be on building off of an impressive 4-2 win over the sinking Kings last Wednesday.

[RELATED: Rewind: Sharks jolted back to life in 4-2 win over Kings]

It won’t be easy, as the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks will be their first two opponents on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

“Today was good for our team, tomorrow is going to be good for our team, and we’ll play a very good team on Thursday,” Logan Couture said after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s going to be fun to get back to the rink. The way we walked off that last game against L.A., it’s exciting because of the atmosphere in that rink and the way the fans were excited the way the game ended up. It’s what you want.”

The biggest difference this time as compared with the holiday is that the Sharks will enjoy some practice time before having to play again. When they faced the Kings two days after Christmas, they hadn’t been on the ice in any of the four days prior to the game day, per the rules of the CBA. They also hold their pregame skate in San Jose that morning before flying to Southern California.

It wasn’t an ideal circumstance, by any means.

“We’ll take advantage of it,” said Todd McLellan of the practice time. “It will give us a chance to get our legs going, and play.”

“We have two days to practice, and get back in shape,” Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “Guys feel refreshed after five days, and should be good to do.”

One disadvantage, though? The Ducks will have already played by the time they visit on Thursday, as they’re in Vancouver on Tuesday night. The Sharks will have gone eight days between games.

[KURZ: Trio of youngsters return to Sharks]

“What becomes a concern is Anaheim will have a game under their belt, so we’ll take the good with the bad,” McLellan said. “We’ll take the two practice days and get ready.”

And it’s not like these practices are easy, either, according to Vlasic. After the hour-plus long skate on Tuesday, he quipped: “It’s like I hadn’t skated in two months. It was a long one. … I’ll be snoring when I get home.”