The Sharks aren’t playing exactly like the Sharks of early in the season; it was bound to happen sometime.  Seto’s out of the lineup, Michalek is just coming back, JR is out, and Ehrhoff was scratched in favor of Semenov.  I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1.  No such luck.

Nabby managed to pull his head out and have a fantastic game, stoning all of the Stars’ best chances.  The only one that went in was off the aforementioned Semenov’s big mitt.  Bastard can’t get a break, can he?  He did have a nice laydown block late in the game, but that unfortunately doesn’t make up for the several times he watched a guy go around him.

In the second period or so, I was really expecting the patented Turco standing on his head show, and he almost pulled it off.  If not for a Michalek circus goal from his knees, it might have been a different story.  Plus, I thought the Marleau penalty shot attempt was pretty weak sauce.  Barely a move, then a pretty low percentage shot.  Patty, you got better than that.

There’s no doubt that right now, Dallas is playing much better than their record.  If they keep playing this way, they will scratch themselves back into the playoff hunt in a month or so, and who knows, we might have seen a preview of a first-round matchup last night.  Please God, no.

Step three in the process to bring Claude Lemieux to the San Jose Sharks roster was initiated by Doug Wilson this weekend when he signed the four time Stanley Cup winner to a two-way contract.

Doug Wilson says “don’t just to any conclusions….”. Dougie…baby….I love ya but I’m calling your bluff big guy. Bust out the Teal for Claude – he’s coming folks. As I’ve said before, are the Sharks in the charity business here of resurrecting careers? This isn’t an NHL shelter for wayward veterans who’ve lost their way. This is the Stanley Cup front-runner – and they’re looking for the missing piece – and Claude Lemieux could be part of the equation.

Look at it from this point of view. At the trade deadline, or at any point before then, you can add one of most legendary winners in modern hockey and a player known to terrorize the Detroit Red Wings. Do you think Todd McLellan hasn’t shed any light on this? Come on….he would know the legend of Lemieux from the other side. Doug Wilson can poo-poo this all he wants, but once Lemieux clears waivers on Tuesday, and he will – every other team has had this time to sign him, no one is going to suddenly jump in today and be forced to add Claude to their NHL roster tomorrow, the Sharks have a built in Wing killer in the wings for nothing. No prospects lost, no draft picks given up. Another shrewd move by King DW. He wouldn’t even have bothered to go this far with Lemieux if he didn’t think he was part of the big picture for a Cup run – and that’s what this is all about – a Cup run. Patience will be a virtue here because, as I understand it, once the Sharks bring up who ESPN once called “the most hated man in hockey”, Lemieux’s deal will count against the Sharks cap for the rest of the season because of his age. (Mike our resident cap guru will correct me if I’m wrong). So, I still don’t think we see Claude until late February – for that reason mainly.

Imagine these playoff lines.

Marleau/Thornton/Seto
Clowe/Pavs/Michalek
Cheech/Mitchell/Grier
Shelley/JR/Lemieux

Tee-hee-hee. Now that’s money. With two solid scratches like Goc and Plihal, the Sharks will be looking good heading into any playoff series. Alright, that’s really it I think. I’m sitting at the San Jose Airport waiting to catch my flight and I couldn’t help myself. LEMIEUX WATCH is on…more than ever.

P.S. I am really going to see the Mississippi River Kings play at home against Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on New Year’s Eve. My first minor league hockey game and I’m looking foward to seeing these CHL (Central Hockey League) foes do battle. They are two of the most penalized teams in the CHL, so some gloves should be dropped. There are four players with 98+ PIM’s….in 26 games. Awesome.

Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays Sharks fans. Your team is currently the best team in the NHL with 57 points and regained their swagger with a convincing victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Now that Santa Claus has left the building, the Sharks are challenged by a three game road trip that on paper doesn’t look like that big of a deal. The worst team (by record) in the Western Conference tonight in St. Louis, the 13th place Dallas Stars and the 9th place Minnesota “I’m Not” Wild “About This Team” (I hate the Wild). So why am I quietly nervous putting away my stockings with care….

St. Louis has challenged the Sharks both times they’ve met this year, with San Jose winning both games 5-4 on home ice. The Sharks have a history of playing well in St. Louis, having not lost there since 2006 and San Jose has won seven in a row against the Blues. Nothing to fear, right? The Sharks beat St. Louis last year right after Christmas, so it’s gonna happen again this year, right?

