On the second half of a back-to-back, the Sharks went into Chicago. This was a special game as the Blackhawks honored Jeremy Roenick prior to the start of the game. The showed a nice little video segment, covering Roenick's various achievements as a player, both for the Blackhawks and later on, introduced him and his family. He then performed the ceremonial first face-off. Joe Thornton came over and said something to him before the festivities started. For some reason, rather than anyone who had been with the team last year, or one of the alternate captains, Manny Malhotra took the face off for the Sharks. When Roenick was asked who he would like it to be against, he picked the Sharks.
On to the game itself. Just over 4 minutes in, Brent Sopel opened the scoring with a slap shot through a screen. Evgeni Nabokov was handling the puck behind the net, but was rushed into a play. This ended up being collected by the Hawks Jordan Hendry, who fed Sopel at the right point. The Sharks answered before the period was up as Jason Demers pinched to keep the puck in, and fed Thornton. Thornton corralled the puck of his skate and passed to Dany Heatley at the top of the right face-off circle. Heatley wasted no time getting his shot away, past Christobal Huet. The first period would end with the score knotted at 1.
Chicago's Ben Eager took a costly extra penalty in his fight with Douglas Murray. Just over a minute into the second period, Thornton tried to put the puck in deep from the high slot. I'm not sure if he was trying to find the player in front or the left wing corner, but it was deflected by a Hawk right to Demers. Demers was able to convert for his first career NHL goal after putting up 11 assists. This gave San Jose a 2-1 lead. Just 45 seconds later, Patrick Marleau was able to come straight down the middle untouched and score. He either bobbled the puck as he came down low, or was able to get one shot away, then picked up his rebound. Either way, it's a Sharks goal, 2 in the first 2 minutes of the second. Just shy of the 8 minute mark, Patrick Kane beat his check coming down the slot and converted the backhand feed from Jonathon Toews. This was the start of the Hawks comeback with the score now 3-2 Sharks.
Next came a strange play. There was a shot at the net with Huet going down, his glove going into the net. Thornton behind the net started celebrating as did several other Sharks. The referee didn't signal goal, nor did the goal judge. No whistle, so play continued, then there was a whistle for no apparent reason. The call on the ice was no goal. It seemed like the referee behind the net wanted to kill the play to do the video review. However, that is supposed to happen at the next normal stoppage. The puck was in the Sharks' zone, with a man on it, but no reason to stop play. They do the video review. Watching the Sharks broadcast, they thought the puck was in, but the replays weren't that conclusive. Final call - no goal. The referee announces that the puck didn't cross the line, but I really think the video was inconclusive. Yes, I think it was a goal, but the overhead shot did not show the puck across the line. The only time I have ever seen that was one where they saw the puck go into the glove, then the glove go entirely behind the line. Otherwise, you have to see the puck over the line. Was it in Huet's glove behind the line? Or was it under the glove? The video didn't show, so they can't make the call. Instead of it going to 4-2 Sharks, it stayed 3-2. The faceoff was placed just outside the Hawks zone, as if the call had been for a disallowed goal (like a batted or kicked goal). This didn't agree with where the play seemed to be when it was stopped. Shortly afterward, the Sharks had another close chance as Patrick Marleau rang one off the post.
With just over a minute left in the middle stanza, the Sharks were guilty of puck watching and the Blackhawks capitalized, tying the contest at 3. Andrew Ladd carried the puck in on left wing, shot, bulled in further to follow up his own rebound with another shot. Ryane Clowe probably should have been covering John Madden, but was looking at the puck instead. Madden jumped in and popped in the second rebound.
The third period was scoreless, so into overtime we went. The Sharks got the puck into the Chicago zone early, but got caught with Thornton and Marleau on the same side of the ice. This left the left defenseman uncovered as Chicago rushed up ice. As they scrambled to get back, they never really sorted out their coverage. After everybody got back, there were three Sharks down low against two Hawks. As the Sharks started to contest for the puck, and looked like they might have it, Thornton spun off into the right wing corner all alone. Even as Boyle was being pressured hard by Toews, Thornton continued his slow circle. When Toews worked the puck loose, Brent Seabrook came in from his point, took the pass from Toews, and converted the OT winner. Sorry Joe, but on this play, you were guarding air.
The Hawks did pick up and carry the play in the second half of the game, so they did deserve the win more than the Sharks did. Maybe the Sharks were out of gas that late in the second game in two nights, this one an hour earlier than the previous one.
I am wondering if head coach Todd McLellan will look back and again wonder about his usage of the fourth line. Brad Staubitz didn't take a shift in the third period, Logan Couture took two shifts, and Jamie McGinn took four. Had they had more ice time, that could have kept the other three lines fresh. If he's not playing Staubitz because he doesn't trust him, it's time to give Staubitz a ticket to Worchester.
Here's the highlights:
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sharks open road trip with win over Blues
The San Jose Sharks opened their three game road trip with a 3-1 win over the Blues. The Sharks had one lineup change as Ryan Vesce was returned to Worchester and Logan Couture was called up. Vesce needs more playing time than centering the 4th line in the NHL is going to give him to get his game back. Jody Shelley missed his third game in a row with general body soreness. (Welcome to the new NHL where they don't have to tell you about the injuries.) Also significant before this game was that the Blues owner had publicly challenged the team to play better.
The first penalty call of the game went against the Sharks as Ryane Clowe was whistled for boarding. Sharks color commentator Drew Remenda doesn't like that style of a call for boarding. His contention is that the player is committed to the hit, and then the opposing player turns to expose his back. While he has a point, I think also that the hitting style has changed over the years. It used to be the hit would be lower, driving more of the middle of the player into the boards. It would almost hold the guy up. Now, they are making contact higher, and knocking the opponent over. So, when he's 3-5 feet from the boards, he almost goes in face and/or head first.
A little later in the game, we see Devin Setoguchi hit one the Blues very hard that the Blues took exception to. In my view, the guy got caught in no man's land. He was about 4 feet or so out from the boards, and Seto hit him with a shoulder, knocking him down. If he's farther out, it's not into the boards. If he's closer or against the boards, he doesn't go down, and it's not as dramatic. I think he just got caught a little unawares, and that's on him for not paying enough attention. (At least, in my opinion.)
The first goal came from the Blues. Derek Joslin had the puck in the right corner and tried clearing it up the middle. What's the old saying? Never, ever pass the puck up the middle. It gets cut off, and goes to Jay McClement charging the net. He puts the puck in, and runs over Evgeni Nabokov. The Sharks take a little umbrage to this and a scrum develops. BJ Crombeen gets called for a roughing penalty. For the Blues, it was good news/bad news. Good news is that they're up 1-0, bad news is that they go straight to the penalty kill.
St. Louis was able to consistently put pressure on the Sharks, outshooting them each period.
St. Louis was dealt a blow early in the second period when David Backes went off injured. On the play, it looked like Dan Boyle knocked Backes down, then a fellow Blue accidentally kneed Backes while skating by. Backes looked a little off while trying to get off the ice. It wasn't like he couldn't move something, more like he was stunned.
With Keith Tkachuk off for hooking, the Sharks were able to get on the board. Dany Heatley carried the puck in on the left side, and sent one around the boards. Boyle picked it up at the right point and found Heatley with a cross ice pass down in front. Heatley was able to take the pass near his back foot, bring it out into a shooting position and put the puck in the top corner. It was Heatley's 7th power play goal on the year, good enough to lead the league. I'm sure Heatley's just keeping that chair warm for Ovechkin, but I'd love to be wrong on that.
The Sharks then put out their third line of Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer and Manny Malhotra. The Blues decide to return the favor by attempting a pass up the middle. Malhotra intercepts and launches one of his heavy shots. Blues netminder Chris Mason stopped it, but a rebound popped up in front. Jed Ortmeyer was Johnny on the Spot and batted it before it came down into the net just 16 second after Heatley had scored. Sharks now lead 2-1 and the Blues are wondering what happened.
Down the stretch in the third period, the Sharks seemed to go into a shell, trying to hang on. They would play for extended periods in their own zone, but had pretty good coverage in front of the net, The earlier in the year problems boxing players out weren't there. The Blues may have hung themselves this game with a really bad change after the Sharks cleared the puck into the neutral zone. They were called for too many men with under two minutes remaining. This left them with an even number of skaters once they pulled Mason. Boyle was able to find Joe Thornton just outside the zone. Thornton was able to skate up to the red line and then shoot it into the empty net (with authority!) to pick up the clinching goal.
Third star of the game was given to Dan Boyle. He had a great game, directing the play, picking up two assists (hurting me in my fantasy hockey pool!), and could easily have been second star. Second star went to Andy McDonald. He didn't have much in the way of stats to back this up (no points, even, 29 shifts, led forwards in ice time, 6 shots to lead all players, 4 and 7 on faceoffs). I don't really remember much from him during the game. I think there were probably better choices here, like David Perron, or Dany Heatley. First star had to be pretty obvious for Evgeni Nabokov. He made 38 saves on 39 shots, had to deal with a lot of traffic in front of him, was great on the penalty kill as the Sharks held the Blues to 0 for 6 on the power play.
The Sharks next game on the road trip is in Chicago, Sunday night.
The first penalty call of the game went against the Sharks as Ryane Clowe was whistled for boarding. Sharks color commentator Drew Remenda doesn't like that style of a call for boarding. His contention is that the player is committed to the hit, and then the opposing player turns to expose his back. While he has a point, I think also that the hitting style has changed over the years. It used to be the hit would be lower, driving more of the middle of the player into the boards. It would almost hold the guy up. Now, they are making contact higher, and knocking the opponent over. So, when he's 3-5 feet from the boards, he almost goes in face and/or head first.
A little later in the game, we see Devin Setoguchi hit one the Blues very hard that the Blues took exception to. In my view, the guy got caught in no man's land. He was about 4 feet or so out from the boards, and Seto hit him with a shoulder, knocking him down. If he's farther out, it's not into the boards. If he's closer or against the boards, he doesn't go down, and it's not as dramatic. I think he just got caught a little unawares, and that's on him for not paying enough attention. (At least, in my opinion.)
The first goal came from the Blues. Derek Joslin had the puck in the right corner and tried clearing it up the middle. What's the old saying? Never, ever pass the puck up the middle. It gets cut off, and goes to Jay McClement charging the net. He puts the puck in, and runs over Evgeni Nabokov. The Sharks take a little umbrage to this and a scrum develops. BJ Crombeen gets called for a roughing penalty. For the Blues, it was good news/bad news. Good news is that they're up 1-0, bad news is that they go straight to the penalty kill.
St. Louis was able to consistently put pressure on the Sharks, outshooting them each period.
St. Louis was dealt a blow early in the second period when David Backes went off injured. On the play, it looked like Dan Boyle knocked Backes down, then a fellow Blue accidentally kneed Backes while skating by. Backes looked a little off while trying to get off the ice. It wasn't like he couldn't move something, more like he was stunned.
With Keith Tkachuk off for hooking, the Sharks were able to get on the board. Dany Heatley carried the puck in on the left side, and sent one around the boards. Boyle picked it up at the right point and found Heatley with a cross ice pass down in front. Heatley was able to take the pass near his back foot, bring it out into a shooting position and put the puck in the top corner. It was Heatley's 7th power play goal on the year, good enough to lead the league. I'm sure Heatley's just keeping that chair warm for Ovechkin, but I'd love to be wrong on that.
The Sharks then put out their third line of Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer and Manny Malhotra. The Blues decide to return the favor by attempting a pass up the middle. Malhotra intercepts and launches one of his heavy shots. Blues netminder Chris Mason stopped it, but a rebound popped up in front. Jed Ortmeyer was Johnny on the Spot and batted it before it came down into the net just 16 second after Heatley had scored. Sharks now lead 2-1 and the Blues are wondering what happened.
Down the stretch in the third period, the Sharks seemed to go into a shell, trying to hang on. They would play for extended periods in their own zone, but had pretty good coverage in front of the net, The earlier in the year problems boxing players out weren't there. The Blues may have hung themselves this game with a really bad change after the Sharks cleared the puck into the neutral zone. They were called for too many men with under two minutes remaining. This left them with an even number of skaters once they pulled Mason. Boyle was able to find Joe Thornton just outside the zone. Thornton was able to skate up to the red line and then shoot it into the empty net (with authority!) to pick up the clinching goal.
Third star of the game was given to Dan Boyle. He had a great game, directing the play, picking up two assists (hurting me in my fantasy hockey pool!), and could easily have been second star. Second star went to Andy McDonald. He didn't have much in the way of stats to back this up (no points, even, 29 shifts, led forwards in ice time, 6 shots to lead all players, 4 and 7 on faceoffs). I don't really remember much from him during the game. I think there were probably better choices here, like David Perron, or Dany Heatley. First star had to be pretty obvious for Evgeni Nabokov. He made 38 saves on 39 shots, had to deal with a lot of traffic in front of him, was great on the penalty kill as the Sharks held the Blues to 0 for 6 on the power play.
