Like the great David Bowie, the Sharks fortunes vs. Boston could go both ways.

Way 1: The Sharks step up, like the men that they are, and take on the best team goin’ in the Boston Bruins. Boston will stutter after losing Ryder to an injury and perhaps be looking ahead to their road trip that begins after this home game. Sharks get their offensive flow going, match the Bruins physically, Nabby makes some huge saves, the power play clicks and Lemieux thrives in his big game element, and San Jose wins a close one 4-2. Evidence to support this: Sharks wins over Detroit at home, 4-2 and 6-5, Sharks win over NY Rangers 3-2, Sharks beat up Washington 7-2.

Way 2: The Sharks continue their recent slide and three game losing streak by getting skunked and outclassed by the current NHL King, the Boston Bruins. The top line gets shut out, the 3rd line continues to struggle, Shelley’s absence is felt as the Sharks can’t match the Bruins physically and Tim Thomas stands on his head. Sharks get drubbed 5-1 and this starts a seven game losing streak that continues through the rest of the road trip. Evidence to support this: the last two losses to Calgary, loss to Chicago 4-2 and two recent disappointing losses to non-playoff teams Columbus and Carolina.

So, which way does David Bowie swing in the wind today?

The Sharks are in their first and only bonafide slump of the season right now, losing (in the shootout) to Carolina at home, and losing last night (in OT) to Columbus.  Of course we’ve already talked about the home loss to Chicago and the lackluster games against Phoenix and Vancouver that preceded these.

So what’s the deal?  For me, there are two possibilities- a) the Sharks have not been as vigilant in carrying out McLellan’s playbook as they were early in the year with speed, tons of shots, puck recovery, and crashing the net; b) opponents have read the playbook, and are creating systems to break it.  Myself, I think it’s more a) than b), because when the Sharks do break into the offensive zone, there are missed opportunities to shoot, not as much hunger in the corners, and lots of delays with the puck instead of driving to the middle.

Such was the case with Columbus last night, where the Sharks seemed to dominate the game in some areas, but were playing from behind almost the entire time.  After winning the first two matchups of the season, the Sharks have now dropped the last two meetings in overtime, both in disappointing fashion.  You’ll remember the Boyle giveaway on 12/17 right to Nash, which ended up in a bang-bang play to Michael Peca and a goal.

Looking at the last few Columbus losses by three or more, they all had the Columbus giving up two goals or more in the first.  The Sharks just have to convert early in the game, maybe that’s why their plays got “prettier” as the game went along- making the extra pass to create even more time and space, as opposed to banging it into the slot and collecting garbage.  Columbus plays with the lead better than most- they are a hard back-checking crease-collapsing team when they get the lead, and plenty of times Sharks at the point were looking at 5 defensive players in front of them.

I’m sure this is part of my always-there pessimism showing, but my feeling is if the Sharks and the Blue Jackets play in the first round, starting tomorrow, the Sharks lose the series.  Out of Vancouver, Minnesota, Edmonton, and Columbus, the current 7-10 seeds, Columbus is clearly the worst draw for the Sharks.

Update: I swear I didn’t steal PJ’s opening line.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

Disclaimer: The following statement is written by a crazed Sharks hockey fan under the impression that star d-man, Dan Boyle, his one and only man crush, will be on the ice tonight vs. Carolina. If he is not, the following post need not and should not apply. All right reserved. Not property of the NHL, AHL, ECHL or Marcel Goc’s blog….

The Sharks are going to bust out like Jessica Simpson at the Hometown Buffet tonight. Five goals with a multi-point game from Dan Boyle. Check. A dazed and confused Carolina team wishing the charter plane for Phoenix left at 7:35pm. Check. A face full of ribs and bbq sauce for J-Simp. Yeesh. Check please.

I love the Sharks to break out tonight after a string of rather dull wins and a tough loss to the Blackhawks on Saturday. They’ve had a long time to think it over and this coaching staff does not like losing and I’m sure made that clear this week to the players. This is a great shot for the team to leave for the most brutal stretch of games they have all season on a extreme positive, a thorough trouncing of an average opponent. This type of game the Sharks thrive in and I don’t see Carolina having the goaltending to pull off a miracle here.

Three things happen tonight.
1: A final score of Sharks 5 Canes 1
2: Dan Boyle has two + points tonight in his return behind the wheel of the Stanley Cup machine.
3: Claude Lemieux will score his first goal as a Shark. Tonight.

Three things that won’t happen tonight.
1: Jody Shelley will not fight anyone. Carolina has the 2nd least fighting majors in the NHL and are the least penalized team in the NHL. Wussies.
2: Rod Brind’Amour will not play. He has been sent home with an undisclosed “prune overdose”.
3: I will eat a hot dog and somewhere…so will Jessica Simpson.

