So the Sharks played a spectacular first period last night, and basically coasted to a 4-1 win. It was a bit disappointing that they didn’t continue to stomp on the gas and bury the Blues, who were positively floundering during the whole period. Despite being fairly young and 14th in the West, the Blues don’t have any quit. If the Sharks pulled back too far, St. Louis could have made a game of it. But they didn’t, and the Sharks continue to roll. Although I can’t make the game tomorrow afternoon, I will certainly TiVo it, and have every expectation that the Sharks will continue the streak. Grier thinks that the streak will come to an end against the Kings next week, but I think they will last until Friday against the Ducks. I just don’t have a good feeling about it, even without Pronger.

Speaking of that, here’s his quote on the suspension: “While I did not intend to injure Ryan, I respect the league’s decision on this matter and look forward to returning to the ice and leading my teammates into the playoffs.” Notice he didn’t deny that he tried to step on him. It’s hindsight, but who can say a suspension isn’t justified now?

Mike Wilbon called for the Sharks to win tonight on PTI today. Two things

1. This is probably the first time in the history of PTI that the Sharks were the subject of anything. Seeing “SHARKS” in the right-hand screen rundown gave me a little thrill.  Yes, I’m that pathetic.
2. The only way for Wilbon to know less about hockey is for him to be declared mentally retarded. Every hockey pick he makes is wrong. And by ‘every’, we’re only talking about two or year per year.

Thanks for the jinx, meat.

Personally, I think he stomped on Kesler deliberately.  But then, I hate Pronger.  With a passion.  A passion so hot I would love it if he were on the Sharks.  The league has a nice history of looking the other way when star players commit offenses.  Hey, I know the evidence may not be compelling to some, but I have a tough time believing that Steve Downie wouldn’t be looking at an suspension if he were the guy in the video.  You know why Pronger does it?  Because he can get away with it.  The mark of a good player.  Annoying douchebag as well, but a good player.

So Patrick Marleau has been playing great lately. He saved a goal late in the last game, and had a nice little six points in seven games streak as well. He’s using his speed again, and making strong moves, they way a lot of us have been advocating for most of the season. To a casual outside observer, this could be a run of the mill case of a player slumping early in the season, then finding his groove.

And yet, he’s been blasted in a manner I’ve not seen before as a Sharks fan. Generally the media and fans here are fairly laid back. But the bandwagon jumpers piled on. And this past week, Ryan Garner chose to rip Marleau again, even after his recent resurgence. Garner also said on the Teal Spiel last weekend that regardless of what happens the remainder of this season or the playoffs, Marleau should be traded before his no-trade clause kicks in on July 1. You may have heard my call after that debating some of those points, and I’ll try to flush them out a bit more now.

I completely disagree with that opinion for several reasons. For one, Marleau is a very good player who I would characterize as a consistent 60 to 70 point producer. The last two years have been better than that, but let’s be conservative about it. The Sharks will have to find those goals somewhere next season without Marleau. Who’s gonna give ’em, Marcel Goc? How can you not view this year as an aberration? Save one season (when the Sharks missed the playoffs), Patty’s scored 25 goals every year since 2000. To say that he’s suddenly a punter will require a better argument than I’ve seen anywhere so far.

The second is the damage I believe it will do to the Sharks organization and reputation around the league. Let’s be honest- San Jose isn’t usually on any big UFA’s short list. Name a quality free agent other than Mike Grier that’s signed in San Jose in the last while. It just doesn’t happen. What we do see is players being developed in house, or traded for and re-signed, like Joe, Rivet, McLaren, and God willing, Campbell. Now suppose this- the Sharks’ captain has a bang-up last half (or quarter) of the season, performs well in the playoffs, and is promptly traded. Dontcha think this might put a bit of a damper on the Campbell re-signing effort? Or any other free agent that would be open to coming out west? The message would be this- the Sharks will ship good players, even the captain, when they need to clear salary. Turning around a slump doesn’t matter. No player is safe. In my mind, this will damage the Sharks more than keeping Patty around.