The Sharks next game on the road trip is in Chicago, Sunday night.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sharks squeak past Nashville with last minute goal
The San Jose Sharks squeaked out a win over the Nashville Predators, 4-3, on a last minute goal from Dan Boyle. The game started with a new lineup in place for San Jose with Benn Ferriero and Logan Couture being returned to Worchester. Coming of the injured list and back into the lineup were Devin Setoguchi and Ryan Vesce. Torrey Mitchell's recovery also took the next step with him assigned to Worchester for a conditioning assignment. Jody Shelley was given the game off due to general body soreness. Thomas Greiss made his second start of the year.
The Sharks opened the scoring with a goal from Joe Pavelski. The play was set up by Patrick Marleau driving around the net and finding Pavelski in front. Pavelski had a little time and space to take the pass, then pick the top corner over Nashville netminder Dan Ellis's glove. Looks like a Nashville player decided to cover Marleau instead of Pavelski, leaving Pavelski all alone for his shot.
Late in the first period, Nashville was able to tie the game. Michael Santorelli beat Manny Malhotra to the front of the next, getting behind Greiss to put in the puck that bounced up and over. At first, it had looked like he might have played it with a high stick, but after looking at various replay angles, it looks like he didn't touch it up high, only down off the ice.
The teams entered the second period tied at 1. Again, San Jose struck first, this time from Jamie McGinn. McGinn came off the bench, replacing Manny Malhotra, while the puck was kept in the Nashville zone. Marc-Edouard Vlasic took a shot from the left point. The rebound went to the right wing side, where McGinn was just coming into the play from the bench. As no one from Nashville had picked him up, he had a clean chance to pop in the rebound.
Nashville would answer from former Shark Marcel Goc. Jordin Tootoo fed a pass across the neutral zone. Goc carried the puck in, working against rookie Jason Demers. Goc went to the outside, and took a shot that went in. It didn't look like anyone really made any mistakes. Demers looked okay, maybe just a little loose from Goc. Greiss was on top of the crease. Maybe he could have been out a little more, but he looked okay as far as being square. Maybe you'll look at the replay and see soemthing different, but it looked like one that just went in to me.
Shortly after this, Marleau nearly gave the sharks the lead again, but clanged the puck off the crossbar. The teams went in to the second intermission tied at 2 goals each. I thought here the longer the Sharks kept Nashville in the game, the more likely for this to turn in to a Nashville victory.
Nashville dominated play during the first half of the third period, and were rewarded midway through. The Sharks won a faceoff in their zone, but didn't really control the puck and the play. They sent it around to the left point, turning if over to Dan Hamhuis. Hamhuis' shot was deflect by Patric Hornqvist, possibly by Douglas Murray as well, and beat Greiss. With the deflection, it's almost impossible for the keeper to stop it.
The Sharks' broadcast team of Drew Remenda and Randy Hahn also pointed out that after they gave the puck away, their coverage to recover wasn't the best. Ryane Clowe was the closest man to Hamhuis when he was picking up the puck. Rather than pressuring him, Clowe button hooked to go back to the other point. Clowe might have been able to get into the lane, or at least force the shot faster than Hamhuis wanted to take it. That might have kept the screen from setting up. Instead, Hamhuis had plenty of time. Good catch there.
A couple of minutes later, San Jose tied the score off a goal from Setoguchi. Dan Boyle carried the puck up ice, driving with middle lane with speed. This seemed to back the Nashville defense off. Boyle dished off to Setoguchi on the left wing, continuing his drive up ice. Setoguchi took the shot and beat Ellis, tying the game.
After it looked like the game was going to overtime for sure, Boyle gets into the rush again, this time towards the right side. The play is a little sloppy. Boyle head mans the puck to Clowe at the line. Rather than send it back in a give and go, it looks more like it bounces off Clowe's stick, back towards Boyle. Boyle isn't able to pick it up clean, taking it in his skates. Joe Thornton is right around there as well, confusing things. Boyle carried it in a little farther, getting quite low before sending in a shot that looked pretty much like a waster. (A waster is one where you're just wasting the shot. You don't think you're going to score, but just want to put it at the net.) Boyle said in the post game interview he didn't expect to score. What happened? It eluded Ellis, finding the five hole and trickling through with 59 seconds and change left in the game.
The Sharks are then able to kill off the final minute for the win. Three stars went to Scott Nichol (great game with some nice defensive plays, great hustle to negate an icing and draw a penalty), Thomas Greiss, and Dan Boyle.
I did notice one thing in the third that had me curious. When Nashville was set up behind the net, waiting to break out, the Sharks didn't pressure the defenseman with the puck. This let him come out on the side he wanted to, so it was where he would have the puck on his forehand. The rule of thumb is to force him to his backhand. Most players aren't as good at passing with the backhand as they are with the forehand. Why? Most players haven't worked on it enough, and the curve on the sticks makes the backhand harder. If I were the coaching staff, it's something I would consider working on.
Riddle me this: why are the highlights from this game that are on the NHL web site from Nashville's broadcast? The NHL Network put the Sharks' coverage up in some areas. It was the home coverage. Yet the NHL's web highlights are from the visiting team.
For the Sharks, good to win, good to get some players back, but not completely happy with the way the game went. For Nashville, good to score, but they had a lead in the third, and had what looked like a sure point locked up until Boyle scored. So, they're definitely not happy with the results.
The Sharks opened the scoring with a goal from Joe Pavelski. The play was set up by Patrick Marleau driving around the net and finding Pavelski in front. Pavelski had a little time and space to take the pass, then pick the top corner over Nashville netminder Dan Ellis's glove. Looks like a Nashville player decided to cover Marleau instead of Pavelski, leaving Pavelski all alone for his shot.
Late in the first period, Nashville was able to tie the game. Michael Santorelli beat Manny Malhotra to the front of the next, getting behind Greiss to put in the puck that bounced up and over. At first, it had looked like he might have played it with a high stick, but after looking at various replay angles, it looks like he didn't touch it up high, only down off the ice.
The teams entered the second period tied at 1. Again, San Jose struck first, this time from Jamie McGinn. McGinn came off the bench, replacing Manny Malhotra, while the puck was kept in the Nashville zone. Marc-Edouard Vlasic took a shot from the left point. The rebound went to the right wing side, where McGinn was just coming into the play from the bench. As no one from Nashville had picked him up, he had a clean chance to pop in the rebound.
Nashville would answer from former Shark Marcel Goc. Jordin Tootoo fed a pass across the neutral zone. Goc carried the puck in, working against rookie Jason Demers. Goc went to the outside, and took a shot that went in. It didn't look like anyone really made any mistakes. Demers looked okay, maybe just a little loose from Goc. Greiss was on top of the crease. Maybe he could have been out a little more, but he looked okay as far as being square. Maybe you'll look at the replay and see soemthing different, but it looked like one that just went in to me.
Shortly after this, Marleau nearly gave the sharks the lead again, but clanged the puck off the crossbar. The teams went in to the second intermission tied at 2 goals each. I thought here the longer the Sharks kept Nashville in the game, the more likely for this to turn in to a Nashville victory.
Nashville dominated play during the first half of the third period, and were rewarded midway through. The Sharks won a faceoff in their zone, but didn't really control the puck and the play. They sent it around to the left point, turning if over to Dan Hamhuis. Hamhuis' shot was deflect by Patric Hornqvist, possibly by Douglas Murray as well, and beat Greiss. With the deflection, it's almost impossible for the keeper to stop it.
The Sharks' broadcast team of Drew Remenda and Randy Hahn also pointed out that after they gave the puck away, their coverage to recover wasn't the best. Ryane Clowe was the closest man to Hamhuis when he was picking up the puck. Rather than pressuring him, Clowe button hooked to go back to the other point. Clowe might have been able to get into the lane, or at least force the shot faster than Hamhuis wanted to take it. That might have kept the screen from setting up. Instead, Hamhuis had plenty of time. Good catch there.
A couple of minutes later, San Jose tied the score off a goal from Setoguchi. Dan Boyle carried the puck up ice, driving with middle lane with speed. This seemed to back the Nashville defense off. Boyle dished off to Setoguchi on the left wing, continuing his drive up ice. Setoguchi took the shot and beat Ellis, tying the game.
After it looked like the game was going to overtime for sure, Boyle gets into the rush again, this time towards the right side. The play is a little sloppy. Boyle head mans the puck to Clowe at the line. Rather than send it back in a give and go, it looks more like it bounces off Clowe's stick, back towards Boyle. Boyle isn't able to pick it up clean, taking it in his skates. Joe Thornton is right around there as well, confusing things. Boyle carried it in a little farther, getting quite low before sending in a shot that looked pretty much like a waster. (A waster is one where you're just wasting the shot. You don't think you're going to score, but just want to put it at the net.) Boyle said in the post game interview he didn't expect to score. What happened? It eluded Ellis, finding the five hole and trickling through with 59 seconds and change left in the game.
The Sharks are then able to kill off the final minute for the win. Three stars went to Scott Nichol (great game with some nice defensive plays, great hustle to negate an icing and draw a penalty), Thomas Greiss, and Dan Boyle.
I did notice one thing in the third that had me curious. When Nashville was set up behind the net, waiting to break out, the Sharks didn't pressure the defenseman with the puck. This let him come out on the side he wanted to, so it was where he would have the puck on his forehand. The rule of thumb is to force him to his backhand. Most players aren't as good at passing with the backhand as they are with the forehand. Why? Most players haven't worked on it enough, and the curve on the sticks makes the backhand harder. If I were the coaching staff, it's something I would consider working on.
Riddle me this: why are the highlights from this game that are on the NHL web site from Nashville's broadcast? The NHL Network put the Sharks' coverage up in some areas. It was the home coverage. Yet the NHL's web highlights are from the visiting team.
For the Sharks, good to win, good to get some players back, but not completely happy with the way the game went. For Nashville, good to score, but they had a lead in the third, and had what looked like a sure point locked up until Boyle scored. So, they're definitely not happy with the results.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Thoughts
This evening, the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted it's latest class. As a builder, Lou Lamoriello, as players, Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Steve Yzerman. Rather than recap why they're there, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on them.
Let's start with Sweet Lou. Lamoriello I have learned has had a huge impact on the game, dating back to his days at Providence. He made what was called a Mickey Mouse organization respectable, and architected the team to consistent successes. Congrat's Lou.
Brian Leetch was always a quiet one to me. Being on the West Coast, I didn't get to see him too much. But, I have one funny set of stories about him. This was around '92-93. The Rangers came to the Cow Palace to play the Sharks. Leetch was out hurt (I think he'd been out all year), as was Kevin Lowe. That year, to get from the press box to the dressing rooms, you had to go down through the crowd. A friend of mine spotted Lowe leaving, so he took off to get an autograph. Lowe was with another player (Leetch), but my friend didn't recognize him. He'd actually bumped Leetch to get to Lowe. He was thinking he should be asking the other guy for an autograph, but didn't want to ask him who he was, or if he should be asking for an autograph. The next morning, my friend bough some packs of hockey cards. In one of the packs was a Brian Leetch Norris Trophy winner card. He recognized Leetch from the night before. Fast forward now to the Stanley Cup finals, the Rangers beat the Cannucks, and there's Leetch getting the Conn Smythe. My friend's girlfriend then asks if that was the guy he bumped that time to get Lowe's autograph. Congrat's Brian.
Lucky's career was more out here, but I wasn't following hockey quite as much, especially not as wide ranging. I remember from one of the NHL highlight videos that I used to watch all the time (probably came close to wearing out the tapes on them) Lucky talking about one of his goals. It was one where he laid out and swatted at the puck. He had said the typical confident kinds of things back when he scored it, but admitted there he had no idea how it went it. I also remember that a pitcher for the Braves (Tom Glavine?) was drafted ahead of Robitaille. Not bad for a kid that people said couldn't skate. Congrat's Luc.
The Golden One. After being called the Golden Brett as a take on his father's name the Golden Jet, people then combined Gretzky's the Great One into Brett's nickname. I'm sure lots of folks who covered the game cried when Brett hung up his skates for good. Brett was always willing to say what was on his mind. It got him in hot water sometimes, but that's just the way he is. He went from being Bobby Hull's kid to his father being Brett Hull's dad. He's also a Jedi. It's the easiest explanation I have for opposing players forgetting about a 500+ goal scorer. Brett had a quick shot release, but quite importantly, a knack for getting open in a scoring area. Gretzky's office was behind the net. Esposito's office was the low slot, right in front of the goaltender. Hull's was the high slot, above the has marks to the top of the circles. He'd find a little space, the puck would get there, and bang, it was away. His brother Bart used to write a column for The Hockey Digest. I remember one still from over 20 years ago. He talked about what you see when you look at the net. Most people see the goalie. Bobby taught them to see the holes, the places where you could score, not the goalie. That makes a world of difference. Congrat's Brett.
