2-1 Road Trip. I called it….well, okay I got the Philly and Florida results mixed up – but it’s all in the result, right? Sure, it seems like we Sharks fans have some concerns about the amount of goals the Sharks are yielding. Playing Run and Gun can only work so long in the regular season and then fail you in the playoffs. BUT….you have to like the correction to the system last night in Tampa Bay. After a disappointing showing in Florida, coughing up a bounce back goal after the Sharks tied the score, San Jose limited this mirage of a Tampa Bay offense to only 22 shots. Another mark of a good team, learning from your current shortcoming and improving on them. The fact that the Sharks responded with a shut out after the Florida disappointment is another positive sign in this Grier’s book. Also, the five power play goals on this road trip shows that there’s some bite with the man advantage.

So, 7-2-0 heading into the biggest benchmark of the season. A head to head showdown with last years Stanley Cup finalists, Pittsburgh on Tuesday night and the Champion Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. The Sharks have yet to play a team with a winning record. The best team on paper so far are the Florida Panthers, at 4-4-0, and they beat the Sharks. So…. can the Sharks topple two of the undisputed best teams in the NHL? I think it’s going to be another high octane affair, with two high powered offensives trading punches all night against the Penguins. For some reason, I think the Pens are going to get the better of San Jose on Tuesday and out slug the Sharks by a score of 4-3 in overtime. San Jose could get caught looking ahead to the most anticipated match up, one that has been on McLellan’s calendar marked URGENT all season – the toe to toe with Detroit on Thursday. I love the Sharks on Thursday night in a major league statement game to their big brothers, the Red Wings. Sharks beat Detroit convincingly 4-1.

I would take 8-3-0 going into Colorado on Sunday night. What do you Sharks fans think?

The good news is a Sharks team that struggled offensively last year has scored 15 goals in the last three games.  The bad news is they’ve given up 14.  Makes for exciting games, but play is littered with bad turnovers and giveaways in inopportune areas of the ice.  Such was the case against Philly, where they managed to pull it out in a wild one, 7-6, but not so last night, en route to only the second loss of the season against the Panthers, 4-3.

Florida is a young team that skates very hard every single shift.  They have a vigorous low cycle in the offensive zone that the Sharks were fairly adept at cracking.  That cycle will give many other teams fits.  However, the Sharks were not very good at clearing pucks out, and keeping possesion at the offensive blueline- a critical area of the ice for springing odd-man rushes against.

Am I worried about this team’s recent sloppiness on defense?  Only mildly.  Keep in mind the Sharks only gave up four goals in their first four games, and they are implementing an entirely new system with new players.  Common wisdom says the a team needs the first 15 or 20 games of the season to really get it’s identity, and this team is no exception.  Some of the chemistry between players like Thornton-Boyle is really flourishing.  But other coordination on the ice between O and D, or between the D partners, is a bit off.  The Sharks have proven to me that they can win games in decisive fashion-  now it’s time to pay out a little rope and let them get their bearings.

We could easily see more of the same tonight against Tampa.  Tampa has been lauded for their high-flying offense but poor defense- will the Sharks again try to trade body blows?

There’s been some sort of glitch on this site the past few days, I’m not sure what is causing it.  Some posts that we published are not appearing on the home page of the blog, and some comments too.  Hopefully you are seeing this now, and if you experience any more problems, or see posts disappearing again, please email us at questions@dudesonhockey.com.  I guess you’ll have to remember that, because if posts disappear, you won’t be able to read this…

Update: an issue was found with the way the blogging platform was caching pages, so hopefully all issues have been resolved as of now.  Please let us know if any issues persist.

As I attempt to keep the streak alive, I go out on a limb to predict the Sharks outcome on the road trip.

SHARKS @ PHILADELPHIA
San Jose runs into a buzz saw again. This team is desperate, at home, and dying for a victory. A repeat of the Ducks game last week could be the result. The Sharks outshoot the Flyers, generally outplay them but get stonewalled by a Flyers goalie and Nabby continues to be plagued by odd man rushes. Sharks lose 4-2.

