The Sharks, after a disappointing effort in Game 6, roar back at home to win Game 7 in a dominating fashion.  The Dudes recap, and look forward to the Blues series.

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After two tough losses in Nashville, the Sharks right the ship with a decisive win at home.  The Dudes talk about all of it, including the controversial call in overtime in game 4.

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The Sharks continue their postseason roll by winning the first two against the Predators- at home no less. The Dudes break down those games and try to identify keys as to why the Sharks are beating the team that dispatched the Ducks.

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Now that Brent Burns has signed a 5-year extension, the Dudes can give him a proper welcome, and really compare him to other defensemen out there an their contracts.  Also, Mike and Doug identify 10 players that are still out there, somewhat surprisingly, and identify their favorites.  Finally, the Shea Weber saga is discussed, and the wisdom of the Preds to let it drag out so long.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw[/youtube]

At this point, entering into the last day of the season, the Sharks have clinched the #2, but could still play Chicago, L.A., Nashville, or Phoenix.  The Ducks, having a lot of regulation and overtime wins, are guaranteed the #4. Doug’s wish didn’t come true tonight- the Preds lost.

The worst thing that could happen is Chicago loses in OT or the shootout. Because they have more ROW (regulation and overtime wins) than the Kings, they win that tiebreaker and move into the #7.  So we want a beatdown tomorrow, one way or the other.

It’s possible that seeds 4-8 could all end up with 99 points.  If that happens, it’s really crazy.  Chicago would move up to the #5 because they’d have 39 ROW.  Nashville and Phoenix would have to go to the fourth tiebreaker, because they’d have the same number of ROW, and split the season series.  The Preds have a better overall goal differential, so they are the #6.  We’d play Phoenix (I wonder if playing one team 9 times in a row would be an NHL record), and the Kings would fall to the #8.

It could get even crazier than that.  If the Hawks won in the shootout then there’d be a three-way tie for ROW.  The tiebreaker is points per game in those matchups.  Chicago has acquired 13 points in 10 games versus those two opponents, Phoenix 9 points in 8 games, and Nashville 10 points in 10 games.  So Chicago would still get the #5, but Phoenix would move up to the #6 and we’d get the Preds.

Because Dallas went 3-1 against the Hawks this year, they are still alive- they have to win in regulation or overtime tomorrow and the Hawks have to lose in regulation for the Stars to snag the #8.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend – go Wings!  And go Minnesota – we want Vancouver facing Chicago again.

Hey Jerky!  Don’t leave the game early!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwchenZolCE[/youtube]

I love this series of commercials.  And this one, linked by Puck Daddy today, is particularly poignant for Sharks fans.  Sure, it was a pretty wretched game until about 3 minutes into the third.  But don’t try to beat the traffic.  You would have missed an unbelievable flurry of goals, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.  Like this one:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWY16C8C08[/youtube]

This prompted perhaps the latest goalie change I’ve ever witnessed, with  only 5:20 left in the game.  It was so late (and perhaps unnoticed, because Ellis is #35, Rinne #39), that it wasn’t even announced to the crowd.  My astute section neighbor noticed it.  Didn’t help much, because Rinne faced two shots, one of them a goal by Marleau.  Thanks for stopping by Rinne.

With both Pavs and Heatley on the ice bidding for the hat trick with the goalie pulled late in the game, who scored the empty netter?  Jay Leach, from 130 feet, his first NHL goal.  A perfect ending to one of the weirdest, craziest Sharks games ever.

Oh yeah.  Boys, try and show up a little earlier next time.

The Sharks vs Preds tonight is radio only, so you’ll all have to listen live to Dan and Jamie.  Streaming at KFOX, or listen the old frequency-modulated way if you must.   News from Pollak that Greiss is starting again, with Staubitz and Seto out.   That means Frazer McLaren, Benn Ferriero, and Logan Couture are the fourth line tonight, with Malhotra moved up to the second,  and McGinn on the third with Nichol and Ortmeyer.  I’m actually looking forward to that combination- I’d like to think the youthful enthusiasm of those three might give the Preds’ checking line a little more than they bargained for tonight.