Stevie Y. 2006 Olympics, Yzerman had removed his name from consideration for the Canadian Olympic team. He didn't want them picking him because they felt they owed it to him, or wanted to respect the older players. Joe Sakic and Joe Thornton were on that team, and all three of them wore #19 for their NHL teams. Out of respect for Yzerman, Sakic and Thornton left #19 unworn. 2002 Olympics, gold medal ceremony. Owen Nolan had gotten his video camera to record the moment. As they got close to Nolan, Yzerman asked for the camera to record Nolan getting his medal. Yzerman always exuded a quiet intensity to me. Immensely respected in Detroit, referred to not by name, but as The Captain. (That's a capital The there. You can hear it.) Congrat's Stevie.
Let's start with Sweet Lou. Lamoriello I have learned has had a huge impact on the game, dating back to his days at Providence. He made what was called a Mickey Mouse organization respectable, and architected the team to consistent successes. Congrat's Lou.
Brian Leetch was always a quiet one to me. Being on the West Coast, I didn't get to see him too much. But, I have one funny set of stories about him. This was around '92-93. The Rangers came to the Cow Palace to play the Sharks. Leetch was out hurt (I think he'd been out all year), as was Kevin Lowe. That year, to get from the press box to the dressing rooms, you had to go down through the crowd. A friend of mine spotted Lowe leaving, so he took off to get an autograph. Lowe was with another player (Leetch), but my friend didn't recognize him. He'd actually bumped Leetch to get to Lowe. He was thinking he should be asking the other guy for an autograph, but didn't want to ask him who he was, or if he should be asking for an autograph. The next morning, my friend bough some packs of hockey cards. In one of the packs was a Brian Leetch Norris Trophy winner card. He recognized Leetch from the night before. Fast forward now to the Stanley Cup finals, the Rangers beat the Cannucks, and there's Leetch getting the Conn Smythe. My friend's girlfriend then asks if that was the guy he bumped that time to get Lowe's autograph. Congrat's Brian.
Lucky's career was more out here, but I wasn't following hockey quite as much, especially not as wide ranging. I remember from one of the NHL highlight videos that I used to watch all the time (probably came close to wearing out the tapes on them) Lucky talking about one of his goals. It was one where he laid out and swatted at the puck. He had said the typical confident kinds of things back when he scored it, but admitted there he had no idea how it went it. I also remember that a pitcher for the Braves (Tom Glavine?) was drafted ahead of Robitaille. Not bad for a kid that people said couldn't skate. Congrat's Luc.
The Golden One. After being called the Golden Brett as a take on his father's name the Golden Jet, people then combined Gretzky's the Great One into Brett's nickname. I'm sure lots of folks who covered the game cried when Brett hung up his skates for good. Brett was always willing to say what was on his mind. It got him in hot water sometimes, but that's just the way he is. He went from being Bobby Hull's kid to his father being Brett Hull's dad. He's also a Jedi. It's the easiest explanation I have for opposing players forgetting about a 500+ goal scorer. Brett had a quick shot release, but quite importantly, a knack for getting open in a scoring area. Gretzky's office was behind the net. Esposito's office was the low slot, right in front of the goaltender. Hull's was the high slot, above the has marks to the top of the circles. He'd find a little space, the puck would get there, and bang, it was away. His brother Bart used to write a column for The Hockey Digest. I remember one still from over 20 years ago. He talked about what you see when you look at the net. Most people see the goalie. Bobby taught them to see the holes, the places where you could score, not the goalie. That makes a world of difference. Congrat's Brett.
Stevie Y. 2006 Olympics, Yzerman had removed his name from consideration for the Canadian Olympic team. He didn't want them picking him because they felt they owed it to him, or wanted to respect the older players. Joe Sakic and Joe Thornton were on that team, and all three of them wore #19 for their NHL teams. Out of respect for Yzerman, Sakic and Thornton left #19 unworn. 2002 Olympics, gold medal ceremony. Owen Nolan had gotten his video camera to record the moment. As they got close to Nolan, Yzerman asked for the camera to record Nolan getting his medal. Yzerman always exuded a quiet intensity to me. Immensely respected in Detroit, referred to not by name, but as The Captain. (That's a capital The there. You can hear it.) Congrat's Stevie.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sharks fall to Detroit in shootout
How many times have we heard about the Sharks loosing to Detroit in Detroit? Too many, I think. The only consolation is the stat they showed about fewest wins in Detroit and we weren't on top! The Ducks were.
Detroit carried the play for extended sequences, but the shot totals were fairly even throughout. The second period even seemed to some run-and-gun to it, but the shots were limited to just 8 for the Sharks and 7 for the Wings. The scoring was opened in the second period by rookie Logan Couture. Ryan Callahan, in his first game as a Shark, carried the puck up the center of the ice. Somehow, Jonathan Ericsson playing right defense fell down. Maybe he hit a rut, maybe it was a snow snake*. That fall took him out of the play. Brett Lebda came over from his left side, leaving Couture along on the wing. Callahan fed him, and Couture took a quick shot before Chris Osgood could square up into position.
The Sharks led until 5:38 of the third when Henrik Zetterberg scored for Detroit. Patrick Eaves fed the puck back to Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom takes the shot with Darren Helm in front screening Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov seemed to have the puck frozen, then Zetterberg swatted at it, knocking it in the net.
If you look at the replay, behind the net you see the referee. Right before Zetterberg knocks the puck in, you can see him bringing his whistle up to his mouth. It's like he's thinking of killing the play. You can definitely make the argument that Nabokov had the puck frozen long enough, and that the puck wasn't visible. I'm sure the referees have taken criticism for killing the play too early, so perhaps that factored in. Unfortunately for the Sharks, it's a break they didn't get.
No more goals in regulation as the Sharks continued to turn the puck over in places they didn't want to, resulting in scoring chances against. They can thank Nabokov for keeping them in this game. Towards the end of regulation, Dany Heatley went into the boards hard at center ice, and went straight off. He might be sore, but he did come back for the the overtime, joining Patrick Marleau on the second forward pair.
No goals in the overtime, but some chances both ways as Osgood and Nabokov kept everything thrown at them out. The Wings led off the shootout with Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk scored after selling the backhand and bringing the puck to his forehand. Dan Boyle and Ryane Clowe were unable to score, and Zetterberg converted his attempt to salt away the victory. Datsyuk was credited with the shootout winning goal, but I've always wondered about that in a 2-0 shootout win. Zetterberg kept Heatley from attempting his by scoring that second goal. Had they allowed Heatley to take his shot, and he converted, then Zetterberg's would be the winner. But, because the best Heatley can do is close the gap, they don't let him shoot. You can make an argument for the second goal being the real winner.
The Sharks went into this game without Rob Blake, with an undisclosed injury. He has said that he's had a similar injury before, and is scheduled for an MRI after returning to the Bay Area. In Blake's place on the blue line, Derek Joslin and Callahan were called up. There were reports that Douglas Murray might not play tonight, and be a game time decision. With Murray playing 30 shifts for just under 21 minutes of ice time, it doesn't look like he was ailing that much. Callahan took 12 shifts for 9.5 minutes, and Joslin 14 shifts for 12 minutes. Patrick Marleau was given an 'A' to take the place of Blake's 'C'.
The good news is that the Sharks took 5 out of a possible 6 on the three game road trip. They played pretty well, but not quite what they wanted in the second half of a back-to-back. Also, players like Setoguchi, Pavelski, and Vesce are getting close to coming back into the lineup. Next game is hosting the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins to open a 3 game home stand.
* Snow Snake: Snow snakes are white, blending in to the ice and like to wrap themselves around your ankles to trip you up. They like to do then when everyone is watching to embarrass you the most.
Detroit carried the play for extended sequences, but the shot totals were fairly even throughout. The second period even seemed to some run-and-gun to it, but the shots were limited to just 8 for the Sharks and 7 for the Wings. The scoring was opened in the second period by rookie Logan Couture. Ryan Callahan, in his first game as a Shark, carried the puck up the center of the ice. Somehow, Jonathan Ericsson playing right defense fell down. Maybe he hit a rut, maybe it was a snow snake*. That fall took him out of the play. Brett Lebda came over from his left side, leaving Couture along on the wing. Callahan fed him, and Couture took a quick shot before Chris Osgood could square up into position.
The Sharks led until 5:38 of the third when Henrik Zetterberg scored for Detroit. Patrick Eaves fed the puck back to Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom takes the shot with Darren Helm in front screening Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov seemed to have the puck frozen, then Zetterberg swatted at it, knocking it in the net.
If you look at the replay, behind the net you see the referee. Right before Zetterberg knocks the puck in, you can see him bringing his whistle up to his mouth. It's like he's thinking of killing the play. You can definitely make the argument that Nabokov had the puck frozen long enough, and that the puck wasn't visible. I'm sure the referees have taken criticism for killing the play too early, so perhaps that factored in. Unfortunately for the Sharks, it's a break they didn't get.
No more goals in regulation as the Sharks continued to turn the puck over in places they didn't want to, resulting in scoring chances against. They can thank Nabokov for keeping them in this game. Towards the end of regulation, Dany Heatley went into the boards hard at center ice, and went straight off. He might be sore, but he did come back for the the overtime, joining Patrick Marleau on the second forward pair.
No goals in the overtime, but some chances both ways as Osgood and Nabokov kept everything thrown at them out. The Wings led off the shootout with Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk scored after selling the backhand and bringing the puck to his forehand. Dan Boyle and Ryane Clowe were unable to score, and Zetterberg converted his attempt to salt away the victory. Datsyuk was credited with the shootout winning goal, but I've always wondered about that in a 2-0 shootout win. Zetterberg kept Heatley from attempting his by scoring that second goal. Had they allowed Heatley to take his shot, and he converted, then Zetterberg's would be the winner. But, because the best Heatley can do is close the gap, they don't let him shoot. You can make an argument for the second goal being the real winner.
The Sharks went into this game without Rob Blake, with an undisclosed injury. He has said that he's had a similar injury before, and is scheduled for an MRI after returning to the Bay Area. In Blake's place on the blue line, Derek Joslin and Callahan were called up. There were reports that Douglas Murray might not play tonight, and be a game time decision. With Murray playing 30 shifts for just under 21 minutes of ice time, it doesn't look like he was ailing that much. Callahan took 12 shifts for 9.5 minutes, and Joslin 14 shifts for 12 minutes. Patrick Marleau was given an 'A' to take the place of Blake's 'C'.
The good news is that the Sharks took 5 out of a possible 6 on the three game road trip. They played pretty well, but not quite what they wanted in the second half of a back-to-back. Also, players like Setoguchi, Pavelski, and Vesce are getting close to coming back into the lineup. Next game is hosting the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins to open a 3 game home stand.
* Snow Snake: Snow snakes are white, blending in to the ice and like to wrap themselves around your ankles to trip you up. They like to do then when everyone is watching to embarrass you the most.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sharks over Blue Jackets in shootout
Columbus was looking for a better showing than they got against the Sharks in San Jose's home opener. They were also looking to keep Dany Heatley from repeating his +6 in that game. They got both of those, but fell short of victory.
The first period was fairly even with each team getting 7 shots on goal. The Sharks opened the scoring on a goal from Joe Thornton right in front. Just prior to the goal, Thornton was jockeying for position with Jan Hejda, and was knocked down into Columbus netminder Chris Mason. Mason never recovered, and appealed to the officials after the goal, but it went for naught. Ryane Clowe fed a pass in to Thornton from low on the left wing side to set up the goal. Rob Blake got the secondary assist on the play.
Columbus answered shortly after with a goal from Jason Chimera. The Sharks didn't have their coverage sorted out right with two forwards covering the same defenseman. When the pass swung his partner, Dan Boyle came out to challenge, leaving the front of the net uncovered. Chimera came in front from down low, getting the easy tip-in.
The only other eventful thing in the first period was Jarred Boll squaring off with Kent Huskins for a fight. It wasn't too special, but I scored it 5-3 for Boll.
The second period was much more up and down, with the teams trading chances for 29 combined shots. (Sharks 16, Blue Jackets 13) Again, the Sharks took the lead. This time, just 8 seconds after Columbus took a penalty. Thornton won the draw and went to the front of the net, screening and occupying a defenseman. Heatley helped the puck back to Boyle at the point, then released to the net. Boyle walked towards center-point, then fed Patrick Marleau. Marleau put the shot on net, but Mason was unable to handle the rebound. It was and easy tap-in for Heatley, his 4th against the Blue Jackets in 2 games. The assist extends Marleau's point streak to 9 games.