Of course it will. Did I make you nervous? The Sharks are going to roll tonight against a damaged St. Louis team that has dropped seven of their last eight. No way the Sharks lose tonight.

SHARKS 5 BLUES 3

Did you know the Dallas Stars are 6-3-1 P.S.A. (Post Sean Avery). That includes being 4-1-0 at home P.S.A. I think the Stars, unfortunately, are finding a little bit of that team spirit that made them dangerous last season. They are slowly getting healthier and I could see the Sharks dropping their match up to a team in Big D that will want to make a point.

STARS 2 SHARKS 1

The final game features the most boring team in the NHL, the Minnesota Sucks. They are have more trouble scoring than Gary Coleman on his wedding night. The Sharks love playing in Minnesota, having won all four games there the last two seasons. It must be all that fresh moose meat, you betcha!

SHARKS 3 WILD 2

So…no hangover here. A tough loss in Dallas to a team looking to make a point and two wins over sub-par competition. Sharks stay true to form and roll into the New Year ready to bring us fans the only thing we want in 2009. A Stanley Cup. That’s it from me until after the ball drops (insert joke here). I’m off to Mississippi to see family and some high class minor league action!

Happy Holidays, DOH listeners!  This week was a trying one for the Sharks, with two losses in a row, one of them badly at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup Champions.  The dudes break the games down, and look at the bright side in the wins to the Rangers and Canucks.  Finally, In the spirit of the season, Mike and Doug ask Santa for some Sharks-related gifts.  See you in 2009.

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I did a little scouting last night and watched the Ducks vs. Canucks in Vancouver last night and it lived up to its billing. The most penalized team in the NHL (Vancouver) vs. the 2nd most penalized team (Ducks). 66 total penalty minutes, 14 power plays and mucho thuggery later – the Canucks got an emotional victory. This is nothing new – last year they were both the two most penalized teams in the NHL again. The biggest difference is that this year, Vancouver can actually put the puck in the net while playing defense. Check this out.

2008-09 Vancouver is 9th in goals scored and 9th in goals allowed.
2007-08 Vancouver is 23rd in goals scored and 7th in goals allowed.

The Sharks had little trouble with last years version of Vancouver, sweeping the season series with a virtual $%* kicking. Last night, Vancouver took full advantage of the Ducks embarrassing style of play – the Ducks looks like a bunch of school yard bullies this year except they don’t have the excess talent to back it up. When things would go wrong, the Ducks took more penalties. Tonight, I expect the Canucks to play the Ducks role and try and irritate the Sharks into getting off their game. This approach has not worked this year against San Jose and will not work tonight. Vancouver will have a reversal of fortune, take too many minor penalties, run out of gas and give the Sharks too many chances with the man advantage.

Santa comes early. Canucks will look tired. Sharks 5 Canucks 2. Lots of penalties.

We’ll be doing our final podcast of 2008 tonight after the game. Look for it online tomorrow. Happy Holidays.

And Big Brother said to Little Brother, “Not so fast. You can’t have my Cup yet”.

The Sharks got spanked last night. It was miserable to watch. After looking pretty sharp for the first ten minutes, it all went to Hell and a Hudler after that. We got worked, what can you say? We beat their butts in San Jose and they got even on their home turf. They won all the battles: outshot the Sharks, won more faceoffs….yada yada yada.

So with the #$% kickings out of both teams systems, the next meeting you can expect to be a tightly played, best vs. the best hockey game. We haven’t seen that yet from these two, but it’s on the horizon. Both teams have excuses, not that they would ever make them, about how or why they had a poor performance when they lost. The Sharks were playing with a less than 100% Pavelski, a rusty Cheechoo, no Michalek and no JR. They were on the 2nd game of a back to back and their 3rd game in four days. Detroit had the same adversity when they lost in San Jose, 3rd game in four days, no Franzen or Chelios, wah, wah, wah.

I’m not concerned about the loss. Losing can build character, make a team work harder, want it more, etc. What I’m mildly concerned about is the injury situation and the current effectiveness of Cheechoo and Pavelski, which last night appeared to be zero. The extent of their injuries, including the absent Michalek, will most definitely impact how the Sharks do against the Atlantic Division leaders, the New York Rangers, on Saturday night.

