Dear Nabby, You’re No Craig Anderson
October 1st, 2009, 10:03 pm
In a gross display, the Sharks were beaten badly on Opening Night. I thought there would be struggles with this team with all the new faces in key places, but this goes beyond what I expected. Somebody call Kirk Cameron! We’ve got Growing Pains.
The good – Benn Ferriero. He was the best Sharks on the ice and even saw top line duty after Seto struggled to do much of anything tonight. He’s going to be a gamer. Jason Demers was serviceable tonight and had some bright moments on the power play. The second line was the most dangerous and the third line looked solid at times in the first period. Marleau, Clowe and Pavs were the only plus players on the night.
The other really odd stat of the night was we murdered the Avs in the faceoff circle, winning 71% of the faceoffs – even more bizarre than outshooting them – we saw that many times last year where the Sharks outshot a team but still lost cause their goalie played out of his mind.
The bad – So much, where do we start.
Nabby made a few big saves, but not nearly enough – and not nearly as many as Avs goalie Craig Anderson who robbed the Sharks many times, especially during our power plays. Nabby gave huge rebounds and while he didn’t get much help, especially from Boyle and Murray who looked disorganized at times, he HAS to come up bigger if the Sharks are going anywhere. If the coaching staff is going to be true to their word and say that Nabby needs to earn his starts, then expect Greiss in the pipes on Saturday night – cause Nabby wasn’t good tonight – unless you dig a .761 SV%.
The Versus announcers couldn’t tell the difference between McGinn and Ferriero for much of the game, and that drove me crazy. Someone correct that moron! Versus sucks.
Heatley had a lousy Sharks debut with a minus three and he was the guy who didn’t backcheck, allowing the fourth goal. He was just standing there, gliding back toward the net – hell, Cheechoo would have atleast fallen down trying to get there. Heater also did a Selanne impression by missing a wide open net in the third period.
I was also turned off by how the Sharks appeared to have the same turtle-up nature that they did in the Marleau as Captain era. No big hits. No grit. One lame fight. When the team fell down 2-1, there should have been some response by Nichol, Shelley, Clowe, Murray, Captain Blake…well, I guess he did respond by giving away a four minute PP. My bad. Seriously though, I thought tonight was a great chance for the team to prove their identity crisis is over…they looked like the same group with different names on their backs.
Yes, yes – it’s early – but I wanted to see something and instead I got nothing but heartburn and a noise complaint. Prilosec…take me away…
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Heatley’s usually like that…. That’s his downside, and why he isn’t really worth 7M, despite the 50 goals.
Amazing. It was like reading a Senators summary from two seasons ago. In Ottawa, all the people who ragged on Spezza now are gulping as they see him hustle and backcheck, which he can now.
Too bad The Bryan didn’t get a first round pick. Damn.
“I wanted to see something and instead I got nothing but heartburn and a noise complaint.”
I got shots & a very large headache this morning.
You’re giving too much credit to Anderson. Do you remember one spectacular save by him? I’m struggling to. Most of our 40 shots were from easy angles and too many came from blue line. It was especially obvious on 5-on-3 when the best we could come up with was dropping the puck to Blake or Boyle and let them bomb it. Kmm.. Have I not seen this before somewhere recently?
Luckily, McLellan was pretty pissed in his interviews. I expect Sharks to rebound on Saturday and at least keep the game close. But I don’t expect them to win that one.
I also think coaches give one more game to Nabby before he gets shown the bench.
“The Versus announcers couldn’t tell the difference between McGinn and Ferriero for much of the game, and that drove me crazy. Someone correct that moron! Versus sucks.”
Ugh. Drove me crazy too. “Ferriero is all over the place!” No, you just think he’s 2 players. I was happy that it was Doc and not someone else though.
I also noticed the 4th goal w/ Heatley coasting towards the net. In his defense, it was a 2-on-2? I think?
It’s not like it’s tough to distinguish a 64 from a 78.
And Ivan, I’m with you. Shots from the point on a 5-on-3 is either a lack of creativity, extra laziness, or both. Weak sauce.
I didn’t think that one goal was entirely Heatley’s fault. I agree he could have skated harder to back check, but it was a 2 on 2 without Heater. Murray was a bit behind the puck but could still stear him to the boards, but Boyle left the middle to help and left his man all alone in front of the net.
I think could have put up a better save percentage blindfolded. That’s all i’m saying.
Slow it down, everyone.
The team is pretty different this year. Think about it: The second line (the most productive line) is the only one that’s in any way similar to the lineup last season. Lines 1, 3, and 4 are completely new. They need some time to form some chemistry. It was the first game of an 82 game season, away, on Joe Sakic night.
Defense just looked rusty. Huskins just looked as bad as we saw from Preseason.
But think about the good things. Ferreiro looked great! Think about how good this team will be when the chemistry between the other lines is finally there.
I think eventually we’re going to be a very powerful team. It’s gonna take time and we’re gonna suck for a bit. Better to do it now than in April, right?
Go Sharks.
Ryan: I’m not throwing in the towel here, I’m just saying I don’t like how it all went down. Them being rusty is one thing, them taking the loss without any glimpse of emotion was was upset me the most. If you have a bad night, then make the other team remember that it ain’t gonna happen again.
Doug
I wouldn’t use the term “without any glimpse of emotion” in my analysis, since they did put up 19 shots in the 3rd period trying to come back.
It was the 2nd period that disturbed me the most, but I did feel they were trying hard to at least score in the 3rd period.
Ivan: I’m not talking about putting up shots and trying to score – I’m talking a big hit, I’m talking about taking a run at Anderson, I’m talking about playing with a little fire and reminding the Avs that they are still bottom feeders in this league and every team has a good night – but it will never happen again.
I’m sitting here watching the Canes and Flyers play with a ton of bite and last night Montreal kept running Toskala and got Toronto on edge. Don’t tell me the Sharks aren’t that kind of team, because with Nichol, Ortmeyer, Malhotra and Shelley on the ice – they better damn well be. I don’t want the Sharks to turtle up and take it, you know?
Ok – I’m done. Beer anyone?