Next, Brad Staubitz picked a fight with Boll after Boll had been jawing with Jody Shelley. This was a fairly even affair, with a lot more clutching, grabbing, jockeying for position instead of actual punches. I scored it 3-2 for Staubitz. Staubitz did draw the extra penalty however, getting called for the instigator penalty. This would prove costly for the Sharks as Columbus converted the power play chance. After a couple of chances, including one from Rick Nash in the slot, Nash was able to get one in from a seemingly impossible angle. He was down low on the right wing side, with one skate close to the end line. As a left hand shot, he still had some angle after RJ Umburger fed the puck out to him from right in front.
A sweet goal that the replay on the NHL's web site doesn't to justice to. The low angle from the Columbus telecast they showed later lets you appreciate just how little room Nash had.
The overtime featured the goaltenders making some spectacular saves each way, but neither team was able to score. So, to the shootout we went. The first three shooters were unable to score, then Boyle out waited Mason to put the Sharks ahead.
It was up to Nash to continue it, but Nabokov didn't bite and waited out Nash until he had nowhere to go. Sharks win the shootout 1-0, and the game 3-2.
This game was the return of Manny Malhotra to Columbus, where he played the last several years. Sharks head athletic trainer Ray Tufts worked his 1,000th game. Tomorrow night's game against Detroit will be Equipment Manager Mike Aldrich's 1,000th game. Aldrich skipped a game to watch his son play in a hockey tournament, otherwise they would have both hit the 1,000 game mark together.
Sharks fans should be very happy with the quality of the TV coverage. This game was on Fox Sports Ohio (carried by the NHL Network nationally). They didn't carry the Sharks goals very well, and I thought the quality of the play-by-play and color wasn't as high as we get covering the Sharks. It seemed too home team driven, really taking away from the broadcast.
Sharks winning streak extended to 6 games, but there was a price to pay. Rob Blake was hurt in the second period, and did not return for the third. I expect a call has already been put in to Worchester to call someone up to be available in Detroit for tomorrow night's game. Even if Blake can go, it would still be nice to have another defenseman around in case he can't.
The first period was fairly even with each team getting 7 shots on goal. The Sharks opened the scoring on a goal from Joe Thornton right in front. Just prior to the goal, Thornton was jockeying for position with Jan Hejda, and was knocked down into Columbus netminder Chris Mason. Mason never recovered, and appealed to the officials after the goal, but it went for naught. Ryane Clowe fed a pass in to Thornton from low on the left wing side to set up the goal. Rob Blake got the secondary assist on the play.
Columbus answered shortly after with a goal from Jason Chimera. The Sharks didn't have their coverage sorted out right with two forwards covering the same defenseman. When the pass swung his partner, Dan Boyle came out to challenge, leaving the front of the net uncovered. Chimera came in front from down low, getting the easy tip-in.
The only other eventful thing in the first period was Jarred Boll squaring off with Kent Huskins for a fight. It wasn't too special, but I scored it 5-3 for Boll.
The second period was much more up and down, with the teams trading chances for 29 combined shots. (Sharks 16, Blue Jackets 13) Again, the Sharks took the lead. This time, just 8 seconds after Columbus took a penalty. Thornton won the draw and went to the front of the net, screening and occupying a defenseman. Heatley helped the puck back to Boyle at the point, then released to the net. Boyle walked towards center-point, then fed Patrick Marleau. Marleau put the shot on net, but Mason was unable to handle the rebound. It was and easy tap-in for Heatley, his 4th against the Blue Jackets in 2 games. The assist extends Marleau's point streak to 9 games.
Next, Brad Staubitz picked a fight with Boll after Boll had been jawing with Jody Shelley. This was a fairly even affair, with a lot more clutching, grabbing, jockeying for position instead of actual punches. I scored it 3-2 for Staubitz. Staubitz did draw the extra penalty however, getting called for the instigator penalty. This would prove costly for the Sharks as Columbus converted the power play chance. After a couple of chances, including one from Rick Nash in the slot, Nash was able to get one in from a seemingly impossible angle. He was down low on the right wing side, with one skate close to the end line. As a left hand shot, he still had some angle after RJ Umburger fed the puck out to him from right in front.
A sweet goal that the replay on the NHL's web site doesn't to justice to. The low angle from the Columbus telecast they showed later lets you appreciate just how little room Nash had.
The overtime featured the goaltenders making some spectacular saves each way, but neither team was able to score. So, to the shootout we went. The first three shooters were unable to score, then Boyle out waited Mason to put the Sharks ahead.
It was up to Nash to continue it, but Nabokov didn't bite and waited out Nash until he had nowhere to go. Sharks win the shootout 1-0, and the game 3-2.
This game was the return of Manny Malhotra to Columbus, where he played the last several years. Sharks head athletic trainer Ray Tufts worked his 1,000th game. Tomorrow night's game against Detroit will be Equipment Manager Mike Aldrich's 1,000th game. Aldrich skipped a game to watch his son play in a hockey tournament, otherwise they would have both hit the 1,000 game mark together.
Sharks fans should be very happy with the quality of the TV coverage. This game was on Fox Sports Ohio (carried by the NHL Network nationally). They didn't carry the Sharks goals very well, and I thought the quality of the play-by-play and color wasn't as high as we get covering the Sharks. It seemed too home team driven, really taking away from the broadcast.
Sharks winning streak extended to 6 games, but there was a price to pay. Rob Blake was hurt in the second period, and did not return for the third. I expect a call has already been put in to Worchester to call someone up to be available in Detroit for tomorrow night's game. Even if Blake can go, it would still be nice to have another defenseman around in case he can't.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Ray Whitney honored for thousandth game
Prior to the Sharks-hurricanes game today, Ray Whitney was honored for playing in his 1,000th game. During the broadcasts opening segment, Drew Remenda opined about Whitney, his 200 games for the Sharks, and that he played 805 after that, is still going, etc. To me, it seemed like he was taking a shot at previous management for letting Whitney go. My opinion, Drew has forgotten that Whits wasn't that effective for the Sharks. Right after the Sharks let him go, he went to the Oilers for 9 games, was let go, and then hooked on with the Panthers. After that, he had stops in Columbus and Detroit before going to Carolina. He's had a very up and down career, shining at times, and other times not. If memory serves, Detroit signed him to a decent sized free agent contract, then bought him out after a year. So, shame on you Drew for forgetting about the not so good times.
That said, it is something special for him to have lasted as long as he has, shined in spots, but I don't think he's a superstar. He might not have even realized the potential he has if the Sharks hadn't let him go. Also, there are two very key things that could have dramatically changed things for him. He went to Europe right out of the draft and played in Germany, but got out of that contract. Had he not played over there, he could have come back to the NHL. As it was, his only option was to play in the minor leagues. Had he spent that first year in the NHL, he could have developed differently. The other was a knee injury in early 1993. The Sharks had picked up Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov. Everybody remembers Johan Garpenlov playing with them, but he wasn't the first one chosen. Whitney was playing with the two Russian superstars up until a knee injury. By the time Whitney came back, Garpenlov was looking good, so they didn't change things. Had that knee injury not happened, he might have stuck with that duo and done well.
My favorite Ray Whitney memory comes from the Cow Palace. I think it was early '93, with a preseason practice they had there. As the players were coming off, there were people trying to get autographs, etc. The carpet was too far from the stands for the players to get right over there, so he put down two sticks and stood on them. He wanted to protect his skates, not fall, but still take care of the fans.
That said, it is something special for him to have lasted as long as he has, shined in spots, but I don't think he's a superstar. He might not have even realized the potential he has if the Sharks hadn't let him go. Also, there are two very key things that could have dramatically changed things for him. He went to Europe right out of the draft and played in Germany, but got out of that contract. Had he not played over there, he could have come back to the NHL. As it was, his only option was to play in the minor leagues. Had he spent that first year in the NHL, he could have developed differently. The other was a knee injury in early 1993. The Sharks had picked up Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov. Everybody remembers Johan Garpenlov playing with them, but he wasn't the first one chosen. Whitney was playing with the two Russian superstars up until a knee injury. By the time Whitney came back, Garpenlov was looking good, so they didn't change things. Had that knee injury not happened, he might have stuck with that duo and done well.
My favorite Ray Whitney memory comes from the Cow Palace. I think it was early '93, with a preseason practice they had there. As the players were coming off, there were people trying to get autographs, etc. The carpet was too far from the stands for the players to get right over there, so he put down two sticks and stood on them. He wanted to protect his skates, not fall, but still take care of the fans.
Sharks too much for stumbling Canes
The San Jose Sharks opened their 3 game road trip back into the Eastern time zone with a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes got back Erik Cole (injury) and Tuomo Ruuto (suspension), while the Sharks had no lineup changes. For the Hurricanes, this was Scott Walkers 800th career game, and Ray Whitney was honored for playing in his 1,000th game. The Sharks continued to be without Devin Setoguchi, Ryan Vesce, Joe Pavelski, and Torrey Mitchell, but all are on the road trip. Pavelski said in a second intermission interview that there is a possibility he could play before the road trip is over.
The first period was relative quiet with each team getting a power play, but neither scoring. Both teams also had lowish shot totals with the Sharks edging Carolina 9-8. Brandon Sutter, Brent Sutter's son, opened the scoring carrying the puck up the left wing, putting a shot off the post and in. The Sharks answered 1:37 later on Kent Huskins first goal as a Shark. He carried the puck in from the left point, followed up his shot to pick up the rebound, taking it around the net for a stuff chance that found its way in. Then, 1:22 later, Brad Staubitz got his second of the year, from Jody Shelley and rookie Logan Couture. It was Couture's first career NHL point. Staubitz had the puck behind the net, sent it towards Shelley. Staubitz then went out one side up into the slot, while Shelley took the puck the other way for a shot. The rebound came right out into the slot for Staubitz, 2-1 lead San Jose. Before the period was up, the Sharks extended their lead to 3-1 on Douglas Murray's goal. Murray read that the man covering up wasn't paying attention, so he jumped down low. Joe Thornton was in Gretzky's Office behind the net, fed Murray a pass, and bingo, it's 3-1 Sharks.
The Hurricanes pressed more in the third, outshooting the Sharks 13-5, but were unable to score as the Sharks added two more goals. The first of those came right after Nabokov made a big save and the Sharks rushed up ice. Mark-Edouard Vlasic jumped into the play to make it a 2 on 1. Patrick Marleau fed Vlasic for the tap in. The assist extended Marleau's point streat to 8 games. The goal from Vlasic was the third of the game from the defense, with all three pairings contributing a goal. The final goal of the night came on the power play. Thornton set up Marleau for a nice one timer that Cam Ward got a piece of, but not enough. The shot still had enough on it to pop the water bottle off the top of the net.
The 5-1 victory gives Nabokov 258 wins for his career, tying him with Ken Dryden. Twelve different Sharks got points, including 5 of the 6 defensemen. Interestingly enough, the one defenseman that didn't score was Dan Boyle. Rookie Jason Demers notched his 10th assist of the season on Huskins second period goal.
All in all, a nice way to start the road trip. They'll spend the night in Carolina, work out tomorrow, and then head to Columbus for Wednesday's game. While the Sharks are not broadcasting the game, it will be on the NHL Network.
Highlights from the NHL:
The first period was relative quiet with each team getting a power play, but neither scoring. Both teams also had lowish shot totals with the Sharks edging Carolina 9-8. Brandon Sutter, Brent Sutter's son, opened the scoring carrying the puck up the left wing, putting a shot off the post and in. The Sharks answered 1:37 later on Kent Huskins first goal as a Shark. He carried the puck in from the left point, followed up his shot to pick up the rebound, taking it around the net for a stuff chance that found its way in. Then, 1:22 later, Brad Staubitz got his second of the year, from Jody Shelley and rookie Logan Couture. It was Couture's first career NHL point. Staubitz had the puck behind the net, sent it towards Shelley. Staubitz then went out one side up into the slot, while Shelley took the puck the other way for a shot. The rebound came right out into the slot for Staubitz, 2-1 lead San Jose. Before the period was up, the Sharks extended their lead to 3-1 on Douglas Murray's goal. Murray read that the man covering up wasn't paying attention, so he jumped down low. Joe Thornton was in Gretzky's Office behind the net, fed Murray a pass, and bingo, it's 3-1 Sharks.
The Hurricanes pressed more in the third, outshooting the Sharks 13-5, but were unable to score as the Sharks added two more goals. The first of those came right after Nabokov made a big save and the Sharks rushed up ice. Mark-Edouard Vlasic jumped into the play to make it a 2 on 1. Patrick Marleau fed Vlasic for the tap in. The assist extended Marleau's point streat to 8 games. The goal from Vlasic was the third of the game from the defense, with all three pairings contributing a goal. The final goal of the night came on the power play. Thornton set up Marleau for a nice one timer that Cam Ward got a piece of, but not enough. The shot still had enough on it to pop the water bottle off the top of the net.
