I’m Sorry Scott Nichol, I Didn’t See You There
November 18th, 2008, 9:00 am
Maybe the only thing more satisfying than the Sharks domination of the Preds last night was the manner in which they answered the proverbial bell. Earlier in the game, the Sharks allowed the Preds (ok, really just Jordin Tootoo) to get themselves into penalty trouble, and the red-hot PP ran up the score a bit. Then later, when the Preds were desperately trying to hang onto a few shreds of dignity, the Sharks dropped the gloves with enthusiasm. The Thornton-Nichol fight was just hilarious. Joe only had 7 or 8 inches on Nicol, and was waiting for Nicol to punch himself out on Joe’s forearm. Once Nicol (and somehow, fittingly, my fingers always type “Nicole”) realized he had no chance, he just swung his wee body around and took Joe down like a toddler swings on a parent’s arm. If that fight lasted 5 seconds longer Nicol would have been on a receiving end of a haymaker.
Greg de Vries wasn’t so lucky. While many, including myself, noticed that Shelley’s fight card didn’t have a lot in the W column last year, he’s sure beating down some bastards this year. de Vries ate a huge uppercut in the second bout and quickly lost his taste for fisticuffs. Staubitz was blind sided by Tootoo earlier, and came back with a respectable performace in the rematch. Tootoo only picked Staubitz after he realized he didn’t want any part of Ryane Clowe. And somehow, I got the feeling that even more Sharks would have been willing and able to give it a go if the need arose.
That’s just how this team is rolling right now. They will meet you and beat you where you are. Goalie having an off night? The Sharks will run it up en route to a 6-1 victory. Speedy young team with good D? We’ll trade body blows and come out on top, like Chicago. And last night they showed that if you are dumb enough to get into penalty trouble, the Sharks will do their work and answer the cheapies when the game is out of reach.
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The Sharks seemed to have control most of the time, but, they looked pretty lackadaisical in the third. Not sure if it was the back to back game or the extended delay due to the Arnott injury, but I would have liked to see them with more jump.
Also, Cheech hasn’t looked that good since returning from the injury. Before the injury even though he wasn’t scoring that often he looked like he was putting in a lot of work along the boards, but the last two games he seems to still be finding his rhythm. Hopefully the break will allow him to heal more and bounce back.
-b
Agree about Cheech, disagree about the third. The Preds looked like they were out for blood, especially after Arnott got hurt. I didn’t see it so much as a failure to stomp on ’em when they were down as a desire to keep all the Sharks ambulatory.
Not that we didn’t know this already, but the biggest take away for me is that Jordan Tootoo is a top notch cheap shot artist.
You know I find it interesting when reading people’s take on the game, there was one scrap that everyone overlooks….
In third, when they did come out pretty flat in the beginning. Patty took a nasty hit (I don’t recall who in particular) on the side boards while trying to move the puck off ice. Lukovich skated up ice and went after the guy and started roughing him up. Luko wound up taking a 2 minute minor for Roughing, but I think his action on that play speaks with volume…. Marleau has the past several season been criticized for his lack of leadership as Captain…. After all we can’t forget what happened against Calgary after the Sarich hit… Now a veteran, a new comer to the team is coming up big in defense of his Captain… Could it be that Marleau has finally found that spark of leadership? He’s certainly playing like with 22 points, and on pace for a 90 point season
I think that’s a great point Rabid. Luko is that type of character guy who will not allow our stars to be roughed up and a true sign of the respect a two time Cup winner has for Captain Pat.