The biggest news of the week is the Sharks comeback win against the best team in the east, the Boston Bruins.  This takes the sting off of the Sharks worst stretch all year, 3 losses in a row.  The Dudes break all the games down, try and pinpoint what changed between the disappointing losses and the impressive win, and take some listener emails.

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Like the great David Bowie, the Sharks fortunes vs. Boston could go both ways.

Way 1: The Sharks step up, like the men that they are, and take on the best team goin’ in the Boston Bruins. Boston will stutter after losing Ryder to an injury and perhaps be looking ahead to their road trip that begins after this home game. Sharks get their offensive flow going, match the Bruins physically, Nabby makes some huge saves, the power play clicks and Lemieux thrives in his big game element, and San Jose wins a close one 4-2. Evidence to support this: Sharks wins over Detroit at home, 4-2 and 6-5, Sharks win over NY Rangers 3-2, Sharks beat up Washington 7-2.

Way 2: The Sharks continue their recent slide and three game losing streak by getting skunked and outclassed by the current NHL King, the Boston Bruins. The top line gets shut out, the 3rd line continues to struggle, Shelley’s absence is felt as the Sharks can’t match the Bruins physically and Tim Thomas stands on his head. Sharks get drubbed 5-1 and this starts a seven game losing streak that continues through the rest of the road trip. Evidence to support this: the last two losses to Calgary, loss to Chicago 4-2 and two recent disappointing losses to non-playoff teams Columbus and Carolina.

So, which way does David Bowie swing in the wind today?

The Sharks are in their first and only bonafide slump of the season right now, losing (in the shootout) to Carolina at home, and losing last night (in OT) to Columbus.  Of course we’ve already talked about the home loss to Chicago and the lackluster games against Phoenix and Vancouver that preceded these.

So what’s the deal?  For me, there are two possibilities- a) the Sharks have not been as vigilant in carrying out McLellan’s playbook as they were early in the year with speed, tons of shots, puck recovery, and crashing the net; b) opponents have read the playbook, and are creating systems to break it.  Myself, I think it’s more a) than b), because when the Sharks do break into the offensive zone, there are missed opportunities to shoot, not as much hunger in the corners, and lots of delays with the puck instead of driving to the middle.

Such was the case with Columbus last night, where the Sharks seemed to dominate the game in some areas, but were playing from behind almost the entire time.  After winning the first two matchups of the season, the Sharks have now dropped the last two meetings in overtime, both in disappointing fashion.  You’ll remember the Boyle giveaway on 12/17 right to Nash, which ended up in a bang-bang play to Michael Peca and a goal.

Looking at the last few Columbus losses by three or more, they all had the Columbus giving up two goals or more in the first.  The Sharks just have to convert early in the game, maybe that’s why their plays got “prettier” as the game went along- making the extra pass to create even more time and space, as opposed to banging it into the slot and collecting garbage.  Columbus plays with the lead better than most- they are a hard back-checking crease-collapsing team when they get the lead, and plenty of times Sharks at the point were looking at 5 defensive players in front of them.

I’m sure this is part of my always-there pessimism showing, but my feeling is if the Sharks and the Blue Jackets play in the first round, starting tomorrow, the Sharks lose the series.  Out of Vancouver, Minnesota, Edmonton, and Columbus, the current 7-10 seeds, Columbus is clearly the worst draw for the Sharks.

Update: I swear I didn’t steal PJ’s opening line.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

Disclaimer: The following statement is written by a crazed Sharks hockey fan under the impression that star d-man, Dan Boyle, his one and only man crush, will be on the ice tonight vs. Carolina. If he is not, the following post need not and should not apply. All right reserved. Not property of the NHL, AHL, ECHL or Marcel Goc’s blog….

The Sharks are going to bust out like Jessica Simpson at the Hometown Buffet tonight. Five goals with a multi-point game from Dan Boyle. Check. A dazed and confused Carolina team wishing the charter plane for Phoenix left at 7:35pm. Check. A face full of ribs and bbq sauce for J-Simp. Yeesh. Check please.

I love the Sharks to break out tonight after a string of rather dull wins and a tough loss to the Blackhawks on Saturday. They’ve had a long time to think it over and this coaching staff does not like losing and I’m sure made that clear this week to the players. This is a great shot for the team to leave for the most brutal stretch of games they have all season on a extreme positive, a thorough trouncing of an average opponent. This type of game the Sharks thrive in and I don’t see Carolina having the goaltending to pull off a miracle here.

