“This is where we have to learn to knuckle down and play the game we’re supposed to play,” forward Jeremey Roenick said. “We’ve got one week left until (the) playoffs and we can’t have games like this. It’s unacceptable.”

That about sums it up, J.R.

Last night was a chance for the Sharks to completely bury the Red Wings, to pull eight points ahead making it impossible for Detroit to grab home ice. Instead, we saw the Ryan Getzlaf show. The Sharks could not stop the Ducks top line of Ryan, Getzlaf and Perry – they were dominant and capitalized on every scoring chance presented. I honestly didn’t think the Sharks played that poorly in the first two periods, even when the Ducks went ahead two goals in the 2nd. The Sharks couldn’t finish while the Ducks buried every good scoring chance they had. It just wasn’t the Sharks night. No excuses. No blaming it on “no Marleau and Clowe”. San Jose should have wanted the win as much as the playoff starved Ducks did. As J.R. said, “It’s unacceptable.”

I fully expect the Sharks to respond tonight by getting at least a point in a hard fought battle. I think we’ll see some fights, we’ll see some big hits and we’ll see if the Sharks can make a statement. Now, one might say: What do the Sharks need to prove, they are the #1 seed. They have to prove to themselves and everyone in the league that this is not going to be the same old late season nose-dive. The Sharks need to respond tonight.

A few other thoughts from the game:

Here I go again, but if any Sharks fan reading this blog feels the need to boo this team, a team that has dropped only four regulation games at home this year, a team that has been the most entertaining squad in hockey for most of the year – then you should move to Colorado. That team and franchise deserves to be booed. It is unreal to me to hear Sharks fans booing the team at the end of the game or when a power play goes wrong. Shame, shame, shame – you don’t deserve this teams success.

Christian Ehrhoff was up to his old tricks again last night. When things went wrong (out of position, not able to hold the zone on the power play, poor passes across the crease in his own end) Ehrhoff seemed to be the guilty party. He wasn’t alone in being a -2, but his was the most noticable to me.

When Grier, Marleau and Clowe get healthy, who are the three Sharks that are going to sit? Staubitz is a lock to grab some pine, but after that it gets a little cloudy. I think Jamie McGinn is making it extremely difficult on Coach McLellan to remove him as a regular. He finishes every check and his line with Moen and Goc was the best San Jose line last night. I think Shelley and Plihal could be the healthy scratches…

The Worcester Sharks have won four in a row and recently got back Kyle McLaren, who scored a goal and was a +2 in last nights win over the LA Kings AHL team, Manchester. They received an injection of skill and youth when Logan Couture’s junior team, the Ottawa 67’s, lost a Game Seven heartbreaker and Couture has joined Worcester for the stretch drive. He had a fight in his first game (huh?) and hasn’t registered a point yet, but it’s not for lack of trying – he has eight shots in two games. I’m telling you, this kid is a gamer. Congrats to Worcester and hopefully they can hang on and make a run for the Calder Cup.

New podcast is right here.

The San Jose Sharks are so close I can smell it like Madonna smells another orphan in need. They are getting healthy – Blake and Goc were leaned upon for over 36 minutes of ice time tonight as the Oilers threw everything they had at the Sharks for the final 22 minutes after Gagne’s goal and they still couldn’t beat the Sharks. The NHL season is a stretch of hot and cold and the Sharks have experienced both – and now they are getting hot again at just the right time.

What else could go right?

Well, 1900 miles away the Red Wings lost their third straight at home to a St. Louis team that is busting its ass and playing way over its head right now. I was rooting for those darn’ Blues the whole way. I even made myself a Dan Hinote jersey out of garbage bags, duct tape and the body of Paul Kariya. Thanks to my new uni and the Blues determination, tonight the Sharks are six points ahead of Detroit with five games to go.

What else could go right? How about a storybook ending.

The Sharks could make it nearly impossible on the Red Wings by beating the Ducks at the Tank on Saturday night. Its a perfect way for San Jose to a) bury the Wings, b) show the Ducks who is boss in case they do battle in round one, c) for Shelley to hold down Parros while Staubitz shaves that porn-stache with a Man Groomer…..okay, maybe Option A is a little out of the question, but the others are very doable.

The Tank is going to be exploding with playoff atmosphere on Saturday night, especially since this could actually be a first round couple. So…what else could go right? How about beating the Ducks, demoralizing the Wings all while getting Patrick Marleau back.

All I need is a beer and this dream night is complete.

The puck drops in about three hours against Edmonton, and with the return of Goc and Blake, I hope the Sharks have an extra spring in their step.  Another plus is the Oilers are reeling after we thought they’d be in good position to make the playoffs.  Losing 5 our of their last 6, the last two at home, have essentially eliminated them from contention, unless they win out.  With games to come against us, Vancouver, and Calgary twice?  Not bloody likely.  As far at tonight goes, sometimes eliminated teams will play fast and loose, like the Leafs did last night against Philly.  However, I think the media storm up there in Alberta has pretty much sucked all the fun out of hockey for now.  MacTavish, for the first time in his career, might need a helmet.

