I must confess- I am often a pessimist when it comes to the Sharks.  I want them to win so badly, when they start playing like crap, my mood swings the other way and I say to myself, “that’s it.  They’re done.”  Time and time again, this team proves me wrong.  Even though the season is only 15 games old, the number of games the Sharks have come from behind or pulled ahead after giving up a lead is pretty long.  Kings, Philly twice, Columbus, Detroit, Minnesota, St. Louis, and now Dallas.

The Sharks had every excuse to lose last night.  Zubov just came back this week, and their new pickup, Mark Parrish, had a hat trick in his first outing, beating the Ducks convincingly.  Turco has found his groove again.  And although I’m a homer, there seemed to be a number of non-calls going the Stars’ way.  They (the Stars) were aligned to hand the Sharks their first home loss.

And my pessimism kicked in again once Luko made two horrible plays in the space of five seconds to give up the tying goal.  It looked like the momentum had all moved Dallas’ way.  But you know what?  Again, they didn’t panic.  Again they didn’t turtle up into a defensive shell to try and get the point.  Again they played as if they knew they were better, and a win was just inevitable.  And again, they found they were right.

How gratifying was it to see the Sharks, even strength, attack over and over in the last five minutes?  Sure, smart money was on seeing the game in OT, but coughing up a point to a division opponent just sucks.  It was Dallas that were on their heels, trying like mad to extend the game and escape.  But Marleau stepped up again and didn’t allow it to happen.  Turco’s flashy moves with the puck bit him right in the ass, and Dallas will have a bitter taste in their mouth for a long time to come.  The best thing is, only Turco is to blame.  The other 29 goalies in the league would never have tried to make the play he did, and now I get to say with relish: Suck it.

And I also get to say, with no small amount of bewilderment, that this Sharks team is for real.  The 13-2 record isn’t just a mirage.  They are the best team in the NHL right now, and it look as if they want to keep a vice grip on that moniker, up to and including the playoffs.

Make sure to call in tonight to the ChompTalk radio show (9pm on 1220AM or stream here, phone number 1-800-516-1220) with all your questions and opinions on the Sharks.  We’ll be giving stuff away, so polish off the corner in your brain that holds all the Sharks trivia answers too.

In the latest NHL trend, another disappointing young Sharks cast off has found his third home in less than six months. First, it was Steve Bernier, who Buffalo gave up on after 17 games. They decided he wasn’t worth the 2.5M he was going to command as a RFA – so peace out to Vancouver big boy. As it turns out, Matt Carle, who was anointed by many as the crown jewel of the Dan Boyle deal for Tampa Bay, was sent packing after only twelve disappointing games and two whole points. Still think Carle will be a “major steal” Ryan Garner? . How does that hat taste, by the way, meat? In return, those fantasy guru’s in TB got Steve Eminger (also on his 3rd NHL team in eight months) and resident dumb ass Steve Downie.

So, let me get this straight. The Sharks got their new top defensive pairing, Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich and in return Tampa Bay ends up with Two Steve’s, one is a border line NHL’er in Eminger, who at 25 has to be running out of “potential” (P.S. he’s a career -44, that’s sure gonna shore up that defense Tampa!) and the other is a head hunting loser in Downie who will never get his screw on straight long enough to have a real NHL career. Think Link Gaetz with more skill but less heart.

I wish Matt Carle well. This could be a better situation for him because he is on a better team with better blueliners in Coburn and Timonen to take the majority of the minutes. The bad news is that if he thought Sharks fans were unforgiving of his faults and growth spurts….just wait until Flyers fans get a hold of him. This could be a rebirth of Matt Carle or the end of the young man. Alas, my gut says he is gonna struggle…

By the way, that other prized prospect, Ty Wishart, sure is tearing up the AHL. Last I checked, he had one point in ten games. Can I Get a Witness!!!

Management in Tampa is ruining their franchise. Expect more panic moves soon. Oh yeah…and Doug Wilson is a genius.

