Great homestand. Three convincing wins over two teams scrapping for a playoff spot and one crapping their way to the #2 pick in the entry draft. BUT – the best part by far was seeing Shelley, Plihal and J.R. return to the ice on Saturday. Shelley’s fight ignited, Plihal was an improvement over any of the three AHL-ers, and J.R. was classic J.R.

Can I just say, I love the Shelley/JR/Lemieux line. Their ice time was effective, they held possession, had good scoring chances, played the body and were a general pain in the ass. I think we should vote on the next podcast of an appropriate title for this line. They deserve a title, don’t ya think?

The schedule just seems unfair. The Sharks have four tough road games in Dallas, Detroit, Montreal and Ottawa in the next week. After just returning from a trip to the East coast, here we go again. The Sharks are getting Luko back just in the nick of time – they are going to need all hands on deck to a winning record on this trip. The spotlight will be on the game in Detroit, the battleground for the #1 spot and home ice for the inevitable, a Wings/Sharks Division Series in May.

As for Dallas, I think the Sharks can dispatch them rather quickly on Monday if they aren’t looking ahead to Detroit. The Sharks have owned the Stars this season, 3-0 so far including two wins in Dallas. The Stars are totally overmatched here and unless Marty Turco ate an entire Leprechaun, they have no shot.

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