I’ve only missed one home game this year- the 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville.  And I’m missing the game tonight.  But Mike, you say, the Sharks are rolling and they are playing Columbus, and they stink, right?  Right?

Well, not exactly.  Columbus is one point out of the playoff picture right now, and they are definitely on an upswing.  Their last two games they beat Washington, a division leader, and Vancouver, who was leading the division until they lost to the Jackets.  I want to call them the BJs, but I think Gary Bettman would suspend me for that.

Anyhoo, this Columbus team cooks with the same kind of recipe that has given the Sharks trouble this year.  Keep in mind ‘trouble’ is clearly a relative term for a team that has had the best NHL start since 1944.  Columbus is a well coached, aggressive team that will cycle down low, something the Panthers and Coyotes did to the Sharks with some success.  If we remember the last game versus the BJs (I’m playing with fire here), Rick Nash had two breakaways, and came up empty on both.  Nash has four points in his last two games, and 10 in his last 7.  If Nash gets those same chances tonight, he’ll bury at least one of ’em.

Is it finally time for the Sharks first regulation loss at home?  I’m a bit nervous.

I saw this quote online by Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell.

Scott Hartnell put it all in perspective of what the NHL is dealing with in terms of Avery:

“Every couple months, he comes out of the woodwork and does something off the wall,” Hartnell said. “He hasn’t been reprimanded for it. Maybe it’s time he takes a look in the mirror. He’s not doing the right things. He’s not being a role model for kids. It’s time to wake him up.”

This quote is coming from the guy who, with the game on the line last night in a 3-3 tie against Tampa Bay, decided the best way to defend Ryan Malone’s one on one breakaway was to throw his hockey glove at Malone as he shot the puck. Hartnell threw his glove at him, like side arm pitched it at Malone’s head like Dennis Eckersley to distract him. It was perhaps the most childish display of non-violent unsportsmanlike conduct I can remember.

Here’s the clip if you don’t believe me.

Way to be a role model for kids, Scott. Next time, maybe you’ll pull down your pants on the penalty kill to distract the other team?

Check out our latest podcast.

As a couple of our commenters noticed on the last post, our resident prognoticator grier has again made a perfect call.  The Sharks won the not-so-emotional Ron Wilson homecoming game 5-2.  After a 4-0 first period, the Sharks seemed to coast a bit, and Ron Wilson’s club continued to work as most Ron Wilson’s clubs tend to do.  But the talent differential between the Leafs and Sharks was apparent throughout the game.

As far as the Avery controversy goes, you’ll have to get our take from our latest podcast.  And if you can’t get enough of good radio programming, you can listen to the latest ChompTalk radio show here.

Quick note on the radio show- we will be giving away a big prize on December 14th.  The winner of a Sharks trivia contest will get a free admission into a 12-week beginner skating class at Sharks ice, which is worth quite a bit of money.  All you fans out there looking for a wintertime activity, time to polish off your Sharks trivia mind and lace ’em up.  We’ll take the first two callers interested and pit them against each other.  You’ll have one minute to answer up to 10 questions: 4 easy, 4 medium, and 2 hard.  You have 11 days to cram and exercise your dialing fingers.

Tonight marks Ron Wilson, Rob Zettler, Tim Hunter and Vesa Toskala’s first return to San Jose since they were all let go by our mastermind Doug Wilson. We welcome them back to the Tank tonight with open arms, I expect all of these men to get a huge ovation out of respect for their contributions to the Sharks over the years. I hold no animosity towards Ron Wilson. His system just plain didn’t match the talent Doug Wilson had in the cupboard. Plain and simple. I will give him a nice round of applause and then join my fellow Sharks fans in hoping we kick the Maple Leafs ass all the way back to Canada.

You don’t think this game has been circled on both teams calendars since the beginning of the year? This is Patrick Marleau’s chance to kick Ron Wilson in the nuts, and I have no doubt that he will show up and be tonight’s number one star. Ron Wilson will see first hand what the San Jose Sharks could have been and are this year, a legit Stanley Cup contender.