The Sharks should not have won last night. They were outhit. The Blues blocked a million shots…okay maybe not that many – but they did block 28 shots compared to San Jose’s twelve blocks. The Blues would not go away and rookie netminder Bishop made some big saves. This is a game that last years Sharks would have been disinterested in after two periods, made a late push at the end to make it respectable but would have come up short in the result – but the 2008-09 Sharks refuse to lose. They just will not accept it. For the most part, this is the same bunch of guys who would turtle up in adversity. Who do you credit for the change? Coach McLellan? Boyle/Blake/Luko? All of the above? Whatever the formula is, the Sharks keep coming at you, even after they fell behind 2-0 in the early going, I never thought that San Jose was out of the game. How many times have we seen the Red Wings do this same @*%& to us over the years? The Sharks jump out early, and slowly the better team chips away at the lead and crushes the underdogs spirits in the end.

The Sharks were up against it last night. For the second game in a row, they got screwed by the refs. Clowe got boarded and there was no call. It actually pissed him off enough to score two goals and the shootout winner…so I guess we can thanks the refs for that oversight – but the phantom holding and hooking calls on Ehrhoff and Vlasic were terrible in my eyes. Those are the type of plays that happen hundreds of times during an NHL game.

So were the Sharks lucky to win last night? I guess there is the phrase “beginners luck” – I would like to coin the phrase “Winners Luck” for the Sharkies. They would not quit last night and, in my eyes, they have officially morphed into an elite team – yes, even 12 games into the season I am comfortable making that statement. Their attitude now is: Bring Your Best….And We Will Still Beat You.

Saturday will be tough, especially if Nabby is on the shelf…and possibly Danny B. if Baby-Boyle is born. We will need both him and Jody Shelley Saturday to fend off Team Pest (Dallas).

12-2 baby. 12-2.

I just got word from a friend of mine that he just played pickup hockey with none other than Alexander Korolyuk.  Before we all sit with bated breath at the exciting prospect of Korky returning to glory with the Sharks, my friend (who claimed to have been set up for 7 goals by Korky) says that he’s only in town to visit family.  According to the link above, he’s got 18 points in 23 games for Mytishchi Atlant of the KHL this year.  And I checked the KHL schedule- their last game was the 1st of November, and their next game is the 13th.  Weird scheduling over there. So it’s at least feasible that Korky would be in town, and it’s pretty unlikely that my friend would lie to me like this.  You’ll have to take my word for it on that- I’m less likely to believe the part about the 7 goals than the part about Korky.

As we head into tonight’s game against the streaking, in the wrong direction, St. Louis Blues – I noticed an interesting trend in the early NHL season schedule. The Sharks have drawn three teams on the 2nd game of a back to back after the other team has visited the Anaheim “Now So Mighty” Ducks. Detroit came up here and lost after playing the Ducks last week, we get St. Louis tonight after getting crushed by the Ducks last night and Dallas will make their first appearance at the Tank this year on Saturday after playing Friday night against….yup – the Ducks. The great part about all these games is the Sharks have been sitting on their butts, watching Must See TV the night before and waiting for the road weary club to stroll into town so they can hammer them.

I expect the Sharks to continue their home dominance tonight against the Blues. Last years team would been caught napping on one of these lay up games, but it appears this will not happen under McLellan’s watch, or at least not at home. I don’t think we’ll see Boucher tonight. Nabby’s finally got his groove back and has played well the last few games, so why break up the momentum.

I predict a 4-1 Sharks win and J.R’s first goal of the season tonight. Go Sharks!

I really went out on a limb yesterday, predicting a 3+ goal win over a team that’s only given up 2.4 goals per game while scoring 2.9.  And I almost looked like a genius.  Instead, I’ll have to settle for extraordinarily intelligent.  I was right that the Sharks played a patient game and eventually cracked the trap.  There were so many times the Sharks could have scored the fourth goal, but my disappointment at not being inducted into the pantheon of Great Calls is offset by yet another impressive Sharks effort.  I’ll take it.

All that and more discussed on the recent DOH podcast, and other issues discussed on last week’s ChompTalk radio show.

