If the Sharks were looking for someone to step up and provide a leadership role on the ice, they got that performance tonight from a player – just not the one they were probably expecting. After blowing a 3-0 lead, Patrick Marleau put the team on his back and delivered the game tying and game winning goals, giving the Sharks a 5-4 OT victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in their third meaningless-season game. Heatley looked a little tight at times and only took one shot – he’s clearly still finding his way with Seto and Jumbo, but you could see moments, especially on the powerplay, where this is going to be something pretty special. Heatley just loves to sit in the crease and wait – which was great to see cause not many of the Sharks seem to like that gig. It’s Heatley’s bag baby and when they figure it out – big things, yes sir – big things.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights and lowlights:

I was stoked that Nick Petrecki was paired with Dan Boyle tonight…until he got run for a game misconduct after only five minutes were played. Here’s what I saw – and feel free to weigh in if you were there cause there was a ton going on at the time, it was hard to see it all go down. Scott Nichol took a tripping minor and on his way to the box, he tried to take someone with him and started barking at Heshka on Phoenix who then went after Nichol and Staubitz stepped in. A flurry of gloves and helmets went flying and suddenly we had three fights going on – McLaren and Fritz, Staubitz and Heshka and Petrecki had his mitts on two Phoenix players and they were dragging each other around to center ice. He then scrapped with Vernan Fiddler and next thing we knew, both he and Fiddler got tossed. My best guess is he got a third man somehow? Not sure what happened but I felt robbed of seeing his potential breakout performance with Boyle.

As for the forwards, Jamie McGinn again was very strong and is going to make it really hard on McLellan to not keep him around. He buried a sweet pass from Dan Boyle on the powerplay and logged 3:26 shutout PK minutes. Pavelski and Clowe had a little redemption tonight, each notching one point and a +1. That line played a lot more effectively tonight than Friday for sure. Stats won’t back this up, but I want to say that I’m a Scott Nichol fan. He is a fireball and in the middle of everything. My favorite moment near the end of the game after he took a hit, he followed the player to the bench and cut him off while the Coyote player was trying to make a chance, jawing in his face about his mother, or something colorful. He almost got the dude to take a penalty in a tie game. He’s going to be a fun guy to watch this year and will make more of an impact than Goc. Did I mention he won 71% of his faceoffs?

Everyone else kind of faded into obscurity – Staubitz had two fights but offered little in the way of hockey skill and McLaren and Mashinter were pretty anonymous tonight. Logan Couture had two bright spots near the end, he fed a great pass to Staubitz who promptly choked and couldn’t get the shot off and then Couture was in on the tying goal after having crashed the net. The guys who sit behind me were saying Staubitz is a “lock” to make this team and I still just don’t see it. I like the guy as far as a fighter, but he can’t play the PK or the PP – so how can the Sharks carry both Staubitz and Shelley? They are duplicate parts.

Poor Douglas Murray. I think the big guy was just plain tired by the third period, but Murray was on the ice for all three Phoenix third period goals. In his defense, the dude had to play 28 minutes tonight – like 10-12 more than he ever plays and I thought he looked very good in the first two periods, even leading the break a few times and he delivered a few big hits – but the stats don’t lie.
Derek Joslin played some big minutes and had a good stat line (1 point and +2) but I noticed he likes to hit people high, which kind of turned me off. Demers got used a few times in his own end, he’s not ready for primetime yet. Callahan was okay actually, seemed steady but nothing to write home about. Dan Boyle loves goals, he was on the ice for six of them tonight – luckily four of them were Sharks goals.

I don’t blame Nabby for the meltdown in the third period and thought he looked sharp for the first 40 minutes. He was a victim of some bad and tired D that lost focus after they thought the game was over. Let’s not throw him under the bus.

I’m expecting there to be some pretty significant cuts made tomorrow since Worcester starts their training camp on Tuesday and their first preseason game on Wednesday of next week. Until then, we soldier on for more preseason action with Mighty Marleau leading the way. “Here He Comes To Save The Day…Now That The C Has Gone Away”

UPDATE:
Here are the six roster cuts. I guess maybe the biggest surprises might be that Brandon Mashinter is still in camp and McLellan chose to keep Moore, Callahan and Demers. Thought one of them might get sent down…