SHARKS @ FLORIDA
I watched the Panthers vs. Montreal on Monday night and this team plays with a motor that doesn’t seem to quit. They had the youthful enthusiasm that I expected under their new coach…but the veteran leadership on the Sharks will kick in and not allow the team to drop two in a row. Maybe a big game from JR and Marleau gets it done on the road, and Nabby will step up and match the outstanding play of Vokoun. Sharks catch Florida looking ahead to their flight to St. Louis and win in overtime 3-2.

SHARKS @ TAMPA BAY
Brian Boucher leads the charge and the Sharks ambush a bad Tampa team. They outshoot TB by 20 shots and beat this collection of fantasy hockey players. Matt Carle will be a -2 and Dan Boyle will be one of the three stars of the game. Sharks win 5-1.

So, I’m saying San Jose will return home to face the Penguins a resounding 7-2-0. Let’s see how this blogger does. GO SHARKS!

After a 5-1 start, it’s time to enjoy the view, if only for a moment.  Even though the Sharks are playing well and winning games, that doesn’t mean every aspect of their game is firing on all cylinders.  Mike and Doug try to examine where the room for improvment is, and look at other issues around the NHL, as well as the upcoming schedule.

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New DOH podcast here, and latest radio show here.  If you listen to the podcast, I’d appreciate it if you’d answer the poll question on the DOH site.  Thanks.

Lot’s of to-do about the whole controversy surrounding Dave Berry’s decision to stop blogging at a very popular Oilers fan site, Covered in Oil.  The long and short of it was- Berry was issued a press pass to gather quotes for a publication other than CiO, he live-blogged the game while he was in the press box, and the Oilers organization proceeded to act like a herd of jackasses in banning him from the box for all time, despite his willingness to take down the post, and other journalists engaging in the same behavior.

Here’s my take.  The Oilers can dump a guy from the box whenever they want, for any reason.  If they didn’t like the content of the live blog (cached copy) then they can kick him out, or decree that Berry isn’t allow to blog for CiO from the box.  Fine.  There are arguments to be made, good ones, that the kind of content in that live blog shouldn’t be allowed.  But those weren’t the reasons given as to why Berry was dropped.  Consequently, the team was blasted all over the place, because that is exactly the kind of thing bloggers do, and frankly, should do.

Note to teams- bloggers aren’t a single, homogenous mass.  Some may want press passes, some not.  And some of those that want them should probably be denied.  The policy as to what is allowed and what isn’t should be clear in advance.  In short- the team might actually have to put some time and effort into deciding who should get a pass.  I have to think about who should be in the press box, WAHHH.  Suck it up, PR departments.  Bloggers ain’t going away.  And if you have a 1980’s era mentality to media coverage, you’re missing out on a lot of great stuff, and at least in my opinion, hurting your franchise.

Kaspar is now on waivers.

This one’s for grier, and all you theater nerds out there:

Image from Jon Swenson at BoC

Right again- maybe not exactly the score, but he accurately predicted the outcome of tonight’s game against the Flyers.  In the second period, the Sharks down 2-0, it was really hard not to get frustrated, and predict a fate like we saw last night- the Sharks out-shooting their opponent by a substantial margin, and not seeing any goals go in.  Christian Ehrhoff broke the seal, and we saw a different Sharks team after that.

Speaking of different, what the hell is up with Lucas Kaspar?  Everyone is entitled to a bad game now and again, but when it’s only your 8th career NHL game, loafing around will get a redeye ticket back to Worchester- coach.  He made lazy play after lazy play, but his last shift was the worst.  He watched Daniel Briere skate right past him, listlessly stuck out his stick to try and intercept the lead pass, and watched Briere skate in uncontested and score to make the game 4-3.  McLellan parked his ass on the bench after that.  This kid continues to fail to seize opportunities, and he may not get many more.

As grier said to me late in the third with the game tied at 4-4, “a good team will win this game”, and he was right.  The Thornton-Boyle chemistry finally paid off with a beautiful play and an overtime winner.  I have to admit, I was pretty down on the Sharks the way they played last night, and much of tonight, but now it’s time to check the emotion a bit, and maybe listen to grier a bit more.  As much as it pains me to say it.