The third is the obvious possibility that Marleau will right himself and get back to the 80-point per year clip (or even better) he’s had the last couple of seasons. And the Sharks will have gotten diminished value for him, probably picks or prospects. Marleau was tied for 29th last year in points, and the names below his could fill an All-Star team. Sundin. Kovalchuk. Kariya. Hejduk. Stall. Richards. Gagne. Need I go on?

I’m not trying to be a Marleau fanboy here. In hindsight, it wasn’t the best decision to give him the captaincy. Maybe the two-year, $13M deal with an NTC was excessive. But those decisions have been made already. What do the Sharks do now?

Since I’m on a roll, I have an answer for that too. We can’t keep everybody. If Marleau goes into the tank again and is invisible in the playoffs, that makes it easier for the Sharks to get rid of him. But if not, we can clear out guys and get picks. Maybe McLaren. Maybe Carle. Maybe the Rizz or Goc. I have to believe that Brown, Plihal, and Semenov won’t be back. Clowe should be cheaper now that he’s been injured the entire season. The elephant in the room is that the Sharks won’t spend to the cap. But if Marleau continues to perform, as quietly as he may do it, the Sharks can’t afford to get rid of him.

As the Sharks attempt to push their franchise record winning streak to ten games – so many people are talking about next year already. “What are the Sharks going to with Patrick Marleau?” “How are we going to keep Brian Campbell?” “Is there room for Andrei Nazarov on the roster, since DW has a soft spot for mediocre Russians?” Why are we jumping to the offseason already people? Our boys are on a mad-hot run into the Stanley Cup playoffs and it’s like us Sharks fans don’t know what to do with ourselves. Take some time to smell the Teal people and let Doug Wilson worry about the offseason…..trust me, he already is three moves ahead of us.

What the hell is this rumor about? Seems kind of crazy and a little implausible that Doug Wilson would have actually pulled the trigger on this one. Why would you want Avery when you already got Shelley – doesn’t make sense. Mike thinks, and I agree, that DW brilliantly played several teams against one another into a bidding war for a young player with high stock and Wilson turned Bernier into Campbell. Sharks go on nine game win streak and Marleau/Pavs/Seto form a legit 2nd line. BAM! Speaking of Stevie B….it looks like he’s out with a “groin injury”, although according to this blurb from Yahoo Sports he looked fine in warm ups. So, I take it back Buffalo….for now.

San Jose wins again in Nashville. Why? The Preds are coming off a long road trip and that usually spells bad news for the home team, especially against a club clicking like the Sharks right now. San Jose has Dallas in their sights and knows if they don’t win the division, they are destined to play the Ducks in Round One, which would not be any Sharks fans first choice. I think Nabby goes again and then Boucher will play on Sunday against the Oilers. Just a guess, with Ron Wilson that’s the best you can do.

GO SHARKS!

Steve Bernier has already been demoted to 4th line duty in Buffalo. He couldn’t even crack the line up tonight, sitting out as a healthy scratch. Could Buffalo be the most mismanaged franchise in the NHL? They should be running Stevie B. out there every night on the top two lines to see if he adds anything to their future – they do have to make a decision about resigning him in the offseason. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They deserve to not make the playoffs and, if they keep this up, Buffalo is going to have a “Brian Campbell” situation on their hands at the 2009 trade deadline with their franchise goalie….Why would Ryan Miller want to stay in Buffalo?

Sharks will make it nine in a row against Minnesota on Sunday and take the 2nd seed away from Dallas. Here’s hoping they never give it back.

The Tank has been a different place this week. Fans are smiling, the team is playing loose and our newest Sharks have been a home run success. All the signs were there for the old Sharks to come out tonight – the slow start, the deflating 3rd period power play goal by Ottawa, outshooting the Sens and still trailing on the scoreboard. Last month, the Sharks would have lost this game at home. This new team would not allow it to happen. They scrapped, they refused to lose and beat one of the best in the East. This win streak isn’t ordinary, it is something to hang their hats on. Beating Detroit, Pittsburgh, Montreal and Ottawa is no joke. Doug Wilson is seeing his roster come together before his eyes.

