I knew that title would grab you. What can I say, I play to my base. And although the plot of the play has nothing to do with Sharks hockey (which I only just found out by reading wikipedia), the title itself is still apropos.

The Sharks came out shooting. And shooting. And driving. And shooting. On Saturday, they had 17 shots all night. Tonight, they had 16 in the first period, 9 in the second, and 10 in the third. They dominated the first 10 minutes of the game, and what always seems to happen happened. There was a tricky rebound that bounced right to Mike Ribiero, and he chipped it over Nabokov for a 1-0 lead on the first Dallas scoring chance of the night. But the Sharks continued to fight, and Pavelski, on a great (one might say earnest) second or third effort swept a wraparound in before Turco could cover his far post.

Then, in the second, Dallas got an early Christmas gift with a shot from Niskanen that changed direction twice off of two different Sharks players and went in the net. The Sharks went into the third down 2-1.

But they kept digging, and we saw two beautiful feeds from Thornton to Setoguchi to take the lead, then Bernier was rewarded for his strong forecheck with a nifty little screened wrister that darted in on the near side. All Sharks goals were even strength, which is icing on the cake.

But as the Keith Jones in the Vs. studio seemed to say at every opportunity, the Sharks don’t play a consistent style. Tonight’s style suited them. With a billion division games coming up, I hope they continue to go with it.

The Sharks dominated the first ten minutes of this game. Turco kept Dallas from getting embarrassed early, with the Sharks getting many early chances and peppering him with shots…but you could see it coming. Dallas scored a cheap goal and just like that, despite all their early efforts – the Sharks were down 1-0. Then they fell down 2-1.

They did not quit. They played with the same intensity and it paid off. Setoguchi is the sniper that has been missing at Jumbo Joe’s side. Marleau was finally opening it up and using his speed. Bernier actually made himself noticed with a goal, some big hits and one of the lamest fights I’ve ever seen.

Dallas didn’t look good to me – they’re not gonna make the playoffs this year unless they get some more offense. This is the perfect time for the Sharks to rattle off four or five wins and get some distance in the Pacific. Can they maintain this effort? Will Setoguchi’s effort make it easier for Dougie Wilson to part with a major forward to get the coveted big time defensemen? With Toronto crumbling, would McCabe waive his NTC?

So I watched the Detroit game this morning, and (thanks to Center Ice) the Columbus game this afternoon. Both were disappointing, and for different reasons.

The Detroit game was a bummer mostly because it’s clear that Detroit is much better than the Sharks right now. Their breakout is crisper, the cycle steadier, and the scoring chances quicker. They spring a winger almost every single breakout, always with enough speed and skill to make a play even on an able defenseman. The Sharks played ok in the first two periods- the first two goals were off the post- but both goals came on bad turnovers, now officially an epidemic. Then the third the Wings opened it up and made the Sharks look stupid.

The Columbus game was even worse, because the Sharks played listlessly and sloppily the entire time. They took a lot of penalties (and probably should have gotten more called), had very few long possessions, and again committed idiotic turnovers in their own zone. They had every excuse in the world to lose- back to back away games less than 24 hours apart, against a solid home team. But excuses don’t fly at the highest level of sports.

It’s so hard not to be impatient at times like this, and start calling for the coach’s head, for top players to be benched or traded away. Especially since the illness is one of effort and work ethic and not of talent. It’s hard not to think that Ron Wilson is no longer getting through. The fact that he still juggles the lines continuously, once seemingly the work of an eccentric hockey genius, now seems pointless and desperate.

I grit my teeth and try to remember that other than the Devils, no team in the NHL has played fewer home games up to this point. Still, we don’t have a homestand longer than two games until late November. I hope the Sharks can find a way to staunch the bleeding by then, or they’ll have to work their way out of a big hole come the new year.

For whatever reason, I still watch PTI. Kornheiser and Wilbon are pretty entertaining. And when Mercury is aligned with Mars, they talk about hockey, usually pejoratively. Today was no exception, when they talked about the big Koci-Chara fight that left Koci a big bloody mess:

Barry Melrose Rocks had a post on this, in the glorious theme of “Dan LeBatard is a moron”, but I’ll talk about Tony. Like LeBatard, he knows nothing about hockey, and doesn’t care to find out. Fine by me, but when you open your big yap, all the mystery dissipates. You’re a moron.