The 5-1 victory gives Nabokov 258 wins for his career, tying him with Ken Dryden. Twelve different Sharks got points, including 5 of the 6 defensemen. Interestingly enough, the one defenseman that didn't score was Dan Boyle. Rookie Jason Demers notched his 10th assist of the season on Huskins second period goal.
All in all, a nice way to start the road trip. They'll spend the night in Carolina, work out tomorrow, and then head to Columbus for Wednesday's game. While the Sharks are not broadcasting the game, it will be on the NHL Network.
Highlights from the NHL:
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sharks over first place Avalanche
The San Jose Sharks were able to overcome the great goaltending from the first place Colorado Avalanche to win 3-1. This closes out their 2 game homestand with 2 wins against teams they had previously lost to on the road. They left for Carolina today to face the Hurricanes Sunday morning. The game is a matinee to not conflict with the NFL's Carolina Panthers.
The Sharks were able to get off to a good start finally, but had a hard time getting the puck past the league's hottest goaltender, Craig Anderson. Anderson was able to stop first shots, rebounds, even scrambles until the waning seconds of the second period. Sharks captain Rob Blake put a shot on net, Patrick Marleau was denied on the rebound, and then Ryane Clowe came in from the left side, swatting at the puck. With just 5.6 seconds remaining, Clowe got off the schneid and got the Sharks on the board.
For the second goal, Jason Demers found Dany Heatley at the side of the net for an easy redirect of Demers' long pass. This was rookie Demers' 9th assist of the season, 3 behind leading defenseman Tomas Kaberle. Colorado was able to cut the lead to 1 when rookie Matt Duchene put in his short handed rebound after Dan Boyle got caught looking at for the puck. San Jose answered just 30 seconds later on Jamie McGinn's first goal of the season. McGinn was up ice and got the stretch pass from Marleau to spring him for a partial breakaway. Rushing up the left wing, McGinn took a shot before the defense could cut him off, beating Anderson with a shot off the post and in. McGinn wasn't even sure it was in initially, and attempted to put in the rebound. That sucked any life Duchene's goal had given the Avalanche out of them.
Joe Thornton missed about 7 minutes in the second period after taking a blocked shot to the face. A linesman picked something up off the ice and brought it over to the San Jose bench at the next stoppage, handling it carefully. The first thing that came to my mind was "Chicklets!" Most likely, Thornton had some dental work done last night, or early this morning to make the 9:00 AM flight.
As the game was going along in the second period, I was thinking, the longer we keep them in this, the more likely they'll win. I've seen too many Sharks games where they bomb the opposing goaltender, give up hardly any shots against, and loose 3-1. So, it's good that they were able to get in front, and stay there.
Also, Manny Malhotra has been named the official NHLPA representative for the Sharks. After Brad Lukowich had been traded, Douglas Murray had stepped up to fill the role. Murray will continue to share the duties with Malhotra, but Malhotra will have the title.
Interesting article from Mark Emmons of the SJ Mercury News about the ice as San Jose Arena.
Video highlights from the game courtesy of the NHL:
The Sharks were able to get off to a good start finally, but had a hard time getting the puck past the league's hottest goaltender, Craig Anderson. Anderson was able to stop first shots, rebounds, even scrambles until the waning seconds of the second period. Sharks captain Rob Blake put a shot on net, Patrick Marleau was denied on the rebound, and then Ryane Clowe came in from the left side, swatting at the puck. With just 5.6 seconds remaining, Clowe got off the schneid and got the Sharks on the board.
For the second goal, Jason Demers found Dany Heatley at the side of the net for an easy redirect of Demers' long pass. This was rookie Demers' 9th assist of the season, 3 behind leading defenseman Tomas Kaberle. Colorado was able to cut the lead to 1 when rookie Matt Duchene put in his short handed rebound after Dan Boyle got caught looking at for the puck. San Jose answered just 30 seconds later on Jamie McGinn's first goal of the season. McGinn was up ice and got the stretch pass from Marleau to spring him for a partial breakaway. Rushing up the left wing, McGinn took a shot before the defense could cut him off, beating Anderson with a shot off the post and in. McGinn wasn't even sure it was in initially, and attempted to put in the rebound. That sucked any life Duchene's goal had given the Avalanche out of them.
Joe Thornton missed about 7 minutes in the second period after taking a blocked shot to the face. A linesman picked something up off the ice and brought it over to the San Jose bench at the next stoppage, handling it carefully. The first thing that came to my mind was "Chicklets!" Most likely, Thornton had some dental work done last night, or early this morning to make the 9:00 AM flight.
As the game was going along in the second period, I was thinking, the longer we keep them in this, the more likely they'll win. I've seen too many Sharks games where they bomb the opposing goaltender, give up hardly any shots against, and loose 3-1. So, it's good that they were able to get in front, and stay there.
Also, Manny Malhotra has been named the official NHLPA representative for the Sharks. After Brad Lukowich had been traded, Douglas Murray had stepped up to fill the role. Murray will continue to share the duties with Malhotra, but Malhotra will have the title.
Interesting article from Mark Emmons of the SJ Mercury News about the ice as San Jose Arena.
Video highlights from the game courtesy of the NHL:
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sharks squeak out win in shootout on return home
The Sharks returned home to face division rivals the LA Kings. After getting off to a great start, the Kings were leading the division going into the night, with the Sharks just one point behind. As is typical after a long road trip, the Sharks got off to a slow start. Evgeni Nabokov was able to keep them in the game, weathering the early storm from the Kings. The first period also featured the only 4 minor penalties of the game, 2 for each team. Neither team was able to capitalize on their power play time, nor the 4-on-4 resulting from the Kings penalty while they were on the power play. Being out shot 13 to 5, the Sharks had to be happy to come out of the first period with a scoreless tie.
The Kings got on the scoreboard first with Alexander Frolov working a wraparound try in front. His shot was going wide, but was deflected by Marc-Edouard Vlasic past Nabokov for the 1-0 lead. This happened shortly after an icing where we had gotten a partial change in. This left the mixed defensive pair of Dan Boyle and Vlasic out there.
The goal against seemed to awaken the sleeping monster and the Sharks started to play with more life. Six and a half minutes later, Douglas Murray passed the puck up to Patrick Marleau in the neutral zone. Marleau was able to accelerate by Matt Greene, charging into the left face-off circle. Marleau then ripped a shot from just outside the dot to even the game at 1. Dan Boyle, coming off a broken thumb, got the other assist.
That was it for the scoring in regulation, with the Sharks outshooting the Kings 14-6 in the second. The third period was fairly even, but a tad sloppy with each time giving the puck away. The shots in the third period and overtime were much more even, slight edge to the Sharks in the third 9-7, but the Kings edged the Sharks 3-2 in OT.
In the shootout, the Kings took the early lead with Michal Handzus scoring after Marleau was denied. The Sharks' third shooter, Dany Heatley, was able to score to keep the Sharks' hopes alive. It was scoreless for the next two rounds, then Ryane Clowe got the nod. As Clowe has not scored a goal yet after signing a new contract for a decent raise, he needed to score to give him a little confidence. Clowe came through with a nice backhand. Jarret Stoll was then stoned by Nabokov to win the shootout 2-1.
Third star went to Frolov, second to Marleau, and first to Nabokov, but he make Clowe do the immediate post-game interview.
Again, not the best start, but not terribly surprising after a 6-game road trip. Still, not getting out of the shoot very well, and again giving up the first goal of the game are habits they'll want to break.
With Torrey Mitchel and Joe Pavelski practicing with the team, we know that we should see them back in the lineup soon. That should help get some players back to playing their proper roles. That said, one of the biggest things is that Patrick Marleau seems to be one of those players that plays better when he's not wearing the captain's C. I'm hearing people saying now that he's more of a leader now that he's not the captain. Won't it be interesting if he has his best year after losing the captaincy?
The Kings got on the scoreboard first with Alexander Frolov working a wraparound try in front. His shot was going wide, but was deflected by Marc-Edouard Vlasic past Nabokov for the 1-0 lead. This happened shortly after an icing where we had gotten a partial change in. This left the mixed defensive pair of Dan Boyle and Vlasic out there.
The goal against seemed to awaken the sleeping monster and the Sharks started to play with more life. Six and a half minutes later, Douglas Murray passed the puck up to Patrick Marleau in the neutral zone. Marleau was able to accelerate by Matt Greene, charging into the left face-off circle. Marleau then ripped a shot from just outside the dot to even the game at 1. Dan Boyle, coming off a broken thumb, got the other assist.
That was it for the scoring in regulation, with the Sharks outshooting the Kings 14-6 in the second. The third period was fairly even, but a tad sloppy with each time giving the puck away. The shots in the third period and overtime were much more even, slight edge to the Sharks in the third 9-7, but the Kings edged the Sharks 3-2 in OT.
In the shootout, the Kings took the early lead with Michal Handzus scoring after Marleau was denied. The Sharks' third shooter, Dany Heatley, was able to score to keep the Sharks' hopes alive. It was scoreless for the next two rounds, then Ryane Clowe got the nod. As Clowe has not scored a goal yet after signing a new contract for a decent raise, he needed to score to give him a little confidence. Clowe came through with a nice backhand. Jarret Stoll was then stoned by Nabokov to win the shootout 2-1.
Third star went to Frolov, second to Marleau, and first to Nabokov, but he make Clowe do the immediate post-game interview.
Again, not the best start, but not terribly surprising after a 6-game road trip. Still, not getting out of the shoot very well, and again giving up the first goal of the game are habits they'll want to break.
With Torrey Mitchel and Joe Pavelski practicing with the team, we know that we should see them back in the lineup soon. That should help get some players back to playing their proper roles. That said, one of the biggest things is that Patrick Marleau seems to be one of those players that plays better when he's not wearing the captain's C. I'm hearing people saying now that he's more of a leader now that he's not the captain. Won't it be interesting if he has his best year after losing the captaincy?
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sharks win 2 in 2 days to finish road trip
The San Jose Sharks should be happy on their way home tonight after capping off their 6 game road trip with 2 wins in back to back nights. Last night, they hung on against Atlanta for a 4-3 win, and tonight they kept the pressure up against the Flyers for a 4-1 win.
In the first game against Atlanta, the Sharks faced a former Shark in goal, Johan Hedberg. Unlike 9 of their previous 10 games, the Sharks came out and got the first goal of the game. This time, it was Thornton getting a second chance, putting it in to take the 1-0 lead in the first minute of play. For Atlanta Thrasher Dany Heatley got a power play goal from a rebound put into the slot to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead heading into intermission. Free agent aquisition Manny Malhotra got his first point as a Shark assisting on the play. The Sharks then duplicated the goal in the first minute in the second period, this time from Patrick Marleau. Marleau took a feed from Dan Boyle on right wing half boards, pivoted around to square himself to the goal, and shot in the top corner, blocker side. The Sharks build up a 4-1 lead as Marleau got his second of the night, chasing Hedberg.
Atlanta showed they weren't going to go quietly into the night with a from Rich Peverly on a one timer off a pass through the box before the end of the period to cut it to 4-2. Then, in the first minute of the third period, right after Dany Heatley came out of the penalty box, rookie Evander Kane notched his third of the year to make it 4-3. With the Sharks forwards caught up high, and Heatley rushing back into the play, Kane was left alone on the play. Perhaps Joe Thornton could have stayed lower, and kept his stick in a passing lane to make it harder, but that is a tough play to read. Despite great pressure from the Thrashers, the Sharks were able to hold on.
Each team finished with a shortened lineup. Atlanta had their captain, sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, go down in the first period after blocking a shot with his foot. That Kovalchuk was out makes Atlanta's comeback all that more impressive as they were without their best player. The Sharks meanwhile had Devin Setoguchi get hurt in the first period, and rookie Ryan Vesce in the third. Each is day-to-day with lower body injuries.
In the Flyers game, we got a duel of backup netminders with former Shark Brian Boucher going for Philly and Thomas Greiss getting his first start of the year for the Sharks. To deal with the injuries, Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn were called up from Worchester. This was Couture's NHL debut. The injuries required lots of line juggling, with Benn Ferriero getting the nod for the first line with Thornton and Heatley. Manny Malhotra got pushed out to the wing last night to fill in for Setoguchi, and got the nod again to play with Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe. Scott Nichol centered Jamie McGinn and Jed Ortmeyer, with Logan Couture rounding things out with Jody Shelley and Brad Staubutz.
Heatley got on the score sheet with a power play goal for the second game in a row as the Sharks opened the scoring. After not scoring first is 9 of their first 10, they have now scored first twice in a row. Heatley slapped at a rebound sitting at the feet of Boucher from behind the end line, knocking the puck in. Thornton and Boyle got the assists on the play. The Flyers answered on a nice shot from Darrol Powe to tie the game at 1. This seemed awkward, but it may have just been that Greiss turned to the side after the goal. Shortly after tying the score, the Flyers had a chance to take the lead, but just couldn't get the puck to go in.