The addition of Brian Campbell has overshadowed the fact that Marleau has been revived by playing night after night with The Gooch and Little Joe. Since Campbell joined the team in Columbus, this 2nd line has gathered fourteen points collectively. The effort is exciting and once JR is healthy again (word is he has the flu) he will take Plihal’s spot on the 4th line. When is Ryane clowe coming back? Mike and I were discussing it on the way out of the game and the answer could be….not soon. Why mess with what the Sharks have going to force a talented young player on the ice when he’s not ready. I’d rather see Goc or The Gooch at 100% then Clowe at 60%. It would not be shocking if Clowe didn’t see a ton of action the rest of this season, especially with Shelley watching Joe’s back these days.

This road trip could start rough for us. I’m thinking the Sharks go 2-1, with a loss against the red hot Blackhawks and two wins in Nashville and Minnesota. I have to admit, I don’t see how the Wild are so good. They don’t scare me at all and, from the first two games this year, they don’t match up well against San Jose. We’ll see how this potential playoff matchup turns out on Sunday.

Hmm. Yeah. I was, uh, wrong. Big time. But I’m glad about it. Pessimism rules- you’re right, you get to bask in your glory. You’re wrong, the thing you really wanted to happen happened. Get your Brian Campbell jerseys right here!

Last night’s game was the most exciting game of the season at the Tank, by far. Lots of scoring, good chances, dazzling plays, and key saves. When I think about it now, I still smile. The best thing about it was, from a Sharks fan perspective, it seemed like a battle of conference powerhouses instead of the Sharks measuring a top team to see how they stack up. San Jose played as if they knew they could beat this team, a team with formidable weapons. As we saw last night, the Sharks have their fair share of weapons too. Actually, now it looks like more than their fair share.

As the title refers to, the theme of the game was individual Sharks players going up against individual Habs, and making them look stupid. Teabagging is the technical term. Big Joe teabagged Price on two occasions, but the second was the best. On the PP, with no screen, he took a slap shot from the right circle, and it got through Price. It trickled to the far post, and literally sat on the goal line for a couple of seconds, before it was cleared to the corner. Quickly, it was passed back to Joe, in the exact same spot. He stared down Price for the second time, took the same shot as before, and beat Price again, this time for a goal. How those nuts taste?

A little later, Cheech had his own Earl Grey moment when he took a pass from Joe at the blue line, and made a amazing power move right past our old friend Josh Gorges. He pretty much jumped over/around Gorges, muscled body position, cut to the middle, and roofed the shot. Hey Gorges, I think you got something on your face.

Then later in the third, a goal that will be talked about for years to come. Again on the power play, Campbell streaks into the zone with his hair on fire. By the way, this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping Campbell would do once he came to town. The other team can’t just stand up on the blue line anymore when they are on the kill. Campbell will just go right past them. So anyway, Campbell proceeds to pull a spin-o-rama at full speed between the circles and buries the backhand low. Price didn’t even go down. The Tank went absolutely friggin crazy, me included. Denis Savard would have been proud- Campbell made everyone else look like they were playing bantam hockey for that moment.

The Sharks have to do more than just show some flash from their top players. But right now, they are. They are getting good play from all of their top players (even Marleau scored last night, on a strong move), and playing well positionally. The agonizing wait we endured throughout the season looks like it’s starting to pay off.

The two home games this week are a crucial yardstick. We’ll see a top-two PP in the Habs vs. a top-two PK in the Sharks. It will be fun to watch. And we might finally get a real look at the Sens after a crazy shakeup. Will the Sens be able to right themselves, or will the storm surrounding Paddock and Emery continue to affect this absurdly talented squad?

The Sharks are about evenly weighted in home vs. away games the rest of the season, with the longest homestand being only two games. After the trip at the end of this week to Chicago, Minnesota, and Nashville, all the games will be on the west coast (if you consider Phoenix. I do. Close enough). This means the Sharks actually will need to win consistently at home to hold onto their playoff spot. A friend emailed me this morning expressing nervousness about his Ducks holding onto the fourth seed. I just don’t see that happening- the Ducks have been on a tear since their two “I just want to play half the season” guys came back. Dallas, as of now seven points ahead, is more or less uncatchable. If the West weren’t so tight, I might advise dumping a couple of games late and sneak into the postseason as a six seed. I like our chances very much against the Wild.