The Hockey Gods Have Given San Jose A Chance
March 28th, 2009, 11:17 am
Hundreds of Sharks fans probably did a double take this morning looking at the sports page when checking the standings. Islanders 2 Red Wings 0. WHAT? Thank you Hockey Gods!
After tonight, this whole “games in hand” business will be done. The Sharks and Red Wings will be on an even playing field, both teams will have seven games left to go. San Jose should be two points ahead after tonight against Phoenix, who have dropped five straight home games – but it’s hard to know who will actually be in the line-up tonight for San Jose. I’m expecting Rob Blake to be back tonight. UPDATE: HE IS NOT PLAYING TONIGHT, PER DAVID POLLAK, but not much has been said about Cheechoo’s health status….which makes me slightly nervous that he might be out longer than we expect. There will be no Ryane Clowe tonight, although that ten day time period first reported by David Pollak runs out by Monday’s game in Calgary, so I guess we can assume Clowe will return sometime next week either vs. the Flames or when the Sharks visit Edmonton.
Jamie McGinn has been more than holding his own in the absence of Clowe/Grier/Everyone else. He is making a very strong case to be in the starting 12 for Todd McLellan when the first round of the playoffs starts. His hustle and scoring ability will make the coaches seriously consider if he should take a slot from Shelley, Plihal or Lemieux when they get healthy in the first round. I like that he’s making it interesting.
After seeing what happened to Detroit last night, our Sharks need to be fully aware it could happen to them tonight. I think they will be aware of the “Islanders” factor and want revenge for losing to Phoenix on a cheap penalty at the end of the game last time they met. Sharks win in what I hope will be a run away victory.
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And Marleau disappears half way through the game never to return. Do we have any healthy NHL players left on this roster or do we need to count on Shelley to score goals for the rest of the season?
Marleau’s injury doesn’t seem to be too concerning based on Pollak’s description. Hopefully he is back on Monday.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks/2009/03/29/marleau-on-his-injury-after-win-over-phoenix-i-just-tweaked-something-in-my-lower-body/
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12024934?source=rss
Marleau isn’t expected to be playing the next two games, but all injured players are travelling with the team (including Mitchell). Blake and Clowe haven’t been skating yet though.
Yays for Nashville as we once again stay up 2 points in the standings with a game in hand. Thats two home losses in a row for the dead wings.
I watch the Wings game today and am glad they’re still blowing games because with our injury situation, we’re going to need all the help we can get.
Anyone concerned that Boston is the real threat to the President’s Trophy?
The Bruins are catching fire again, and with their remaining schedule could push 119 points. That’d require the Sharks taking 5 of the final 7. And they’ve got tougher matchups – starting tonight.
I’m not really concerned with the Presidents Trophy anymore. I’m pretty sure we can beat Boston in Boston if we had to and I’m thinking the Wings could potentially be upset before we ever see them.
Though, those aren’t the reasons I don’t care about the presidents trophy, I don’t care because I’m far too caught up in worrying about the health of the Sharks team. Everybody is getting hurt. We’re losing guys much faster than we’re getting them back at this point and there are only 2 weeks to go until the playoffs hit.