The referees seemed to have a hard time tonight. Several times they got in the way of the play (getting into Heatley's path on a break up ice, in the way of the cycle, etc.). Some of the calls didn't make sense, such as why Shelley got an additional interference penalty on his fight with Ian Laperriere in the first period. Then, Douglas Murray got called for a hold that he did not commit. Early in the second, the Flyers Mike Richards was called for charging Greiss in what seemed like a player driving the net. The coup de grace had to be the announcement of a penalty to the Sharks number 68 when the Sharks had no 68 in the lineup. Instead, it was on number 59, Brad Staubitz.
Malhotra got his first goal as a Shark, this time from a junky redirected play from behind the net. It looks just like a great shot on the score sheet, but was definitely one with a little luck involved. Just a couple of minutes later, Malhotra got his second of the night, for his 200th career point, to make the lead 3-1 for the Sharks. They would take that into the second intermission.
Unlike the night before, with some stellar goaltending, and good pressure from the Sharks, they kept the Flyers from getting back in the game. They even scored a clinching goal with 3:09 left from Jed Ortmeyer off a turnaround drive.
Another thing I noticed was about the play of Dan Boyle. He was really competing hard tonight, which the Sharks announcers picked up on, but he really is quarterbacking the power play when he's out there. Some players seem to only quarterback when they have the puck. Boyle is directing where to go even when he doesn't have the puck. Granted, tonight Vlasic wasn't able to keep the puck in, but the idea of going back to the other point was Boyle's. I've seen him direct with his stick before where the play should go, and I think it really makes it hard for the other team. On defense, you are usually looking at the puck, so anyone behind you pointing to go one way can't be seen. Had they yelled across, you could hear that, and maybe jump on the play. I don't know how long that will work, but Boyle does bring a lot to the Sharks.
With the win, Greiss got his first NHL win, good enough for second star of the night. Malhotra's two goals got him first star, and third went to Philly's Powe.
Highlights from the Flyers game:
In the first game against Atlanta, the Sharks faced a former Shark in goal, Johan Hedberg. Unlike 9 of their previous 10 games, the Sharks came out and got the first goal of the game. This time, it was Thornton getting a second chance, putting it in to take the 1-0 lead in the first minute of play. For Atlanta Thrasher Dany Heatley got a power play goal from a rebound put into the slot to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead heading into intermission. Free agent aquisition Manny Malhotra got his first point as a Shark assisting on the play. The Sharks then duplicated the goal in the first minute in the second period, this time from Patrick Marleau. Marleau took a feed from Dan Boyle on right wing half boards, pivoted around to square himself to the goal, and shot in the top corner, blocker side. The Sharks build up a 4-1 lead as Marleau got his second of the night, chasing Hedberg.
Atlanta showed they weren't going to go quietly into the night with a from Rich Peverly on a one timer off a pass through the box before the end of the period to cut it to 4-2. Then, in the first minute of the third period, right after Dany Heatley came out of the penalty box, rookie Evander Kane notched his third of the year to make it 4-3. With the Sharks forwards caught up high, and Heatley rushing back into the play, Kane was left alone on the play. Perhaps Joe Thornton could have stayed lower, and kept his stick in a passing lane to make it harder, but that is a tough play to read. Despite great pressure from the Thrashers, the Sharks were able to hold on.
Each team finished with a shortened lineup. Atlanta had their captain, sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, go down in the first period after blocking a shot with his foot. That Kovalchuk was out makes Atlanta's comeback all that more impressive as they were without their best player. The Sharks meanwhile had Devin Setoguchi get hurt in the first period, and rookie Ryan Vesce in the third. Each is day-to-day with lower body injuries.
In the Flyers game, we got a duel of backup netminders with former Shark Brian Boucher going for Philly and Thomas Greiss getting his first start of the year for the Sharks. To deal with the injuries, Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn were called up from Worchester. This was Couture's NHL debut. The injuries required lots of line juggling, with Benn Ferriero getting the nod for the first line with Thornton and Heatley. Manny Malhotra got pushed out to the wing last night to fill in for Setoguchi, and got the nod again to play with Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe. Scott Nichol centered Jamie McGinn and Jed Ortmeyer, with Logan Couture rounding things out with Jody Shelley and Brad Staubutz.
Heatley got on the score sheet with a power play goal for the second game in a row as the Sharks opened the scoring. After not scoring first is 9 of their first 10, they have now scored first twice in a row. Heatley slapped at a rebound sitting at the feet of Boucher from behind the end line, knocking the puck in. Thornton and Boyle got the assists on the play. The Flyers answered on a nice shot from Darrol Powe to tie the game at 1. This seemed awkward, but it may have just been that Greiss turned to the side after the goal. Shortly after tying the score, the Flyers had a chance to take the lead, but just couldn't get the puck to go in.
The referees seemed to have a hard time tonight. Several times they got in the way of the play (getting into Heatley's path on a break up ice, in the way of the cycle, etc.). Some of the calls didn't make sense, such as why Shelley got an additional interference penalty on his fight with Ian Laperriere in the first period. Then, Douglas Murray got called for a hold that he did not commit. Early in the second, the Flyers Mike Richards was called for charging Greiss in what seemed like a player driving the net. The coup de grace had to be the announcement of a penalty to the Sharks number 68 when the Sharks had no 68 in the lineup. Instead, it was on number 59, Brad Staubitz.
Malhotra got his first goal as a Shark, this time from a junky redirected play from behind the net. It looks just like a great shot on the score sheet, but was definitely one with a little luck involved. Just a couple of minutes later, Malhotra got his second of the night, for his 200th career point, to make the lead 3-1 for the Sharks. They would take that into the second intermission.
Unlike the night before, with some stellar goaltending, and good pressure from the Sharks, they kept the Flyers from getting back in the game. They even scored a clinching goal with 3:09 left from Jed Ortmeyer off a turnaround drive.
Another thing I noticed was about the play of Dan Boyle. He was really competing hard tonight, which the Sharks announcers picked up on, but he really is quarterbacking the power play when he's out there. Some players seem to only quarterback when they have the puck. Boyle is directing where to go even when he doesn't have the puck. Granted, tonight Vlasic wasn't able to keep the puck in, but the idea of going back to the other point was Boyle's. I've seen him direct with his stick before where the play should go, and I think it really makes it hard for the other team. On defense, you are usually looking at the puck, so anyone behind you pointing to go one way can't be seen. Had they yelled across, you could hear that, and maybe jump on the play. I don't know how long that will work, but Boyle does bring a lot to the Sharks.
With the win, Greiss got his first NHL win, good enough for second star of the night. Malhotra's two goals got him first star, and third went to Philly's Powe.
Highlights from the Flyers game:
Does the NHL know what was wrong with yesterday's 15 games?
I'm not sure the NHL quite gets how to schedule their games. For the second time this season, fourth since expanding to 30 teams, all 30 teams were playing, giving 15 games. One other was the season opener out of the lockout that cost us a season, and I'm not sure when the other one was.
15 games on a Saturday sounds great for a hockey fan like me with Center Ice. I'd be able to watch a lot of hockey right? Wrong! The games were all scheduled to take place in about a five and a half hour period with the first games at 4:00 PM Pacific (7:00 PM Eastern). The last games started at 7:00 here on the West Coast, and 10:00 back East.
Still, that gives you two games and you can bounce around, right? Maybe not. How many hockey fans don't have a favorite team? Not many. Most have a particular team they follow. Some are more into it than others, some are more fickle to see what's going on elsewhere, but I would say a majority would watch their team for one of those games. That blocks out about two and a half of the five hours, leaving you with a maximum of three hours for flicking around to catch other games. Unless you watched your team's post game show. Or pre-game show. Or both if your team did both yesterday. So, that's even less time to flick around. With most of them starting early, the games dwindled down to fewer and fewer.
A wonderful day of hockey for me used to be it would start at 10:00 AM with a 1:00 PM back east start, maybe the Devils or the Bruins. That would be followed by a 1:00 PM game, then the Hockey Night in Canada game(s) at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. If I was lucky, the Kings or Ducks would have a 7:30PM that I could jump over to catch the end of if I watched the second half of the HNIC double header. That would give me hockey from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM or maybe even 10:30 PM. Basically, 12 hours of hockey. Then, they stopped the 1:00 PM starts. I had a 3 hours gap in the middle of it. I hated it. Still do. Mom liked it. When I was over at my parents' place, she knew she could go shopping then and I'd help her.
Maybe you say they're trying to avoid college football. It's on all day. (started at 9:00 AM Pacific yesterday, and had games starting as late at just after 7:00 PM) Spread the games out so we can watch more, especially with no US national coverage beyond the NHL Network. (Still small time to many people.) Folks trying out the Center Ice package (like on DirecTV's month long preview) might actually get hooked if they think it's on all the time. But if they think the games are always clustered up like yesterday, they might not go for it.
15 games on a Saturday sounds great for a hockey fan like me with Center Ice. I'd be able to watch a lot of hockey right? Wrong! The games were all scheduled to take place in about a five and a half hour period with the first games at 4:00 PM Pacific (7:00 PM Eastern). The last games started at 7:00 here on the West Coast, and 10:00 back East.
Still, that gives you two games and you can bounce around, right? Maybe not. How many hockey fans don't have a favorite team? Not many. Most have a particular team they follow. Some are more into it than others, some are more fickle to see what's going on elsewhere, but I would say a majority would watch their team for one of those games. That blocks out about two and a half of the five hours, leaving you with a maximum of three hours for flicking around to catch other games. Unless you watched your team's post game show. Or pre-game show. Or both if your team did both yesterday. So, that's even less time to flick around. With most of them starting early, the games dwindled down to fewer and fewer.
A wonderful day of hockey for me used to be it would start at 10:00 AM with a 1:00 PM back east start, maybe the Devils or the Bruins. That would be followed by a 1:00 PM game, then the Hockey Night in Canada game(s) at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. If I was lucky, the Kings or Ducks would have a 7:30PM that I could jump over to catch the end of if I watched the second half of the HNIC double header. That would give me hockey from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM or maybe even 10:30 PM. Basically, 12 hours of hockey. Then, they stopped the 1:00 PM starts. I had a 3 hours gap in the middle of it. I hated it. Still do. Mom liked it. When I was over at my parents' place, she knew she could go shopping then and I'd help her.
Maybe you say they're trying to avoid college football. It's on all day. (started at 9:00 AM Pacific yesterday, and had games starting as late at just after 7:00 PM) Spread the games out so we can watch more, especially with no US national coverage beyond the NHL Network. (Still small time to many people.) Folks trying out the Center Ice package (like on DirecTV's month long preview) might actually get hooked if they think it's on all the time. But if they think the games are always clustered up like yesterday, they might not go for it.
Quakes drop season finale to Galaxy
The San Jose Earthquakes finished up their season finale 3 game road trip with a 2-0 loss to the LA Galaxy. The win caps the turnaround for the Galaxy as they put up the best record in the Western Conference and now have home field advantage through the playoffs.
The first goal of the match came at the 24th minute. Landon Donovan tried to cross the ball in, but Bobby Burling deflected it. Unfortunately, it turned into a looping deflection that goalkeeper Joe Cannon just could not get to. The good news for Quakes fan who still hate Donovan is that it was ruled an own goal to Burling, so Donovan didn't get credit for the goal. The Quakes were almost able to answer off a free kick moments later, but Brandon McDonald's header was knocked away by the quick reflexes of Donovan Ricketts. The teams went into halftime with the Galaxy up 1-0.
Quakes midfielders Ramon Sanchez and Simon Elliott never really got involved in the play, probably hurting the Quakes chances to really develop offense well. At the 66th minute, the Quakes tried to put some spark in the lineup, bringing in Quincy Amarikwa for Shea Salinas. Amarikwa went up top to join Ryan Johnson, pushing Arturo Alvarez back into Salinas' midfield spot.
Around the 75th minute, the Galaxy's David Beckham found Bobby Convey with a studs up challenge, putting Convey down on the turf for a bit. Becks was not cautioned on the play, but perhaps he should have been. Cannon came out of his goal to exchange words with Becks about the tackle, and while we couldn't hear on the TV broadcast, I could they weren't kind. While you like to see your players passionate, you like to see your keeper stay out of those fracases, especially when they're not in the penalty area. Did this affect Cannon's play on the next exchange? I don't know, but with Chris Klein springing Donovan forward, Donovan was able to touch it past a challenging Cannon for the 2-0 goal.