Tony:

I’m sick of fights; I’m sick of designated goons. I know in the arena, these are very popular things. I thought as a culture, we had gone beyond this.

Yeah, which is why UFC is the fastest growing sport. Get over yourself. Clearly you have no idea that there is an unwritten code in hockey that still exists. Unlike basketball, their ridiculous comparison, where nobody knows what the hell is going on, and no one knows how to fight anyway.

Tony again:

The people that run hockey are old hockey players. And they believe this is a test of masculinity, and it’s nonsense.

Thanks, Dr. Gray. This from a guy that does color for Monday Night Football every week, a sport that is more dangerous, and more tied with masculinity than any sport I can name other than cockfighting. Where a guy taunted another guy who was unconscious on the field.

Listen, David Koci is a dope. If he doesn’t fight, he’s out of the league in about 30 minutes. There aren’t too many people like Koci in the league any longer, and that’s a good thing. I’ll be honest. Fights are entertaining to me, mostly because the participants are willing and able. If fighting was one or more guys ganging up on a weaker player, I would be leading the charge to ban it. And I think that fighting does sometimes serve a purpose to the game.

Funny how they didn’t mention that the guy who rearranged Koci’s face is Zdeno Chara, a highly skilled and coveted player in the NHL. Proof positive it ain’t always scripted theater.

It was a marvelous sight to see. Clowe in front of the net. Bernier in front of the net. Davison in front of the net. Michalek in front of the net. Semenov dumping Godard into the Sharks bench….okay, maybe the last one was a little embarrassing since Semenov was getting pounded – but still, it was pretty funny.

The Sharks played their best game of the season tonight, destroying the Flames and chasing the Kipper on Calgary’s home ice. The Sharks own this team, having won four of the five from them – which is interesting given the physical brand of hockey Calgary plays. What can you say, the Flames bring out the inner beast in the Sharkies. An all around excellent effort with an A+ going to Coach Ron Wilson for following through with his promise to send the big boys in front of the net, ala Holmstrom. He did and boy did they get results. I hope this part of the gameplan sticks for it has been missing the last few years and, in my opinion, is a major reason why we haven’t risen to the next level.

One of the only guys who didn’t play well, again, was Cheechoo. The Train was invisible and got even less ice time than Rob Davison. With some big name defensemen rumored to be available, could Cheechoo be the bait the Sharks use to land Kaberle or Chara?

Here’s a quote from Ron Wilson about Tomas Holmstrom that I found in David Pollak’s blog:

He goes and stands in front of the net. And he gets punched and he gets whacked by the goalie, he gets knocked on his keister and he fights back and he maybe gets a penalty. The next shift, where’s Tomas Holmstrom? Back in front of the net. It might have taken him some time to get comfortable doing that, but because of what the reward is, you have to do that.

That’s what I want to see. When you do get punched in the head, or they dump it in the corner and you get run on the very first shift of the game, does it effect your second and your third and your fourth shifts?

Don’t allow anybody’s efforts to get you off your game. That’s what we’re working on.

I don’t know if you can put it any better than that. This is what the Sharks need to do. This tells me Ron Wilson is still the right coach for the Sharks. That may change. In my view, the Sharks haven’t played this way, until maybe last night.

There was an interesting remark made by Drew on the telecast last night, and he just said it offhand during the middle of the action, but it stuck with me. It’s sort of a different way of saying what Ron Wilson said. He said basically: The foundation of good play is a strong work ethic. Lots of talent will put you over the top, where you win games and be dominant. Right now, the Sharks are trying to use their talent as a foundation, and work a bit to win games. Until they decide they have work hard every night, every shift, even with all their talent, they will struggle.

Shit, maybe we should put Drew back behind the bench too.