In a completely unrelated note, here’s an interesting (if short) interview with Marleau on one of my favorite sites, Puck Prospectus.

With only a couple of weeks left in the season, the possibilities for playoff matchups are many and interesting. The Sharks, despite their injuries, are still managing to win games, including a tight one in Calgary without Patrick Marleau. The Dudes try and handicap the final two weeks of the season, and still have time left over for listener emails.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Is it just me, or did the Sharks steal one last night?  I usually don’t like to bring up my own hockey games, mostly because I’m like Happy Gilmore without the slap shot or skating ability (is that net regulation size or what?), but there is an admittedly thin parallel here.   My last rec league game was against a team with several players that were far beyond the average skill in our league, who dominated most of the game.  We manage to get a 1st period goal, and we hold onto the lead as long as we could, facing about a billion scoring chances against.  That’s unfortunately where the paths diverge.  Unlike the Sharks last night, we take penalties late in the game, give up the tying goal with about 5 minutes left, and lose in OT.

But I digress.  The Sharks were mostly outplayed last night, and if not for the rule everyone loves to hate- delay of game- I think 2 points would have been wishful thinking.  Not that I think the Sharks don’t deserve any credit; they were playing with a ton of guys out of the lineup, and managed to scrape two goals out of only 17 shots.  Basically, I think the Sharks managed to escape because of two reasons:

1. They stayed out of the box.  The Sharks took only three penalties all game, and the first one was an offsetting minor.  With all the pressure Calgary was bringing, the Sharks showed good discipline in not taking those hooking/holding calls that so often accompany having the puck in your zone all night.
2. They are continuing to kick major ass in the faceoff circle.  31-23 this game, for 57.4%.  Maybe 57.4% doesn’t sound like a lot, but a team with that percentage all year would be leading the league by a big margin.  Pavs in particular was an amazing 17-9 last night.  He’s a non-chess-playing Marcel Goc.

Further discussion about all this and more will be in the podcast released tomorrow.  Feel free to email us if you have anything you want us to talk about.

Hundreds of Sharks fans probably did a double take this morning looking at the sports page when checking the standings. Islanders 2 Red Wings 0. WHAT? Thank you Hockey Gods!

After tonight, this whole “games in hand” business will be done. The Sharks and Red Wings will be on an even playing field, both teams will have seven games left to go. San Jose should be two points ahead after tonight against Phoenix, who have dropped five straight home games – but it’s hard to know who will actually be in the line-up tonight for San Jose. I’m expecting Rob Blake to be back tonight. UPDATE: HE IS NOT PLAYING TONIGHT, PER DAVID POLLAK, but not much has been said about Cheechoo’s health status….which makes me slightly nervous that he might be out longer than we expect. There will be no Ryane Clowe tonight, although that ten day time period first reported by David Pollak runs out by Monday’s game in Calgary, so I guess we can assume Clowe will return sometime next week either vs. the Flames or when the Sharks visit Edmonton.

Jamie McGinn has been more than holding his own in the absence of Clowe/Grier/Everyone else. He is making a very strong case to be in the starting 12 for Todd McLellan when the first round of the playoffs starts. His hustle and scoring ability will make the coaches seriously consider if he should take a slot from Shelley, Plihal or Lemieux when they get healthy in the first round. I like that he’s making it interesting.

After seeing what happened to Detroit last night, our Sharks need to be fully aware it could happen to them tonight. I think they will be aware of the “Islanders” factor and want revenge for losing to Phoenix on a cheap penalty at the end of the game last time they met. Sharks win in what I hope will be a run away victory.

So last post I (sort of) took it easy on Semenov, because he had a career game against Colorado.  I don’t hate the person (really!) but sometimes his mistakes make me crazy.  And last night, I had me some crazy.  In the middle of the first, he passed the puck directly to Martin Havlat behind the net, who walked right out front and left it for Andrew Ladd, who scored.  Thanks to the Chicago scorer who was chewing on a bratwurst, Semenov didn’t get ‘credit’ for a giveaway, and Havlat didn’t get credit for a takeaway.  Good work, Oprah lover.

Somehow, against Chicago, the Sharks find a way to score.  With almost an even dozen players out, the Sharks get two goals from Seto, and goals from McGinn, Vlasic, and Jumbo.  Problem is, Semenov played over 15 minutes (-1) and Vesce, Cavanaugh, and Staubitz all played over 10.  Not that McLellan really had a choice in the matter.  Like the guys said on the telecast, if you got a million guys out, you might as well play who you got, instead of putting Boyle and Joe out there for 40 minutes each.