Beckham was subbed out at the 86th minute with the question still lingering of what will happen at the end of the year? Will he exercise his option to end his contract with MLS and the Galaxy? Will he decide to stay, but they work out a loan again to AC Milan? Beckham wants to play in the upcoming World Cup, but his spot is not guaranteed. Playing for a high level European team would help get him into the best possible form. I would say he has a chance to as he did play in qualifying matches while under the previous loan. The question is if he can contribute enough to be beneficial. I think for him to have any hope of it, any loan would have to be for up to the World Cup. They should work that out after the playoffs, but before the loan starts. None of the "loan until the start of the MLS season" and follow on soap opera of "is he coming back to MLS or not?"
For the Quakes, some lingering questions. Why is our distribution out of the back so poor? Is it that Cannon's not putting the ball where he should be? Or is it our field players not getting to the right spots? I'm not talking the times when the ball is shanked, but when a decent kick down field is done and there's no one near when it comes down. After taking a lot of corner kicks this year, Bobby Convey wasn't taking them, and wasn't anywhere near the box in the game. Why? I would have liked the broadcast to have picked up on that, and said something about it. Was it his lingering hamstring injury? Or, did we want his speed out there to help deal with Donovan as he seemed to be at midfield. But, is that a case of the Galaxy then dictating our offense by forcing us to spend a speedy, should be decent offensive player on a defensive responsibility?
Now it's time for my rant. While I didn't want a lot of Quakes broadcasts this year, part of that is because it's just not entertaining for me. They seem to think that the game isn't interesting and have to spend all 90 minutes talking about something. Or, perhaps John Shrader wants to demonstrate how much he knows by telling us factoids about the players, coaches, etc. Too bad you got a fact wrong last night John. (Kovalenko's time with DC United didn't overlap with Bruce Arena, and you had to correct yourself on air!) It just seems to take away from what's going on. Instead of really getting into the game, I get cheesed off at the broadcast because it's so distracting! The commentary should add to the game, not overshadow what's going on. I'm tuning in to watch a soccer match, not listen to John & Troy Dayak talk about a game. It's only made worse when we can see players get misidentified. Why? They shifted positions because of a substitution, something that should be expected. Instead, the guy that was subbed off was just called out for no one important - just the HIGHEST PAID PLAYER ON THE GALAXY DAVID BECKHAM! Speaking of Beckham, in the open of the broadcast, it was mentioned that it was news that he was starting. Why? Never answered, so I'm left hanging.
The broadcast's problems don't end up in the booth. The truck is to blame too. I know that sometimes they just grab the feed from someone else and put their own commentary on top of it, but that doesn't excuse poor decisions. Someone still made them, and they can be improved. What did I see wrong last night? Lots of shots away from the action. Hero shots on someone, replays, etc. I could not believe that at the 43rd minute they showed the only goal of the game again. I mean, you've got halftime just a fwe minutes away, you're going to show highlights, and a goal is highlights. It's not like you've got more than 17 minutes of highlights, right? One goal. Why, you're probably gonna scramble for 2 minutes worth without showing the goal 17 times. Why show the goal again just before halftime when there's game action going on?!?!?!?
To be fair, it's not just the Quakes or even MLS broadcasts that suffer from poor direction. Broadcasts on ESPN also suffer from this. Another thing though that irks me, especially when a game is on a large network is when they can't pick a start time that works with the sunlight. If the field is partially shadowed, you may not be able to see some of the action. I've noticed the cameras seem to be set to pick up the shadow well (and the sunlit shots are blindingly bright), or the sunlit areas (and when they run into shadow, you're glad they're wearing white socks and the ball is white). It's not like the sun is a surprise. It's there every day, and what shadows are cast should be well know. So, pick a start time that doesn't kill the broadcast. (You TV producers in Europe need to listen to this too!)
As long as I'm ranting, what's up with the Quakes Insider? Did the Quakes stop sending this out after the last home game? Or did they just stop sending it to me? One of my complaints all season long has been the availability and accuracy of information. There were no lineups available from the Barcelona/Chivas game. Sure, there may have been something online, but I wasn't that inclined to go looking. I feel something should have been provided. The MLS game notes are a joke. I think the information is two days old, so the starting lineups aren't always accurate. I know injuries happen, but sometimes the stuff is way out there. Pressure needs to be put on the league to make these more useful, or the team needs to produce something more up to date to pass out.
Yeah, I'm pretty frustrated with the Quakes this year, both on and off the field. That's probably partially coloring my views, but I think the broadcasts can really improve and the availability of information from official sources can certainly improve. They could also get a little luckier in the scheduling. Their last 4 games of the season were a midweek home finale, and three road games. (this after an inexplicable extended break with no league matches for around 2 weeks.)
The first goal of the match came at the 24th minute. Landon Donovan tried to cross the ball in, but Bobby Burling deflected it. Unfortunately, it turned into a looping deflection that goalkeeper Joe Cannon just could not get to. The good news for Quakes fan who still hate Donovan is that it was ruled an own goal to Burling, so Donovan didn't get credit for the goal. The Quakes were almost able to answer off a free kick moments later, but Brandon McDonald's header was knocked away by the quick reflexes of Donovan Ricketts. The teams went into halftime with the Galaxy up 1-0.
Quakes midfielders Ramon Sanchez and Simon Elliott never really got involved in the play, probably hurting the Quakes chances to really develop offense well. At the 66th minute, the Quakes tried to put some spark in the lineup, bringing in Quincy Amarikwa for Shea Salinas. Amarikwa went up top to join Ryan Johnson, pushing Arturo Alvarez back into Salinas' midfield spot.
Around the 75th minute, the Galaxy's David Beckham found Bobby Convey with a studs up challenge, putting Convey down on the turf for a bit. Becks was not cautioned on the play, but perhaps he should have been. Cannon came out of his goal to exchange words with Becks about the tackle, and while we couldn't hear on the TV broadcast, I could they weren't kind. While you like to see your players passionate, you like to see your keeper stay out of those fracases, especially when they're not in the penalty area. Did this affect Cannon's play on the next exchange? I don't know, but with Chris Klein springing Donovan forward, Donovan was able to touch it past a challenging Cannon for the 2-0 goal.
Beckham was subbed out at the 86th minute with the question still lingering of what will happen at the end of the year? Will he exercise his option to end his contract with MLS and the Galaxy? Will he decide to stay, but they work out a loan again to AC Milan? Beckham wants to play in the upcoming World Cup, but his spot is not guaranteed. Playing for a high level European team would help get him into the best possible form. I would say he has a chance to as he did play in qualifying matches while under the previous loan. The question is if he can contribute enough to be beneficial. I think for him to have any hope of it, any loan would have to be for up to the World Cup. They should work that out after the playoffs, but before the loan starts. None of the "loan until the start of the MLS season" and follow on soap opera of "is he coming back to MLS or not?"
For the Quakes, some lingering questions. Why is our distribution out of the back so poor? Is it that Cannon's not putting the ball where he should be? Or is it our field players not getting to the right spots? I'm not talking the times when the ball is shanked, but when a decent kick down field is done and there's no one near when it comes down. After taking a lot of corner kicks this year, Bobby Convey wasn't taking them, and wasn't anywhere near the box in the game. Why? I would have liked the broadcast to have picked up on that, and said something about it. Was it his lingering hamstring injury? Or, did we want his speed out there to help deal with Donovan as he seemed to be at midfield. But, is that a case of the Galaxy then dictating our offense by forcing us to spend a speedy, should be decent offensive player on a defensive responsibility?
Now it's time for my rant. While I didn't want a lot of Quakes broadcasts this year, part of that is because it's just not entertaining for me. They seem to think that the game isn't interesting and have to spend all 90 minutes talking about something. Or, perhaps John Shrader wants to demonstrate how much he knows by telling us factoids about the players, coaches, etc. Too bad you got a fact wrong last night John. (Kovalenko's time with DC United didn't overlap with Bruce Arena, and you had to correct yourself on air!) It just seems to take away from what's going on. Instead of really getting into the game, I get cheesed off at the broadcast because it's so distracting! The commentary should add to the game, not overshadow what's going on. I'm tuning in to watch a soccer match, not listen to John & Troy Dayak talk about a game. It's only made worse when we can see players get misidentified. Why? They shifted positions because of a substitution, something that should be expected. Instead, the guy that was subbed off was just called out for no one important - just the HIGHEST PAID PLAYER ON THE GALAXY DAVID BECKHAM! Speaking of Beckham, in the open of the broadcast, it was mentioned that it was news that he was starting. Why? Never answered, so I'm left hanging.
The broadcast's problems don't end up in the booth. The truck is to blame too. I know that sometimes they just grab the feed from someone else and put their own commentary on top of it, but that doesn't excuse poor decisions. Someone still made them, and they can be improved. What did I see wrong last night? Lots of shots away from the action. Hero shots on someone, replays, etc. I could not believe that at the 43rd minute they showed the only goal of the game again. I mean, you've got halftime just a fwe minutes away, you're going to show highlights, and a goal is highlights. It's not like you've got more than 17 minutes of highlights, right? One goal. Why, you're probably gonna scramble for 2 minutes worth without showing the goal 17 times. Why show the goal again just before halftime when there's game action going on?!?!?!?
To be fair, it's not just the Quakes or even MLS broadcasts that suffer from poor direction. Broadcasts on ESPN also suffer from this. Another thing though that irks me, especially when a game is on a large network is when they can't pick a start time that works with the sunlight. If the field is partially shadowed, you may not be able to see some of the action. I've noticed the cameras seem to be set to pick up the shadow well (and the sunlit shots are blindingly bright), or the sunlit areas (and when they run into shadow, you're glad they're wearing white socks and the ball is white). It's not like the sun is a surprise. It's there every day, and what shadows are cast should be well know. So, pick a start time that doesn't kill the broadcast. (You TV producers in Europe need to listen to this too!)
As long as I'm ranting, what's up with the Quakes Insider? Did the Quakes stop sending this out after the last home game? Or did they just stop sending it to me? One of my complaints all season long has been the availability and accuracy of information. There were no lineups available from the Barcelona/Chivas game. Sure, there may have been something online, but I wasn't that inclined to go looking. I feel something should have been provided. The MLS game notes are a joke. I think the information is two days old, so the starting lineups aren't always accurate. I know injuries happen, but sometimes the stuff is way out there. Pressure needs to be put on the league to make these more useful, or the team needs to produce something more up to date to pass out.
Yeah, I'm pretty frustrated with the Quakes this year, both on and off the field. That's probably partially coloring my views, but I think the broadcasts can really improve and the availability of information from official sources can certainly improve. They could also get a little luckier in the scheduling. Their last 4 games of the season were a midweek home finale, and three road games. (this after an inexplicable extended break with no league matches for around 2 weeks.)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sharks sloppy in loss to Tampa Bay
After two days off, the Sharks continued their 6 game road trip in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning. The game got off to a bad start for the Sharks with Tampa scoring just 30 seconds in the game. It was rookie Jamie Wright's first career goal. (How many times have Sharks fans heard that one? Too many.)
From there, the Lightning played their game, and the Sharks seemed to be unable to really find their game the whole night. Before the first period was up, Tampa scored again to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
This was my first look at second overall draft pick Victor Hedman. He was paired with veteran Mattias Ohlund, also from Sweden signed as a free agent this past summer to mentor the 18 year old. Hedman looked good out there. One time he escaped from Joe Thornton's forechecking pressure to start the play up ice. He then followed the rush and was able to jump out into the offensive zone to corral the puck before making a backhand feed into the slot. Keep an eye on this kid as he may turn out to be something special, like his high draft status would imply.
The Sharks were able to cut the lead to 2-1 on Ryan Vesce's third goal, giving him a three game goal scoring streak. Vesce put in the rebound of Kent Huskins' shot from the point. Also assisting on the play was rookie defenseman Jason Demers, his eighth of the season. That ties Demers with Philadelphia's Matt Carle (former Shark) for the league lead for defenseman assists. (Not rookie d-men, but all d-men.) Tampa Bay answered when former first overall pick Steven Stamkos picked up a turnover from Evgeni Nabokov, skated around, whiffed on his shot, then got it away on the second attempt. Demers was unable to get away from Ryan Malone near the net to cover Stamkos and fell on the play.
Tampa was able to extend their lead to 4-1 on a shot from the blue line from Andrej Meszaros. Unfortunately for the Sharks, this was tipped by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, making it harder for Nabokov to stop. Still, a shot from that distance, I'm sure Nabby would like to have that one back.
The Sharks were able to make it interesting by scoring on the power play with 6:19 to go. This came from Dan Boyle after he moved well laterally to make a shooting lane. Not getting on the scoresheet on the play but still having a big impact was Devin Setoguchi. He screened Tampa's netminder Mike Smith, keeping him from seeing the shot. (I'm not sure, but Smith might still have not seen it.)