Second, a little housekeeping note- I’ve changed the RSS feeds of the blog and podcast over to feedburner, a common and popular service owned by Google that will allow us to keep stats about readership, and give a nice formatted page when you actually visit the feed.  I’ve set up some forwarding so I hope it’s all transparent to you, but I’m mentioning it just in case people run into issues.  Just click on the buttons there on the right to take you to the new feed.

Third, the podcast will be recorded and posted tomorrow night, probably around 8 or 9pm PST.  Emails always welcome.

Fourth, Claude Lemieux didn’t win Battle of the Blades on CBC, sort of a hockey Dancing With the Stars, but with hockey players and figure skaters doing a pairs competition.  Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale ended up winning, with Lemiuex and Stephane Richer (remember him?) as runners-up.  The most noteworthy thing about this show (other than the fact that I kind of want to watch it), is that Lemieux not only performed to the great Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” on the finale, but he sung it too.  And I’ll let Doug weigh in on this, being a performing arts guy, but as a person who’s been on stage a few times, I’d say his voice ain’t half bad. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscWDUk3otA[/youtube]

This is giving me ideas for the podcast.

The Sharks are on another run, 8-0-2 in their last ten games.  The Dudes break down the late-game winner by Dan Boyle versus Nashville, the 1-point escape against Detroit, and the hurt the Sharks put on the defending Cup Champions.  With more players coming back from injury, Mike and Doug try and figure out how the lines will sort themselves out, and if the Sharks might even make a move for a defenseman.

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Marcel Goc makes his triumphant return to the Sharks Tank tonight after signing a one year deal with the Nashville Predators in the offseason. When you take a look at how much the Sharks bottom six forwards have improved, one has to tip their hat and give an assist to Predators GM Dave Poile for not resigning Scott Nichol and underutilizing Jed Ortmeyer, allowing them to fall into the clutches of our own Doug Wilson. Nichol and Ortmeyer have been two major keys to the transformation of the Sharks third and fourth line. Last season, the Sharks got limited offense and very little grit from their bottom six and this year these former Preds have brought a new attitude and work ethic to the mix. So, welcome back Marcel Goc. We may miss your blogging, but we do not miss your consistently disappointing play. I hope Poile is happy with your stat line and the $250,000 he saved by letting Nichol walk. Let’s look at the difference with the three stats that really matter for a bottom six center like Goc and Nichol: Hits, Faceoff % and PK time.

Marcel Goc (2009-10) 8 hits, 55.5% and 1:23 PK time.
Scott Nichol (2009-10) 53 hits, 64.2% (2nd in the NHL behind Paul Gaustad) and 2:07 PK time

Not to mention that Scott Nichol is a whopping 62% on PK faceoff draws and Goc is under 50%. Doug Wilson has delivered change in a big way with a player that might not get the press, but Nichol for Goc was a remarkable and much needed upgrade.

The Predators will be without their star blueliner, Shea Weber, tonight while the Sharks are getting back Seto and Vesce. I could see this causing semi-chaos upfront initially with the Sharks falling behind early, and I could also see this as what they call in the betting world a “trap game” with the Sharks perhaps looking ahead to a date with Dallas on Thursday. It’s for this reason that I hope McLellan starts Thomas Greiss tonight to keep the Sharks focused in their own end, forcing them not to check out against the weaker, hoe down dancing opponent. While the Preds are 2-9 against the Sharks in their last 11, I still smell trouble and a tight 3-2 win by the Sharks.

How do you like the new blog and sexy features? Just in case you were having trouble getting up for the game, a little dance down memory lane for you. Will McLellan play Staubitz tonight and scratch McGinn? We’ll have to see…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpl_SuXygw[/youtube]