After a middling effort against Montreal where the Sharks barely pull out an OT win, the Sharks start well against Florida, then throw the game away. Doug and Mike talk about all the various woes and challenges, and reveal some news of their own.

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After a nice run where the Sharks managed to accumulate the best points-per-game rate of any team in the NHL, the lean times have come in two bad losses in the last two games. And frankly, if it were not for the near-goalie-steal performance of Antti Niemi against the Hawks, we’d be looking at a 3 game losing streak, disturbingly to the class of the West. I can never really decide if losing to the best teams is better to losing to the worst teams. Which is worse, irritating inconsistency (losing to Columbus) or depressing mediocrity (losing to Vancouver)?

The famine is not without casualties.  First and foremost is Justin Braun, who Pollak said “was reassigned to Worcester less than 24 hours after his misplay cost San Jose a goal in Monday’s loss.”  I suppose it’s possible that particular blunder led to his demotion, but I don’t buy it (wasn’t it Niemi’s fault more than his?).  As we’ve said on the podcast several times, Braun is a good young defenseman that you want to play early and often, and continue to develop his game.  If he’s clearly head-and-shoulders better than his offensive contemporary, Jason Demers, then you keep him in San Jose.  With Demers playing more the last few games, and Braun not playing quite as well, Braun would fall into the mixing bowl that is the 3rd defensive pair.  Which means he’s in, he’s out, he doesn’t get consistent minutes.  Which means I agree with the decision to send him East to the struggling Worchester Sharks. Lord knows they need all the help they can get over there.

The next two games might be what the doctor ordered.  Neither Montreal nor Florida are patsies, but they are not in the same conversation as Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Chicago.  Doug and I are going to wait until the weekend to record the next podcast, mostly due to scheduling, but we’re hoping for a good effort against the Habs to help balance what would have likely been a negative-Nancy episode.

The Dudes are back in the DOH studio, with some more wins to talk about, those against Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, and Detroit.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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I was going to post something about my trip, which has very little to do with hockey, but I can’t in good conscience now.  Sid’s comeback is just a hair more impressive than mine.  I hope you’ve seen the game or highlights.  Two goals (both backhand shots, no less) and two assists.  Remember, he missed 68 games.  It’s impossible not to make a comparison with Mario Lemieux here.  Lemieux had a much longer absence, to be sure, but from a hockey perspective, Crosby means just as much to the Penguins now as Mario did then.  And, to top it all off, they both scored four points in their respective returns.  Just amazing.

Back to the Sharks- it’s been a great welcome home present for me to see them dismantle Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado in the last three games.  Of course the number one thing to talk about is the penalty kill, which I’m sure we will when we record the podcast this week after the Chicago game.  Just wanted to give a bit of a funny stat.  I decided to calculate how the Sharks ranked in terms of the percentage of games they gave up a PP goal, instead of just overall PK%, where they currently stand at 3rd worst (74.6%).  I fully expected the Sharks to have given up a PP goal in a greater percentage of games than any other team- it seemed like every goddam game the opponent scored with the man advantage.  But it’s not actually the case:

1. Dallas 65% (13/20)
2. Carolina 63.6% (14/22)
3. Islanders 61.1% (11/18)
4. Winnipeg 60% (12/20)
5. Columbus 60% (12/20)
6. Los Angeles 60% (12/20)
7. Detroit 57.8% (11/19)
8. Ottawa 57.4% (12/21)
9. Toronto 57.4% (12/21)
10. Colorado 57.4% (12/21)
11. San Jose 55.5% (10/18)

Dallas is a full seven percentage points better in PK% – 17th overall, the best on this list-  and yet has given up a PP goal in 65% of the games they’ve played.  I don’t really know what that means, but it’s interesting.

The Dudes are back and recapping the three games from last week against the King, Wild and Coyotes all throughout the miracle of the internet. Regularly scheduled podcasting will return next week when Mike returns from his international adventure.

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Hello world! It’s been too long.

Quick update: Mike is doing great in India and we’re planning to do another podcast this weekend after the Minnesota game. He’ll be back at the end of next week and then we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled podcasting.

We’ll talk to you then. Until then, we’re going streaking!

The Sharks finish up a road trip just as Mike begins his. Live on tape delay from India, Mike and Doug discuss the Sharks 5-1 east coast swing, the emergence of Joe Pavelski and preview the homestand. Enjoy this Podcast Masala, extra spicy!

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The Dudes are buoyed by a Sharks turnaround, winning the last three games, all on the road.

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The Dudes try to keep their spirits and expectations up, despite a dismal 1-3 start.

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Todd McLellan has mentioned in the press several times that the Sharks had to play a serious game of catch-up last year in the second half.  Lolling around at 12th in the West in early January, they had to rip off a massive hot streak in order to secure their 2nd seed playoff position.  After all of that emphasis, it seems the Sharks decent start has been held to two periods.  After 40 minutes at home versus Phoenix, the Sharks were up 6-1, and just dominating the Coyotes.  Since then, the Sharks have been outscored 7-2, and dropped the last two games against teams we think will miss the postseason.  Both the Ducks game and the Blues game seemed to have the same symptoms- sloppy passing, not a lot of physicality, and giving the opposition too much space, especially on the power play.

This is just an observation from a guy in the stands, but last night there seemed to be a lot of 5 and 6-foot attempted passes underneath Blue skates and sticks.  Many of those passes didn’t work out.  A lot of tricky and slick attempts went nowhere, and even turned into scoring chances the other way.  Now I go and read the game recap, and T-Mac agrees:

“We weren’t prepared to play a grind-it-out game,” McLellan said. “We wanted to play this fancy puck possession stuff against a team that wanted to grind it out.” Later, he added: “We choose to be the Globetrotters in the first seven or eight minutes of the game, and it doesn’t work that way.”

Lots of east and west, not enough north and south.  We clearly got the shot differential, but Greiss did not have a Quality Start, while Brian Elliot was close to having a Goalie Steal.

On the good side, it’s nice to see the fourth line playing quite a bit (Winchester 9:54, Andrew Murray 10:17, Andrew Desjardins 9:54), and the third line, especially Torrey Mitchell, has been good as well.  Mitchell had another point last night, and giving him two more points on the season than Joe Thornton (0).  Joe especially was a big offender in the Globetrotter department.  While he did make several passes that had me scratching my head, wondering how he got that through, he also had several that had me scratching my head, wondering what the hell he was thinking.  I guess it’s a fine line.  Overall it almost seems as though the Sharks think they have such a talent surplus over the other team that they can not commit as much to the unpleasant parts of the game, like getting hit, forechecking aggressively, and doggedly working the boards and corners.  As the Blues and Ducks have both proven the last 48 hours, it just doesn’t work that way in the NHL.  Kent Huskins will hurt you with a laser wrist shot.