From a recent Scott Burnside post:

When the New York Rangers add two talented, veteran centers in Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in the offseason to a lineup that already boasts multiple Stanley Cup winners Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan and the best young goalie in the game in Henrik Lundqvist, reason tells you, emphatically even, that this is going to be a good hockey team. Maybe even a Stanley Cup team.

And yet after dropping a 5-3 decision to the previously winless Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night — a Thrashers team so desperate, so discombobulated, it fired coach Bob Hartley the day before — the Rangers are a scant two points better than the Thrashers with a 2-4 record.

Man, this sounds awfully familiar. Change the names of the players, and it could be yet another “Sharks are disappointing” article. I get that people need to write something this time of year, but writing 3 or 4 articles on this topic since the beginning of the season seems a bit much. We’re seven games in. Seven.

With all the great preseason press the Sharks got, having them come out of the gate at .500 could be a shock. “Hey! Maybe I have no friggin’ idea what I’m talking about!” Barry Melrose says to himself. Well, probably not.

It could be a hell of a lot worse. We could be in Atlanta right now.

There’s a certain blueliner that’s fallen out of favor in a certain hockey town. The biggest hockey town in North America. No not that one. One that still sells out every night. This particular town lives and breathes hockey year round. Every misstep, every player’s comment is under a microscope. A great player is getting booed for one stupid mistake, the kind of mistake that happens once in a career. And it happened to him. Not in the Stanley Cup Finals, not in April when they’re fighting for a postseason spot. In the first two weeks of the season.

You’ve figured it out by now: Brian McCabe.

Doug, we need Brian McCabe. He scores goals. He plays special teams. He’s been under 100 penalty minutes only once in the past 10 years. He’s a big mean son of a bitch.

What do we give up? Carle, Vlasic, and Rivet are untouchable in my opinion, because we’d just go back to where we started. Joe is too much.

Everyone else is on the table. Yes, everyone. Marleau straight up? For three more years of McCabe? Bet your ass. Bernier and Pavelski. Goc and Ehrhoff. Make it happen. The Gooch is waiting in the wings. Kaspar can play this year. Jesus Christ, activate Tomas Plihal if you have to.

Make it happen.

“Dear Dougie” will be a post where Mike or I will have a trade suggestion to share with Doug Wilson, aka Dougie. Feel free to agree, blast or add to the trade suggestion. These are only musing, thoughts of players that might look good on the Sharks.

I am making my pitch for the Sharks to consider getting Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers. Atlanta is terrible and a fire sale is coming soon. There is no future in Georgia and they have to start rebuilding with young players. With Hossa as a UFA at the end of the season, he is sure to bolt the South for greener pastures. After looking at cap room and young assets, I find three potential playoff teams that I think could make a pitch for Hossa’s services via trade. Pittsburgh could dangle Jordan Staal. Washington could offer Backstrom or Semin for the chance to pair Hossa with Alexander O. And then, there’s our Sharks. We have one of the deepest young cores in the NHL and a logjam of players at the forward/center position. With Devon Setoguchi waiting in the wings, could Cheechoo be the chip that gets Hossa in Teal and White? We have all read how much Atlanta loves Steve Bernier, atleast according to Eklund. Could a package of Cheechoo and Bernier make it happen? I like Cheech, don’t get me wrong. I just think Setoguchi is waiting in the wings and they are similar players. If you can replace Cheech with the Gooch and Bernier with Hossa – isn’t this a major upgrade to this team that occasionally struggles to put the puck in the net?

Just a thought…..

DETROIT @ SAN JOSE – Tomorrow Night!!
This game has been circled on the Sharks schedule from the beginning of training camp. Red Wings. At the Tank. This is the Sharks chance to show their fans, the Red Wings and the rest of the NHL that they haven’t forgotten their Round Two collapse and that the 2007-08 Sharks are going to be different. The Killer Instinct. The chance to flex their muscles and bury the dreaded Dead Things on home ice.

I’m predicting a big Sharks win tomorrow night. The emotion of the opening night that never was on Saturday. That disappointment will be long forgotten with a strong showing against Detroit. This is the first Statement Game of the young season.

Prediction:
Sharks 5 Red Wings 2