GO SHARKS! Our latest podcast here.

First of all, latest podcast here.  Second of all, if you want to hear the latest installment of ChompTalk complete with the Joe Pavelski interview, you can find it here.  Third of all, we are in the longest Sharks layoff until the end of the season, so it’s an opportunity to take a little stock and think about some hockey-related stuff that’s not mired in the day-to-day grind of games and injuries.

Along that vein, are JR and Jumbo the best interviews in hockey?  I just heard the Joe interview on Monday with E.J. Hradek and Don LaGreca, and there are few players out there as affable, easygoing, and willing as much as Joe.  He’ll talk about anything, doesn’t automatically default to the middle-of-the-road answer, and seems genuinely excited and pleased to do an interview.  Most players sound like they’d rather be having a root canal than being interviewed on the biggest hockey radio show in the U.S.  And JR, as he related to Adam Proteau, is quite vocal about how crappy player interviews generally are.  Sounds like Joe has learned from the master.  I bet Tom Holy and the media relations team have a hand in it too.

Since I’m a west coast American hockey fan, I’m often thinking about the differences between players and teams here, in less pressure-packed markets, and the hockey-mad places like Montreal, Toronto, and New York.  Makes me wonder if playing in a more laid-back city (yet still plenty hockey-mad) like San Jose tends to make players better at interviews, since they aren’t hounded by the press and fans all day every day.  Of course it depends on the player (Marleau gives about as wooden of an interview as I’ve ever seen) but I think the less traditional markets give naturally extroverted players more room to have fun in media situations.

Whatever it is, hearing Joe and JR obviously happy to be playing hockey, in San Jose no less, makes it that much easier to be a Sharks fan.

Last night was Exhibit A as to why the Sharks need Dan Boyle in the lineup.  Chicago is a speedy team with tons of young talent, and with the Sharks missing their best puckmoving blueliner (and his shutdown defensive partner) the number of defensive zone giveaways was staggering.  They had 24 giveaways total, 9 of which in the defensive zone.  To put this in perspective, San Jose had 11 total giveaways against Phoenix, and only 4 against Colorado.

Most of those defensive zone giveaways (forgive me for stating the obvious) was due to pressure.  The Hawks, after getting embarrassed Thursday night in L.A., clearly had a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.  With Boyle out of the lineup, we were looking at a Sharks defense not even as good as a year ago this time, which would have included Rivet, Carle, and McLaren.  Instead, we had Blake (upgrade) but Semenov and Joslin too.  This actually isn’t going to be another Semenov rant- he’s holding his own.  He even made a little move in the offensive zone once last night and drew a hooking call.  As far as Joslin goes,  it’s way to early to get on his back about anything.  He’s 21, and last night was his 10th NHL game.  He deserves some slack.

But I say again- the Sharks are a different team without Boyle.  Not a single aspect of the Sharks game wouldn’t have been improved by having him around. The questions are, how much worse are they without Boyle, and are they good enough to withstand a tough playoff opponent?  These are questions I hope we don’t have to answer.

FYI, Joe Pavelski will be live on the radio tonight on Chomp Talk, which takes place from 9-10pm. You can listen at http://1220kdow.com.  We will be taking callers during the Pavelski segment, so if there’s anything you want to ask him, make sure to tune in and call us at 1-800-516-1220.  Or just call during the other parts of the show to chime in on anything hockey related.

So the All Star break this year was bookended by boring games.  It happens.  For some more All-Star stuff and a discussion on the Avs game, check out our new podcast.  The Sharks managed to coast to a 3-0 win in Denver with very few moments of drama.  The Murray-Stewart tilt should have been a highlight, but even that was pretty lackluster.  With many of the teams’ exciting players out of the lineup- Sakic, Stasny, Boyle- there wasn’t much to hang your hat on other than some spectacular saves by Nabby.

And I know were only two games into the Lemieux era, but isn’t the 4th line about twenty times better than it was?  They had another great scoring chance last night, mostly due to Pepe.  Here’s his line – 9:30 TOI, 2 shots, 3 hits.  And he’s bringing his linemates along with him- Plihal had 9:58, and Shelley 6:36.  It’s hard to really evaluate 4th lines, because you hear so little about them, but when JR comes back, isn’t JR-Pepe-Plihal one of the best 4th lines in the league?  It’s certainly better than Ben Guite-Chris Steward-David Jones.

Actually, might be fun to compare some fourth lines (I’m using TOI to determine the 4th line, which may or may not be a good idea):

Detroit: Maltby-Kopecky-Mikael Samuelsson

Boston: Shawn Thornton-Petteri Nokelainen-Martin St. Pierre

Calgary: Eric Nystrom-Andre Roy-Dustin Boyd

I might give the nod to Detroit here on this list, but that’s only because we haven’t seen the full magic yet.  It’s too bad we had to ditch Lemieux Watch on the podcast, it was a fun segment, but I’d rather have a producing fourth line than a good bit.  I think.