Three things happen tonight.
1: A final score of Sharks 5 Canes 1
2: Dan Boyle has two + points tonight in his return behind the wheel of the Stanley Cup machine.
3: Claude Lemieux will score his first goal as a Shark. Tonight.

Three things that won’t happen tonight.
1: Jody Shelley will not fight anyone. Carolina has the 2nd least fighting majors in the NHL and are the least penalized team in the NHL. Wussies.
2: Rod Brind’Amour will not play. He has been sent home with an undisclosed “prune overdose”.
3: I will eat a hot dog and somewhere…so will Jessica Simpson.

GO SHARKS! Our latest podcast here.

First of all, latest podcast here.  Second of all, if you want to hear the latest installment of ChompTalk complete with the Joe Pavelski interview, you can find it here.  Third of all, we are in the longest Sharks layoff until the end of the season, so it’s an opportunity to take a little stock and think about some hockey-related stuff that’s not mired in the day-to-day grind of games and injuries.

Along that vein, are JR and Jumbo the best interviews in hockey?  I just heard the Joe interview on Monday with E.J. Hradek and Don LaGreca, and there are few players out there as affable, easygoing, and willing as much as Joe.  He’ll talk about anything, doesn’t automatically default to the middle-of-the-road answer, and seems genuinely excited and pleased to do an interview.  Most players sound like they’d rather be having a root canal than being interviewed on the biggest hockey radio show in the U.S.  And JR, as he related to Adam Proteau, is quite vocal about how crappy player interviews generally are.  Sounds like Joe has learned from the master.  I bet Tom Holy and the media relations team have a hand in it too.

Since I’m a west coast American hockey fan, I’m often thinking about the differences between players and teams here, in less pressure-packed markets, and the hockey-mad places like Montreal, Toronto, and New York.  Makes me wonder if playing in a more laid-back city (yet still plenty hockey-mad) like San Jose tends to make players better at interviews, since they aren’t hounded by the press and fans all day every day.  Of course it depends on the player (Marleau gives about as wooden of an interview as I’ve ever seen) but I think the less traditional markets give naturally extroverted players more room to have fun in media situations.

Whatever it is, hearing Joe and JR obviously happy to be playing hockey, in San Jose no less, makes it that much easier to be a Sharks fan.

The Sharks keep rolling with a fairly easy win against Phoenix, but drop only their second game at home all year against Chicago. The dudes break it down, and examine the antipathy towards the ex-Shark, Brian Campbell. After previewing next week’s games, Mike and Doug continue their Movin’ On Up segment, trying to guess which players might be traded.

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Last night was Exhibit A as to why the Sharks need Dan Boyle in the lineup.  Chicago is a speedy team with tons of young talent, and with the Sharks missing their best puckmoving blueliner (and his shutdown defensive partner) the number of defensive zone giveaways was staggering.  They had 24 giveaways total, 9 of which in the defensive zone.  To put this in perspective, San Jose had 11 total giveaways against Phoenix, and only 4 against Colorado.

Most of those defensive zone giveaways (forgive me for stating the obvious) was due to pressure.  The Hawks, after getting embarrassed Thursday night in L.A., clearly had a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.  With Boyle out of the lineup, we were looking at a Sharks defense not even as good as a year ago this time, which would have included Rivet, Carle, and McLaren.  Instead, we had Blake (upgrade) but Semenov and Joslin too.  This actually isn’t going to be another Semenov rant- he’s holding his own.  He even made a little move in the offensive zone once last night and drew a hooking call.  As far as Joslin goes,  it’s way to early to get on his back about anything.  He’s 21, and last night was his 10th NHL game.  He deserves some slack.

But I say again- the Sharks are a different team without Boyle.  Not a single aspect of the Sharks game wouldn’t have been improved by having him around. The questions are, how much worse are they without Boyle, and are they good enough to withstand a tough playoff opponent?  These are questions I hope we don’t have to answer.

FYI, Joe Pavelski will be live on the radio tonight on Chomp Talk, which takes place from 9-10pm. You can listen at http://1220kdow.com.  We will be taking callers during the Pavelski segment, so if there’s anything you want to ask him, make sure to tune in and call us at 1-800-516-1220.  Or just call during the other parts of the show to chime in on anything hockey related.