Was That Only a Week Ago?
March 29th, 2010, 11:10 am
Seems so long ago that the Sharks got crushed by the worst team in the NHL 5-1. But it’s only been eight days. I think Adrian Dater said it best (from Colorado’s perspective):
Here’s the problem: they didn’t win the game. And another: that wasn’t the real Sharks they played tonight. That was San Jose’s B Team. No Joe Thornton, no Evgeni Nabokov, no Rob Blake. First-line center, starting goalie, arguably the top D-man – not in the lineup.
Well, ok, maybe not. Blake is ‘arguably’ the Sharks’ top D-man? Please. But he was right in the first part- the Sharks were missing some key players, fought against a much better team than the Oilers and won. Despite the sinking feeling that inevitably comes with Jumbo being out of the lineup, the fact that the Sharks can still pull off wins against playoff teams is very encouraging. The latest news on Joe is that it might not be serious- tests are being done today (Pollak), and he’ll most likely be on the road trip. If he sits out a few games, it’s not the end of the world. It was particularly interesting to see how the Sharks would respond without an all-world passer in the lineup, and they responded exactly how I hoped they would- with gritty goals.
Despite my criticism for Todd McLellan this year about his (in my view) overplaying of Nabokov, one marked difference between this year and last is the care the coaching staff has taken with injured players. I think the lesson was learned from last year’s playoffs when Marleau played the Ducks series with a fairly serious knee injury. This is a situation I’m sure T-Mac does not want to replicate, and sitting Blake and Thornton is absolutely the right plan. I hope he sits both of them an extra game or two just to be sure. Blake could probably use the rest anyway, and we need Joe 100%. It also makes the last games more interesting – I like to watch Couture mature (I’m a poet and I don’t even know it), and the Demers-Vlasic combo could be the #2 pairing next year.
In other news, it seems Cheechoo has been suspended two games for this hit (thanks for the link, Joel)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqOkt1x9WbE[/youtube]
While I admire Cheech’s ingenuity with the poolhall-type combination shot, it was a pretty dangerous play, and deserves to sit.
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First! (Only joking… just in a good mood with this 4 game streak!)
You know, right about now, it seems like a great idea to have had a beer and a laugh when things seemed realy grim rather than getting carried away about the roof caving in!
BTW Mike – you referenced the radio show in the podcast the oher day, but my itunes stopped picking it up in October & can’t find any explanations on the Chopmboard website. Can you explain/look into it, as I have a long commute at the moment and could do with a weekly double dose of Mike…
Andy, unfortunately Chompboard is no more. The site recently came down. I think Chetan is looking into other hosting solutions, and I will let you know if I get any info on that. You can stream it live, but I imagine it’s at a very inopportune time where you are…
Latest show here: http://www.mediafire.com/?tm5mzj5jzln
http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_14779916?source=rss
According to Emmons, Joe’s injury is not serious, and he wanted to play last night but “just couldn’t.” PR spin?
I dont know the guys name… But on the NHL network, the show Power Play…. They had Trent Yawney on. The host, whose name I dont know, said that Joe’s injury was a bruised knee. He wasn’t quoting anything specific and I was wondering if he was trying to get some info out of Yawney or he just knew…???
To be fair to Colorado, its not like Greiss played like a backup. I thought he was very solid, I just wish TMac would give him a pat on the back every once in a while. I can’t imagine Nabby providing much better results than what Greiss turned in.
I’m interested to see how Blake responds to the day off, and whether Demers stays in the lineup. Fear the Fin floated the idea of playing 7 Dmen, what do you guys think? Give Demers 2-3 minutes a game of PP time, maybe 10 minutes at even strength, help cut Boyle’s PP and Blake’s even strength time down the stretch? It’s not like Staubitz plays much past 10 minutes into the first period anyways.