Whether you think the All Star game is amazing (some) or a snooze-fest (me), the 2nd half of the best season in Sharks history is soon upon us. This year we can all look ourselves in the mirror and say, “Damn, we look good…how might I look holding a Cup?”.

This whole “you have to sit out a game” business from Bettman being enforced is such a double standard by the league. Let me get this straight: The NHL supports teams and players being wildly vague about a players injury, encouraging deception to protect the players health but when it comes to a meaningless exhibition game, the NHL expects full disclosure and for a player to travel, even if injured, for the good of the league and at the detriment of their team. This is garbage. Sure, Crosby flew out and participated in non-NHL activities while injured, which I’m sure Penguins management was thrilled about him getting on a plane, staying in a hotel and risking more injury while they battle for a playoff spot. Come on Bettman. If you really want to punish these guys, how about if they refuse an All-Star assignment, they are no longer eligible to participate in the All Star festivities the next year, no matter what kind of year they are having. Let’s keep our focus on what really matters here, the season. Yeesh.

I will watch the game tomorrow to see our boys in action, but before then, let’s speculate on the trade deadline and the race for playoff positioning.

– The Sharks will end up with the #1 seed for the Western Conference and the franchises first ever President’s Trophy.

– The Red Wings will be the #2 seed and add an impact veteran player to their roster who will be a pending UFA. Keith Tkachuk and Mike Knuble fit this description.

– The Phoenix Coyotes, while vying for a playoff spot, will have a fire sale of high priced players including Jokinen and Jovo-Cop.

– Columbus Blue Jackets will make the playoffs on the back of Calder Trophy winner, Steve Mason.

– Torrey Mitchell will be like adding a player at the trade deadline, so ironically the Sharks will actually be a seller – moving a forward to clear space for Mitchell. Goc or Plihal are the likely suspects.

Sharks are back on Tuesday against a bunch of no-namers in Avalanche uniforms. See you then.

I thought Claude Lemieux played very well in his debut for the Sharks last night; he was hitting people, trying to make plays with the puck, and managed to keep up skating-wise.  The rest of the Sharks?  Not so much.  The Canucks did their best Wild impression, but the top line woke up just in time to tie the game with 40 seconds left, and win it in overtime.

Reading the media reports, I found this quote in the TSN article from Roberto Luongo: “We worked like animals for 59 minutes and played exactly the way we wanted to play against them.”  Excuse me, whaa?  Your team has fourteen shots total in the game, you play a 1-4 or 0-5 for the second half, and that’s exactly how you want to play?  Hmm, maybe now we know why Vancouver is 1-4-1 in their last six.

The Sharks, be it because of Vancouver’s stifling defensive front, general apathy due to the All-Star break, or a letdown because of the exciting game against the Wings, didn’t find a way to crack the puzzle at all in the first 55 minutes, making for one of the dullest games of the year.  But again, and I’m sounding like a broken record here, the Sharks find a way to come back, like they’ve done countless other times this season.

Rest up, boys, there’s plenty more hockey to come.  And oh yeah, listen to our latest podcast if you get bored.

It truly is a momentous occasion- Claude Lemieux makes his debut for the Sharks tonight.  Why, did something else important happen today?  Actually, it’s funny because I remember election night- Sharks vs. Wild.  And now I will remember inauguration night – Sharks vs. Canucks, with the Lemieux debut.  You can say Obama was pathetic at bowling, but I sure wouldn’t want to see him lace ’em up at the Verizon Center, especially after Chris Clark says it’s the worst ice in the league.

Actually, I’m really excited to see Claude, maybe overly so.  Roenick said on NHL Live today that he’s in really amazing shape.  JR also said post-lockout hockey is based on skating ability, and it looks like Claude can keep up just fine.  All I know is, the rotating cast of characters on the fourth line haven’t exactly made huge waves; might as well give the greatest Pro ever on Pros vs. Joes a shot.  Anyone who’s willing to high-stick an amateur player in order to win a worthless puck battle on a crappy reality game show is aces in my book.

The improbable has happened.  Claude Lemieux has been called up to the Sharks.  Although he’s 43 years old and hasn’t played an NHL game in five years, Lemieux will be on the Sharks club tomorrow night, and we will be there.

If Claude can still cut it in the NHL (and that’s still an ‘if’) the fourth line now has a new, much more annoying edge.  Staubitz worked and tried hard, but he’s no agitator.  He plays hard, clean, physical hockey.  Claude could do all that with some skill with the puck, and the willingness to go close to the line, or even a bit over it, to help his team.

That sound you hear is Kris Draper sh!##ing his pants.