The night started great.

My wife was invited back to sing the national anthem and she also did “O’ Canada” for the first time and even though I’d completely biased, she nailed them both. When she sings, I get to sit in the penalty box during warm ups and watch the anthems from down on the ice – great stuff. I was pretty fired up about the game – a chance to see Petrecki in action versus some NHL caliber talent, a up close look at tryout players Hinote and Dandenault, another opportunity for Greiss to prove he could be a reliable NHL back-up to Nabby.

Long story short, the Sharks got hammered 6-2 and it was mostly brutal until the third period, when the outcome had been decided, but the Sharks finally got their act together offensively. It’s a little troubling when you can’t score on Andrew “Look My Legs Are Open” Raycroft, who has been maybe one of the worst NHL goalies the last two seasons in Colorado and Toronto. We really didn’t challenge him much all night, most of the shots he stopped were fairly routine.

Not many guys get a good grade tonight. It pains me to say that I didn’t even notice Petrecki enough to mention him in the blog, or Couture either for that matter. Both were fairly anonymous – we’ll see how Petrecki does in his second game after the butterflies are gone.

REGULARS WHO BOMBED
Kent Huskins – F+: Yikes, dude. You were on the ice for five of the six Vancouver goals. Holy cow, sir – you looked terrible in your own end. I hope this isn’t a trend for all former Ducks going in the toilet when they strap on Teal. Now, I’m being overdramatic cause it’s fun – and Huskins is better than this – but he sucked last night.

Not so fast Rob Blake, you sucked too my friend. Shake off those rusty skates, you were out there for four Vancouver goals. You looked decent on the powerplay, bombing away from the point for five shots – but not much physical play from Rob tonight – and you were Huskins partner for most of the night making an ugly couple. Not sure we’ll see that pair again. Needs work.

Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe also get a D+ last night. As McLellan alluded to in his postgame comments, how about a little leadership boys? The top line seemed all but willing to take it on the chin tonight cause the game “didn’t mean anything”. Not a great way to show the coach, the GM and us fans that the players Doug Wilson kept are ready to turn over a new one.

REGULARS WHO SHOWED UP
Vlasic: Do you know that he played 22 minutes last night and wasn’t out there for a single Canucks goal? How did he avoid it – well, he actually didn’t play poorly I guess. Hard to notice good play in a snowstorm, but Pickles gets out unscathed tonight for me.

FIGHTING FOR A ROSTER SPOT
McGinn: Our best offensive player of the night, he was out there for both Sharks goals. Looked full of energy and created some solid chances. With Malhotra around and his roster spot maybe not a lock, he was the main highlight of the night.

Stalock: Hard to give a solid evaluation because he came in after the game was well in hand in the second period, but he made some big saves that Greiss didn’t come close to making tonight and stopped 11 of 12 shots. The kid continues to impress.

Greiss: Doing his best Nabby in the playoffs impression, German Greiss loved to leave his five-hole open. He was brutal last night, giving up five goals on 14 shots. No excuses, big boys have to play back to back nights sometimes. Not good.

F. McLaren: He had a major league scrap with Desbiens who played for Manitoba last year – I bet these two have fought before. He might be the best fighter on the team out of the “goon” category and also he’s clearly the best overall player of the goons.

Dan Hinote: He got worked in a fight, but he did his “job” in trying to inspire the team at that time. He knows what he’s supposed to do. He scored a garbage goal and the guys who killed penalties tonight certainly didn’t do as well as he and Nichol did on Thursday. Does that help his cause?

Mattieu Dandenault: Meh. Didn’t show much of anything. He’s a #6 d-man who saw zero PK time.

WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY, GUY?
Joe Loprieno: Am I the only person who likes Joe Loprieno? He seems cut from the classic #6 d-man mold, big, responsible in his own zone. It should be noted that he also wasn’t on the ice for any Vancouver goals and he saw almost 3 minutes of PK time. Not going to make the team, but I’m curious to watch his development in Worcester. He was better than Mike Moore tonight, that’s for sure.

On Saturday I’m hoping for some Jumbo Joe/Heatley/Seto action and maybe an appearance by Manny Malhotra in Teal. I’m expecting to see Sexsmith or Nabby in net – if Nabby is going to play this early in preseason, it might be tonight so he doesn’t have to travel with the team on the road next week.

And here’s a random question that only us uber-Sharks nerds would ever notice. Where is Daniel Rahimi, the prospect that the Sharks got in the Ehrhoff/Luko trade. I know he is signed and I know he played in the AHL last year. I’m just wondering why he isn’t even on the training camp roster. Anyone got the skinny?