So I welcome back the former Sharks, except for Mark Bell who was here last summer serving prison time, so he’s already had a homecoming. Plus, he’s playing in the AHL for the Toronto Marlies right now. Say hi to Kyle McLaren for me, Mark.

Welcome back to San Jose boys. Now watch us kick your ass. Go sit in the corner and cry about what could have been. The Sharks are really good at bringing back former teammates, having them over for dinner and then crushing their hopes and dreams. This is my favorite quote of the year.

“I had a little dinner at Joe’s last night. It was good to see my old bedroom.” – Brian Campbell.

What are you, a six year old girl? “It was good to see my old bedroom”. Is Joe your mother? Dan Boyle makes his own bed, Brian. I heard he can even eat a PBJ sandwich, with the crust still on. I think I hear Patrick Kane honking the horn outside, Brian. Your ride is here.

SHARKS 5 LEAFS 2

As surprising as it may sound, the Dallas Stars are last in the league.  And as strange as it may be, they belong there.  I was expecting another tightly contested game, similar to the one we saw at the Tank only three weeks ago, but the Stars have fallen (bah BOOM).  Missing their captain and main spark, Brendan Morrow, the Stars looked like they had some pride when Loui Eriksson tied the game at one, but then quickly coughed up two more goals in the first.  So much for that.

I still think Turco looks off.  Maybe he can’t trust his D as much, so he’s doing things he normally wouldn’t do.  And maybe his D thinks they can’t trust him, so they don’t do things they normally do.  Either way, it’s adds up to a horrible team defense, and when you pit that against one of the best offenses in the league (and the hottest power play) it gets ugly.

I know I wrote not long ago that I almost feel bad for the Sharks opponent, but the Stars don’t fall into that category.  I want them to lose.  Big.  Every time.  And when the Sharks took a comfortable three-goal lead early in the second, I thought they might lay back a bit and save some energy for tonight against the Yotes, one of only three teams that have beaten the Sharks in regulation this year.

But I guess the Sharks aren’t into giving Dallas any favors.  And when you keep giving the Sharks power play opportunities, you’re asking for trouble.

It seems like a good opportunity for Phoenix to surprise San Jose again, at home, rested, against a team that played last night.  But now we see they are without Olli Jokinen.  And how can you pick against the Sharks the way they are killing it right now?

First, you gotta check out our latest podcast where we talk all things Claude Lemieux and San Jose Sharks.

You gotta believe that tonight is going to be another barn burner at the Tank as the red hot Blackhawks soar into town, having won three in a row on their yearly West Coast swing. They have endured some crazy travel, including a trip from Phoenix to Toronto and then back to San Jose, but this hasn’t slowed down the trendiest team in NHL. It’s easy to like the Blackhawks. They have one of the scariest top lines in hockey, a goalie controversy, an excellent top four on defense and a coach with a creepy mustache. If I wasn’t a Sharks fan, and I’ve admitted this before, I would follow this Blackhawks team from a far.

I expect Chicago to come out looking for revenge tonight, and I suspect they will give San Jose everything they can handle and then some. Word is that Nabby will be back in between the pipes and I can’t think of a tougher team to throw him out against after a long lay off. We’ll see if Chicago stuffs Nabby’s turkey or if our MVP sends Patrick Kane crying to Denis Savard’s pumpkin pie.

Here’s a good question: Will Sharks fans boo Brian Campbell tonight? I’m going to say no. Why should they? We got the better deal here, didn’t we? If you put both men side by side, I would pick Dan Boyle every day and twice on Thanksgiving….so no “Boo’s” tonight Sharks fans. What’s the point? He’s not Ed Belfour.

I don’t want to predict anything….but I have to admit – after some thought today – this could be the Sharks first regulation loss at the Tank tonight. This rivalry is just getting heated up.