After pulling Nabokov for the extra attacker, the Sharks were unable to score. They had a great goal mouth scramble, including the referee in the zone jumping on top of the net to be in the right place to make a call. The pucked stayed alive, wasn't ever frozen, so play continued. Stick tap to the referee there for being there and getting it right. He could have easily stayed a little away and blown the play dead, but he got right up there, into a good vantage point and made the right call - no call.
Tampa was able to put the game away with an empty net goal from Stamkos, his second of the night. Alex Tanguay made a nice play here to head man the puck to Stamkos when he could have shot it at the empty net. Stamkos was in better position to skate clearly to the empty net and rag more time. Even though Tanguay is still looking for his first goal of the season, he made the unselfish play.
Tampa was able to play their game, putting pressure on the Sharks, winning more face offs than the Sharks, while the Sharks just seemed to be off a little the whole night. They weren't able to get much of anything going even though they shuffled around the lines. We'll see if they can regroup in time for Saturday's game in Atlanta. Also, now that we're 10 games in to the season and Thomas Greiss's only game action has been in relief, we're wondering if Greiss will get the nod for either the Atlanta game, or the Philly game the following day.
From there, the Lightning played their game, and the Sharks seemed to be unable to really find their game the whole night. Before the first period was up, Tampa scored again to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
This was my first look at second overall draft pick Victor Hedman. He was paired with veteran Mattias Ohlund, also from Sweden signed as a free agent this past summer to mentor the 18 year old. Hedman looked good out there. One time he escaped from Joe Thornton's forechecking pressure to start the play up ice. He then followed the rush and was able to jump out into the offensive zone to corral the puck before making a backhand feed into the slot. Keep an eye on this kid as he may turn out to be something special, like his high draft status would imply.
The Sharks were able to cut the lead to 2-1 on Ryan Vesce's third goal, giving him a three game goal scoring streak. Vesce put in the rebound of Kent Huskins' shot from the point. Also assisting on the play was rookie defenseman Jason Demers, his eighth of the season. That ties Demers with Philadelphia's Matt Carle (former Shark) for the league lead for defenseman assists. (Not rookie d-men, but all d-men.) Tampa Bay answered when former first overall pick Steven Stamkos picked up a turnover from Evgeni Nabokov, skated around, whiffed on his shot, then got it away on the second attempt. Demers was unable to get away from Ryan Malone near the net to cover Stamkos and fell on the play.
Tampa was able to extend their lead to 4-1 on a shot from the blue line from Andrej Meszaros. Unfortunately for the Sharks, this was tipped by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, making it harder for Nabokov to stop. Still, a shot from that distance, I'm sure Nabby would like to have that one back.
The Sharks were able to make it interesting by scoring on the power play with 6:19 to go. This came from Dan Boyle after he moved well laterally to make a shooting lane. Not getting on the scoresheet on the play but still having a big impact was Devin Setoguchi. He screened Tampa's netminder Mike Smith, keeping him from seeing the shot. (I'm not sure, but Smith might still have not seen it.)
After pulling Nabokov for the extra attacker, the Sharks were unable to score. They had a great goal mouth scramble, including the referee in the zone jumping on top of the net to be in the right place to make a call. The pucked stayed alive, wasn't ever frozen, so play continued. Stick tap to the referee there for being there and getting it right. He could have easily stayed a little away and blown the play dead, but he got right up there, into a good vantage point and made the right call - no call.
Tampa was able to put the game away with an empty net goal from Stamkos, his second of the night. Alex Tanguay made a nice play here to head man the puck to Stamkos when he could have shot it at the empty net. Stamkos was in better position to skate clearly to the empty net and rag more time. Even though Tanguay is still looking for his first goal of the season, he made the unselfish play.
Tampa was able to play their game, putting pressure on the Sharks, winning more face offs than the Sharks, while the Sharks just seemed to be off a little the whole night. They weren't able to get much of anything going even though they shuffled around the lines. We'll see if they can regroup in time for Saturday's game in Atlanta. Also, now that we're 10 games in to the season and Thomas Greiss's only game action has been in relief, we're wondering if Greiss will get the nod for either the Atlanta game, or the Philly game the following day.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sharks over the Rangers on national TV
Again, the Sharks had a slow start, spotting the Rangers 2 goals in the first. Then, they took Stephen Valiquette to school. Brad Staubitz gets things going with a goal from Jody Shelley. It was a 2 on 1 where Staubitz just beat him on the long side. Dany Heatley got his name on the score sheet with a little soccer action. He had to kick the puck up to his stick before evening the score.
Just over a minute in the second period, Jed Ortmeyer got his first as a Shark to take the lead. Devin Setoguchi scored the next two, the first on the power play, with Patrick Marleau assisting on both. The second ended with the Sharks up 5-2, and that was all for Valiquette.
Henrik Lundqvist came in to start the third. The Sharks kept up their play with Ryan Vesce getting his second career goal against his favorite team as he grew up. Vesce tipped in Heatley's shot for Heatley's second assist of the night. New York was finally able to answer with just under 3 minutes to go to cut the lead to 6-3. Patrick Marleau then put the game out of reach with the Sharks 7th goal of the game.
The game's three stars all went to the Sharks, with Setoguchi's 2 goals and assist earning him the first star. Heatley's 2 assists and dangerous play got him second star, while Marleau's 2 assists and capping goal got him the third star. In all honesty, they might have been picked before the last goal, so it might have been based on the 2 assists.
The concern to take away from this game is the slow start. While it is nice to put up the 2 points for the win, they need to work on starting better. At some point, they won't be able to rally from an early deficit.
Just over a minute in the second period, Jed Ortmeyer got his first as a Shark to take the lead. Devin Setoguchi scored the next two, the first on the power play, with Patrick Marleau assisting on both. The second ended with the Sharks up 5-2, and that was all for Valiquette.
Henrik Lundqvist came in to start the third. The Sharks kept up their play with Ryan Vesce getting his second career goal against his favorite team as he grew up. Vesce tipped in Heatley's shot for Heatley's second assist of the night. New York was finally able to answer with just under 3 minutes to go to cut the lead to 6-3. Patrick Marleau then put the game out of reach with the Sharks 7th goal of the game.
The game's three stars all went to the Sharks, with Setoguchi's 2 goals and assist earning him the first star. Heatley's 2 assists and dangerous play got him second star, while Marleau's 2 assists and capping goal got him the third star. In all honesty, they might have been picked before the last goal, so it might have been based on the 2 assists.
The concern to take away from this game is the slow start. While it is nice to put up the 2 points for the win, they need to work on starting better. At some point, they won't be able to rally from an early deficit.
Catching up with last week's games
Unfortunately, my internet connection went down last Tuesday (Oct 13th), and I had limited access until today. Here's some highlights of the last two games.
The Sharks opened their 6 game road trip in Washington to face the Capitals, featuring Alexander Ovechkin. The first period was pretty even, but wide open with lots of shots. Alexander Semin opened the scoring with a 5 on 3 goal, but Benn Ferriero answered off a nice give and go to make it 1-1 at the first intermission. Ovechkin broke the game open with 2 goals 28 seconds apart. His first came on a 2 on 2 that Kent Huskins improperly defended. He ended up switching lanes to go with the puck carrier, leaving Ovechkin all alone. That said, Mike Knuble made a nice saucer pass to get the puck to Ovechkin. It was one of those short saucer passes that are hard to make. On Ovechkin's second goal, he got caught up to, but kept position on his check to be able to score.
For the second game of the trip, despite it being against the Islanders, they stayed in Manhattan. Again, they got off to a slow start, spotting the Islanders the first goal on the power play. In our first look at John Tavares, he assisted on the goal, but that was all she wrote. In the second period, the Sharks play picked up, and they took the game over. Patrick Marleau evened the score, then Long Island native Ryan Vesce got his first career NHL goal to take the lead. While growing up, Vesce was a fan of the Rangers though, so he might have really liked scoring on the Islanders. Joe Thornton put the game away in the first minute of the third with a goal to make it 3-1. Devin Setoguchi capped the night with a nice goal, coming off the boards, taking the pass from Ryane Clowe, and popping it up into the roof of the net.
Sharks open the trip 1-1, staying in Manhattan to face the Rangers next.
The Sharks opened their 6 game road trip in Washington to face the Capitals, featuring Alexander Ovechkin. The first period was pretty even, but wide open with lots of shots. Alexander Semin opened the scoring with a 5 on 3 goal, but Benn Ferriero answered off a nice give and go to make it 1-1 at the first intermission. Ovechkin broke the game open with 2 goals 28 seconds apart. His first came on a 2 on 2 that Kent Huskins improperly defended. He ended up switching lanes to go with the puck carrier, leaving Ovechkin all alone. That said, Mike Knuble made a nice saucer pass to get the puck to Ovechkin. It was one of those short saucer passes that are hard to make. On Ovechkin's second goal, he got caught up to, but kept position on his check to be able to score.
For the second game of the trip, despite it being against the Islanders, they stayed in Manhattan. Again, they got off to a slow start, spotting the Islanders the first goal on the power play. In our first look at John Tavares, he assisted on the goal, but that was all she wrote. In the second period, the Sharks play picked up, and they took the game over. Patrick Marleau evened the score, then Long Island native Ryan Vesce got his first career NHL goal to take the lead. While growing up, Vesce was a fan of the Rangers though, so he might have really liked scoring on the Islanders. Joe Thornton put the game away in the first minute of the third with a goal to make it 3-1. Devin Setoguchi capped the night with a nice goal, coming off the boards, taking the pass from Ryane Clowe, and popping it up into the roof of the net.
Sharks open the trip 1-1, staying in Manhattan to face the Rangers next.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sharks fall to Coyotes in Shootout
In a game that was a rousing 0-0 through 65 minutes of play, the Sharks fell to the Coyotes in a shootout. There were a few chances, but not many, all night. Phoenix seemed to have more of the run of play, outshooting the Sharks 30-26.
As a game to watch, I found it boring. Phoenix is currently playing a very defensive style, which makes me think of The Trap. I was wondering if their new coach was Jacques Lemaire or not. There was a fight in the second period between Jody Shelley and Paul Bissonnette. It was fairly even, with each throwing many short lefts. Shelley when down after missing with a big right, with Bissonnette landing on top. Bissonnette isn't considered a heavyweight, but is listed only 5 pounds lighter than Shelley and held his own pretty good there. I think both guys were trying to get their teams going a little with this fight.
Ryane Clowe had a tough night, taking a penalty at the offensive blue line, seeming to hold on to the puck too much, and just not being too effective. He might be starting to get sawdust out of his stick now since he hadn't been able to contribute anything offensively, having 20 PIMs and a -1 to show for it.
Some of their best pressure came in the second period only after Dan Boyle jumped into the play, and stayed involved down on the left wing halfboards. Despite taking a penalty in the first to kill a power play, Boyle played a good game. He got the only Sharks goal in the shootout.
Steven Zalewski played 8 shifts in his NHL debut for 5:26 of total ice time. He had 1 missed shot and 1 takeaway on the night. Otherwise, he didn't really stand out for me, especially since he only had 1 shift in the 3rd for his last shift of the game. We'll see if they decide to keep him up with the big club and take him on the road or not.
Here's the highlights from NHL.com:
The Sharks now head out on the road for an Eastern Conference road swing. They will be out for 6 games, starting in Washington, DC, on to New York for both the Islanders and the Rangers, down to Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and finishing up in Philadelphia.
As a game to watch, I found it boring. Phoenix is currently playing a very defensive style, which makes me think of The Trap. I was wondering if their new coach was Jacques Lemaire or not. There was a fight in the second period between Jody Shelley and Paul Bissonnette. It was fairly even, with each throwing many short lefts. Shelley when down after missing with a big right, with Bissonnette landing on top. Bissonnette isn't considered a heavyweight, but is listed only 5 pounds lighter than Shelley and held his own pretty good there. I think both guys were trying to get their teams going a little with this fight.
Ryane Clowe had a tough night, taking a penalty at the offensive blue line, seeming to hold on to the puck too much, and just not being too effective. He might be starting to get sawdust out of his stick now since he hadn't been able to contribute anything offensively, having 20 PIMs and a -1 to show for it.
Some of their best pressure came in the second period only after Dan Boyle jumped into the play, and stayed involved down on the left wing halfboards. Despite taking a penalty in the first to kill a power play, Boyle played a good game. He got the only Sharks goal in the shootout.
Steven Zalewski played 8 shifts in his NHL debut for 5:26 of total ice time. He had 1 missed shot and 1 takeaway on the night. Otherwise, he didn't really stand out for me, especially since he only had 1 shift in the 3rd for his last shift of the game. We'll see if they decide to keep him up with the big club and take him on the road or not.
Here's the highlights from NHL.com:
The Sharks now head out on the road for an Eastern Conference road swing. They will be out for 6 games, starting in Washington, DC, on to New York for both the Islanders and the Rangers, down to Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and finishing up in Philadelphia.
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