Douglas Murray is the first casualty of the “rebuild” or “refresh” or whatever Doug Wilson wants to call it.  Yet the Sharks win a tough game in Anaheim; is this enough to get the boys rolling again, or will they revert to their subaverage ways?

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A great moment last night with Owen Nolan at center ice, the entire crowd standing, cheering, not wanting the cheers to end.  I’m sure Nolan felt the same.  Both the Sharks and Flames giving it up for the veteran of both teams, the #1 overall pick in 1990, who, like so many others, had a long industrious career that didn’t quite end the way he wanted.

Basically, a microcosm of the game last night.  The Sharks played just well enough to stay in it, but the Flames would take control whenever the Sharks tied it up.  Olli Jokinen, of all people, looking like he was playing in his Florida Panthers heyday, dropping a hat trick on the Sharks.  And most of all, the Sharks breakout defense being completely hamstrung without Dan Boyle in the lineup.  The game winning goal in particular was a comedy of errors that was worthy of the Three Stooges, with Colin White assuming the role of Shemp.  I half-expected Niemi to put the flat of his hand between his eyes so Jokinen wouldn’t be able to do the two-fingered poke.

The best part of the game was when the Sharks were down 2-0, then came roaring back in the space of 90 seconds. But true to form, the Flames regained the lead four minutes later, in perhaps the textbook definition of “how not to defend a 2-on-2”.  It looks like a 2-on-1 for a moment, with Murray backing up, but Burns is quickly back in the play.  Iginla passes to Jokinen, and Murray slides over to take Jokinen.  Burns decides to hang out in no-man’s-land, leaving Iginla uncovered between the hash marks, who promptly buries the return pass from Jokinen.  For good measure, there’s a third guy coming into the frame, also uncovered, who probably would have scored on the rebound if Iginla somehow failed to score from 15 feet out.

I’m hoping the Sharks were just looking forward to Friday, when they’ll come out with the same dominance they showed against Dallas and Columbus last week.  It’s not all puppies and rainbows in Chicago either, I read this, and it cheered me up a little.

Not only did the Sharks win, but Doug and I both were flawless in our hockey picks.  Check out DOH 125 for all the ‘rules’.  Doug mentioned in that episode how much we missed Douglas Murray, and it certainly was apparent last night.  He hit everything, he jumped into the play, he made good defensive stops.  The guy was an animal, and clearly itching to get back in the lineup, especially against the Sharks’ playoff ouster.  Helluva game.  If only the Sharks could play with that energy and urgency on a consistent basis, we might just have something here.

Yesterday, when I heard Niemi was going to start, I though that was a pretty wacky move.  Ok, a dumb move.  Now that McLellan’s gamble paid off, I still don’t understand it.  If Niemi starts this weekend against Vancouver and gets shelled, I’m not sure if anything was really gained.  Chicago is a rival team- to me, it’s straightforward.  You start the guy who is the better goalie at the time, and Niitymaki is clearly that.  Niemi seemed like a good candidate to start against EDM on Saturday, second half of a back-to-back.  Let him build some confidence after a few good starts.  I guess last night’s win kickstarted the recovery, but it still seems like a needless gamble.

Here I am, bitching after the Sharks finally get a win after three atrocious games, and against a tough team.  I should be thankful.  I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.