In a landmark podcast on a landmark night, the Sharks and Dudes on Hockey continue to roll.  After winning four in a row, the Dudes talk about what is different about this team versus past years.  After some emails, they look to the rest of the Pacific division to try and gauge upcoming challenges.

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Seems like Minnesota has played in the league for a thousand years, and every year they play the same style- very tough defensively, shutting down the neutral zone, but the offensive game is wearing a restrictor plate.   Since 2000, the Wild have had a scorer in the top 40 only four times- Gaborik twice, Brunette, and Rolston.  Several of those years they don’t have anyone in the top fifty.  This is a team that doesn’t care about offense.

Since we’ve now seen the new high-flying high-scoring Sharks, I feel like we match up even better against the Wild than in past years.  Believe it or not, but the Sharks have already faced one of the stingier defenses in the NHL- Tampa.  That’s right- the Lightning have allowed only 24 goals in 10 games, and the Wild have allowed only 22 in 10.  If we can hang three on the Lightning, we can hang three on the Wild.

The pitfall with the decidedly non-wild “Wild” system is the opposition would get frustrated with all the traffic in the neutral zone and take stupid chances in order to create a rush.  Then Minnesota could capitalize with chances the other way.  But with the patient way in which the Sharks dispatched Detroit and Pittsburgh, I doubt that will happen.  I’m predicting a big win here – the Sharks by three or more.

As I’m sitting here watching the Leafs and Rangers on a Saturday afternoon, I’m still riding the high of that win on Thursday night. Thanks to our good buddy Bryce, Mike and I saw the win from the club level and it wasn’t even close folks. The Wings looked like the little brothers and the Sharks took it to them all night. Now, eleven games into the season, I love the attitude of being out for blood every night and every shift. A few other thoughts…

– Undefeated at home. I told Mikey during the 2nd intermission that I think the Sharks will drop only five games at home all season. That’s right. The Tank is now a dominant place where opposing teams should thank their lucky stars if they can get even one point. This is another aspect where the Sharks will move from good team to elite team.

– Seto and Pavelski are exploding in this new system. Seto was the best player on the ice on Thursday, he was everywhere and we could be seeing a star born before our eyes this year. His constant motor has won over Coach McLellan.

– I think McGinn is here to stay and will take Plihal’s spot when Mitchell returns to form. He is highly skilled and aggressive, perfect for this Wings model. His ability to slide up and play 2nd line minutes is evident as well.

– The Sharks had a new video feature on Thursday night, asking several players what three things they would take to a desert island. Here are the three best responses.

ROENICK: A case of red wine, a hot blonde and a boat so I can leave when I’m done.

SETO: Strawberries, chocolate and Jessica Alba.

SHELLEY: Uh…soap….toothpaste….and, a can of beans.

All this good karma being spread makes me fully aware the Sharks could struggle tomorrow night in Colorado. The Sharks split in Colorado last year and are coming off an emotionally charged week with two huge victories at home. One game road trips can be bad news, so I regretfully expect the Sharks to be on the wrong end of the result on Sunday night….but I thought they might get caught napping against Pittsburgh.

GO SHARKS!

So the Sharks put down a Stanley Cup finalist for the second time in three nights.  First period was a hard-fought battle, mostly dominated by strong forechecking and neutral-zone turnovers.  Then Detroit broke the seal only moments into the second period with a nifty shot from Hossa.  But the Sharks didn’t panic, they knew they’d get their chances.   And then they hung three on Ty Conklin in the space of four minutes later in the second.

You could tell the Wings didn’t expect that.  Even though the Sharks are on everyone’s list to make the playoffs, and even a few to make the Stanley Cup finals, this team is surprising people.  It would be easy to write off the first 9 games a beneficial scheduling with a healthy diet of under .500 teams, but the last two might have been eye-openers for people that jumped off the bandwagon.

Plenty of time yet to get on that bandwagon.  No doubt there will be slumps and lean times this year, and we may just see a letdown on Sunday against Colorado.  But it’s the best start in Sharks history, and this team in clicking in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen here in San Jose.  Happy Halloween, people.  Go celebrate and eat a disgusting amount of candy.