DP reports now Michalek won’t be playing tonight against the Wings, with Pavs and Cheech game-time decisions.  Reportedly Cheech is probable, Pavs not.  So conceivably the Sharks could be without Cheech, Pavs, Michalek, Mitchell, and JR.  Fan-freaking-tasic.  And lets not forget that Cheech hasn’t exactly set the league on fire this year- he hasn’t played since November 28, and he hasn’t scored a goal in exactly two months.

This is precisely what I didn’t want – the Sharks to have an excuse to lose.  Not that they will approach the game that way, but it will certainly be easy to say tomorrow that the Sharks were missing four or five forwards, and that’s a big reason whey they lost.

Here’s something we’ve learned in the last two weeks, Sharks fans. Our boys, the best team in hockey, doesn’t match up very well against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nope. They don’t. Columbus has thrown everything they have in their Red, White and Blue tanks at us the last two meetings. The first, the Sharks escaped. Tonight, an overtime loss. Is it the end of the world? YES!! WE SUCK! TRADE EVERYONE!!! Oops. Sorry. Shades of last season. No, but reality and a bit of dramatics leads me to believe this will not be the last time we see the Blue Jackets….more on this in a sec.

Without Pavelski, the second line is lost. This is a little unsetting but the Sharks offensive machine has certainly stalled without Little Joe and J.R. in the line up – only three regulation goals in two games. It didn’t stop the Sharks from peppering Steve Mason (who looks like the Real Deal Holyfield – I think Columbus has found themselves a gem here folks) with 48 shots. I certainly hope Little Joe is back tomorrow night, or we could be in for a long night in Motown. Was McLellan holding out Pavs for the showdown in Detroit?

I applaud the coaching of McLellan again. After Columbus tied the game, in the final minute it was clear the Sharks were not going to leave without atleast getting a point. Who cares if Columbus gets a point. San Jose must get a point too. Job well done McLellan. I don’t even mind the odd man rush at the end of the game when Umberger beat the Sharks because the D had pinched in on the attack. The Sharks should go for the gold, the extra point – they have nothing to lose. No big whoop.

The announcers for the Blue Jackets on Center Ice were pretty bad. Two of my favorite comments of the night by play by play announcer, Jeff Rimer.

#1: “Here comes Marleau with the puck” He said this almost every time Milan Michalek had the puck. Um….does a 9 look like a 12 to you? “Here comes Marleau with the puck”.

#2: “Brassard’s penalty is over in nine seconds” There was 1:35 or so left on the high sticking minor when the statement was made. Afterwards, a bit of silence. I think the color guy was stunned, or still trying to figure out who the heck #9 is on the Sharks. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I heard them say Michalek’s name all night….somehow they can say Fedor Tyutin just fine.

So – those of you normal people without obsessive compulsive Sharks disorder (also known as NHL Center Ice Package) – are you ready to see the Sharks on TV tomorrow night? Even if you missed the Columbus game tonight, I have a sinking feeling we might be seeing them in the first round of the playoffs. This team is one point out of the #8 seed and a match up with the Sharks in Round One is probably low on my list of preferred opponents. They aren’t the best team in the West, but Columbus seems to know how to match up against San Jose. We can only hope they torment Detroit instead of us….but they will be there for the dance. Columbus is on the verge folks behind Steve Mason.

One last stab: Sharks (gulp) lose in Detroit 4-1. Pains me to write it but the Wings will be out for blood.

UPDATED: FOR THE RECORD, SINCE I’M MR. NOSTRA-GRIER, LET’S TAKE A STAB AT HOW THE RANGERS WILL CLEAR THE CAP ROOM FOR SUNDIN.

TO VANCOUVER: SCOTT GOMEZ
TO RANGERS: MATTIAS OHLUND

JUST A HUNCH.

What a crazy world.  I found this article through Puck Daddy in the Detroit News about agitators, which contained this memorable quote:

When he was with the Red Wings, Avery mocked Eric Lindros, then with the Rangers, following Canada’s 2002 Olympic championship.

“Did you get a gold medal?” Avery asked Lindros while lining up for a faceoff. “You don’t deserve it. Give it to Joe Thornton. He wasn’t on the team, but he was better.”

Classic.  And by the way, most recent podcast here.

The Sharks faced some adversity this week, with close wins against the Blues, Ducks, and Kings, but the big news of the week is injuries to JR and Pavelski.  Mike and Doug discuss how that might affect upcoming games, and ponder having three rookies in the lineup.

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