But to their credit, the Sharks still persevered, and managed to tie it in the 3rd on a herculean effort by Joe Thornton to drive to the net.  And in case you didn’t notice, he didn’t bull his way around some scrub like  Niklas Hjalmarsson (who?)- that’s was Brent Seabrook Duncan Keith, as in, many-people-think-he-should-be-a-Norris-finalist Duncan Keith.  I’m sure I’m only about the thousandth person to say this, but Joe, booby, please do that more often.

And in case, you’re feeling a little down about the Sharks losing in overtime, just think of this this way, as grier recently put in an IM conversation with me: the Hawks at full strength couldn’t beat the Sharks without Marleau, Blake,  Grier, and Goc.  I’m happy for the point.

Oh, and this week’s podcast is here.  I’m happy to remind everybody here, but make sure to subscribe if you haven’t already.  So much easier.

The Sharks may be stricken with injuries, but they are still managing to win games.  After a tough Phoenix loss, and a possible management talking-to, they managed to come back and win the next three games.  The dudes talk about all that, and try to predict the 7th and 8th seeds in this still hotly-contested conference.  And check out the new podcast artwork!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Don’t answer that.  Yesterday, with Clowe, Goc, Lemieux, Grier, Blake, Plihal, Roenick, Huskins, and Mitchell all out of the lineup, Cheechoo gets an arguable game misconduct call, and the Sharks have to play the rest of the game with 11 forwards.  Three of whom played most of the year in Worchester.  And that made the rest of the lines a complete shambles, with Marleau again centering the third line for a while, McGinn getting the call to play beside Joe Thornton, and Ryan Vesce and Travis Moen getting power play time.  Shift chart here.

By the way, Vesce’s power play efficiency is pretty great- he’s on the ice for 200 goals per 60 minutes.

I’ll say here what I did on the radio show last night- having so many players out is definitely not a good thing, but if you were to put a happy face on it, it would be that the Sharks can explore their depth for the playoffs.  Some say you need 8 or 9 defensemen and at least an extra line of forwards for an extended playoff run, and the Sharks are now in a position to evaluate that.

Speaking of 7th or 8th defensemen, Semenov certainly had a great game last night.  I was going to make a joke here about Obama’s comment on Jay Leno and how his staff’s reaction to bowling a 146 is comparable to the Sharks’ reaction to Semenov making 1st star, but I think I’ll take it easy on the big guy.  He deserves some props.

I deserve it. I’ve taken some heat for some bad predictions since the All-Star break. Much like the Sharks, I’ve been scrapping around, trying to find my groove. My Semenov jokes have been up and down. I’ve lost several posts due to injury (nasty carpal tunnel in my blogging shoulder). After a closed door meeting, Mike sent me down to Worcester to get my head back on straight. So, now I’m back and ready to hit the ground running with a new set of predictions starting today.

The Sharks are going to beat Dallas this afternoon. The Stars are way too beat up to give San Jose a true run for their money today at home. According to the Dallas Stars coverage at DallasNews.com, Brad Richards was back on the ice at practice and is “probable” for today’s game. Most notably missing from practice were Mike Ribeiro and James Neal, who are also banged up. So….even with Richards returning, I don’t think it’s enough for Dallas. They have dropped three in a row on the road and the Sharks should be keyed in on getting revenge for the 4-1 loss at the beginning of the month. I liked how the Sharks played on Thursday. The game was their style, they outshot the Preds and Rinne kept the game from being more like a 4-2 result in regulation. San Jose had more of a wide open, run and gun look to them that we remember from their fantastic start of the season, bombing shots from the point and crashing the net. While this led to several odd-man rushes for the Preds (another thing we remember from early in the season) this is the style the Sharks excelled with pre-slump and it was good to see it back in action. Look for more of the same and a solid Sharks victory today.

OTHER NOTES
Travis Moen will likely look for the perfect chance to thank Steve Ott for shoving his thumb into his eye socket. This incident happened in one of Moen’s last games with the Ducks….just keep your “eyes” open for this, it could be Moen’s shining moment to display the grit he hasn’t flashed yet in teal.

Brad Staubitz is going to be so excited about his beating of Tootoo that he will look for a fight in the first period. Possible dance partner is a repeat performance with Krys Barch.

I’m liking Jamie McGinn more and more every game. This kid is a lock to be regular player on the 2009-10 San Jose Sharks and a possible TRIPLE M checking line of McGinn, Mitchell and Moen is likely as I think the Sharks will part ways with my namesake, Grier, in the offseason and focus on keeping the younger more physical Moen.

I am going to watch the Worcester Sharks online this afternoon and do my best to follow their quest to make the Calder Cup playoffs. Currently, they are three points out of a playoff spot and a game with the Devils AHL squad today (currently right behind Worcester) will have major playoff implications. With only 12 games left and their top scorer now on the Sharks fourth line (Ryan Vesce) it is an uphill climb for Worcester. I’ll try and keep you posted.

GO SHARKS!