Chicago and San Jose are the future of the Western Conference.

Where I’m getting embarrassed for the Sharks’ opponent.  Almost.  The Sharks showed a bit of rust in the first period, but a craptacular Brent Johnson led to a 3-0 Sharks lead early.  All of those goals came on the stick side, and from our kickass vantage point from the Club (thanks B) it looked as if Johnson was cheating too far to the glove side, and the Sharks took advantage.  Then they picked up the pace, came back on the shot counter, and coasted to a 7-2 win.

It’s a bit disappointing that the Caps didn’t have two of their best players- Semin and Green, but I’m having trouble working up a tear.  Let’s trot out the old cliché – it’s a long season, and the team should stockpile points wherever and whenever they can.

One thing I really enjoyed about this game was the Doug Murray – AO subplot.  Murray seemed to be out there every time AO was, and I saw AO chirping in his direction several times, probably in response to Douglas’ eagerness to lay the lumber on him.  Ovechkin had a really slick power play assist to Fleishmann, but outside of that, seemed to be relegated to the outside of the ice.  Murray’s taken a bit of heat this season, but can we thank the Big Swede for pushing the superstar off of his game?

On the surface, it looks like the Kings really took it to the Capitals last night in LA. First of all, they scored two empty netters, so this really was a 3-2 loss where the Caps were playing without the NHL’s leading scorer in Semin and their top defensemen, Mike Green, on the 2nd night of a back to back. The Kings hadn’t played since Sunday, so they were just sitting and waiting for a banged up Washington squad to drive across town and take their lumps.

I hope that Semin and Green are back on Saturday night. I don’t want any excuses. I want the Sharks to face the best every team has to offer, night after night, because it can only make them better on this long quest for Lord Stanley. I’m looking for a healthy Caps teams, with Semin and Green, to take the ice for the dramatic return of Nabby in the nets. I think we will certainly see Shelley vs. Brashear and a tussle of two of the most high power offensives the NHL has to offer. Sharks win in a barn burner, of the Philly/Chicago variety.

Take a listen to Brad Lukowich on KNBR He had a great interview with Fitz and Brooks, who are coming around as hockey fans. Ralph Barbieri has been a long time Sharks supporter, but it seems like the rest of the Bay Area sports superpower station is coming around. I love Luko’s comment about the team playing with a certain kind of arrogance. He also talked about how this is best group of guys he’s ever played with. For a guy who’s won TWO Stanley Cups…..that says a ton.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Here are four words I never thought I’d put into the same sentence: Thank You Chris Pronger.  There are so many weird things about this story:

1. Pronger made a seemingly legal hit with his shoulder
2. Even Mike Green said it was good hit
3. Since it was on a Caps player, this might benefit the Sharks on Saturday

I certainly don’t like to see great players get injured, but I have to say, it was a good hit.  What a crazy topsy-turvy world.  I need to go lie down.

We are in the first four-day break the Sharks have had this season, and only the third of three days or more.  I know I’ve said so on the podcast (new episode here), but sometimes you just gotta sit back and appreciate what the Sharks have done, y’know?  This is the best start the franchise has ever had, in fact, one of the better starts in NHL history.  16-3-1 with 33 points.  A little context:

• The vaunted Senators team that came out to a blistering start last year was ‘only’ 16-4-0 at this point last season.
• Detroit was 15-2-1 at one point in ’05-’06, but went on a losing streak to be 15-4-1 at the quarter pole, still behind.
• Buffalo started the ’06-’07 season with 10 straight wins, and also was 16-3-1 at this point.

I know we all know by now that this team will be measured not by anything done in the regular season, but purely by playoff success.  To use the NHL slogan: Is this the year?  Nobody knows.  But for now, let’s enjoy the most dominant, fun to watch, successful Sharks team in history.  And let’s all get blasted before the Caps game on Saturday- that one is going to be a doozy.