One of the most anticipated match-ups of the year for me, the Philadelphia Flyers are in town (7pm start, not 7:30).  This will be Chris Pronger’s (booo!) first visit to the Tank since he was traded to the Flyers in the offseason.  As has been well-documented on the podcast, both Doug and I have put money down on the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup this year.  For those who might be sneering at us right now- c’mon, we got 12-1!  That’s just a solid bet.

The Flyers have been built to strike fear in the hearts of their opponents.  In addition to the aforementioned Pronger (booo!)  the Flyers have Dan Carcillo, Riley Cote, Ian Laperriere (who we thought would be a good fit for the Sharks) and Scott Hartnell to provide some rough stuff.  Although I’m not sure throwing your glove at somebody counts as “rough stuff”.  Despite that impressive list of pugilists, it’s Mike Richards who has more penalty minutes than all of the above save Laperriere, and it’s Richards that put David Booth to sleep with one of the most crushing (and controversial) hits of the year.  I’ll leave that debate for another day.

It also bears mentioning where Philly sits now versus where they sat on October 25, the day that Thomas Greiss got his first start, and led the Sharks to an impressive 4-1 win at the Wachovia Center.  At that time, the Flyers were 5-2-1, good but not fearsome.  Now, they are at 12-5-1, and have won 8 of their last 9 games.  Some of those games weren’t against exactly the cream of the NHL crop (Tampa, Ottawa, Carolina), but the last two wins have been the most impressive- at home versus the Devils (handing New Jersey their first road loss of the season) and two nights ago against the Kings, our old pal Brian Boucher weathering the storm.

Tonight we will have Nabby between the pipes facing a mostly healthy Flyers squad, minus the ever-shelved Simon Gagne.  Like the Sharks, there aren’t a lot of weaknesses to the Flyers.  They do commit a ton of penalties; they have four more minor penalties than the Sharks in five fewer games.  Can’t say I’m surprised by that, but they do have the 8th-best penalty kill in the league, plenty good enough to allow for some extra goonery.   They also sport the best power play at the moment, which means the Sharks, who are 16th in the league in PIMs/game (Philly is 25th) need to stay the hell out of the box.

Interestingly enough, the fourth line may be the difference for the Sharks.  If Ferriero, Couture, and McLaren McGinn are recalled as expected, this could be a real speed mismatch, going up against Blair Betts and Riley Cote. Can’t wait for this game.  And no, I won’t be wearing the Carle jersey.  I do like Fear the Fin’s prediction for the game though:  “Sharks win 17-1. Goals by Heatley, McGinn, Clowe, and a whole bunch of others. Matt Carle’s league-leading +/- drops like a stone. ”  Won’t be betting on that outcome, but a good call nonetheless.

Mike and Doug wrap up the games that happened in the past week- a little up and down for the Sharks, although they remain on top of the NHL in points.  The Dudes spend some time on the Chicago Blackhawks, who have several injuries, and talk about the rumors surrounding their big three free agents- Toews, Kane, and Keith.  Then they bring up the fact that the Sharks have done a lot of shipping players to the minors, much more than any other Pacific division team.  Finally, Mike and Doug pick their biggest surprises and disappointments now that the season is a quarter over.

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The Sharks vs Preds tonight is radio only, so you’ll all have to listen live to Dan and Jamie.  Streaming at KFOX, or listen the old frequency-modulated way if you must.   News from Pollak that Greiss is starting again, with Staubitz and Seto out.   That means Frazer McLaren, Benn Ferriero, and Logan Couture are the fourth line tonight, with Malhotra moved up to the second,  and McGinn on the third with Nichol and Ortmeyer.  I’m actually looking forward to that combination- I’d like to think the youthful enthusiasm of those three might give the Preds’ checking line a little more than they bargained for tonight.

Second, a little housekeeping note- I’ve changed the RSS feeds of the blog and podcast over to feedburner, a common and popular service owned by Google that will allow us to keep stats about readership, and give a nice formatted page when you actually visit the feed.  I’ve set up some forwarding so I hope it’s all transparent to you, but I’m mentioning it just in case people run into issues.  Just click on the buttons there on the right to take you to the new feed.

Third, the podcast will be recorded and posted tomorrow night, probably around 8 or 9pm PST.  Emails always welcome.

Fourth, Claude Lemieux didn’t win Battle of the Blades on CBC, sort of a hockey Dancing With the Stars, but with hockey players and figure skaters doing a pairs competition.  Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale ended up winning, with Lemiuex and Stephane Richer (remember him?) as runners-up.  The most noteworthy thing about this show (other than the fact that I kind of want to watch it), is that Lemieux not only performed to the great Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” on the finale, but he sung it too.  And I’ll let Doug weigh in on this, being a performing arts guy, but as a person who’s been on stage a few times, I’d say his voice ain’t half bad. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscWDUk3otA[/youtube]

This is giving me ideas for the podcast.

Jeremey Roenick waives to the crowd before the Sharks 4-3 OT loss in Chicago

The Sharks tangled with one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL last night when they swam into Chicago and tangled with the early Central Division leaders. This game featured some of the best young talent in the NHL on both sides plus a collection of the best skill players in the Western Conference. It was an extremely entertaining game and a fitting tribute to one of the most exciting players the NHL has ever seen in JR. As a tribute to their former teammate, the San Jose Sharks reached back into their old bag of tricks and coughed up a 3-1 lead just for old times sake. J.R. could have only smiled and said, “Ahh…memories…”

We’ve seen this from the Sharks before and unfortunately, their last three losses have been blown leads (2-1 in Detroit and the OT loss at home to Dallas). The good news is – they haven’t been losing much at all lately – but is this a real concern or just a good effort to get a point on the road against a playoff team?

Attempted levity aside, I’m not disappointed by the loss. It was a great effort against a very good team with an emotional crowd at their side. I am more and more impressed by Jason Demers every game and his continued development must be a great surprise for the Sharks front office. The Sharks have taken some heat the past few seasons for not having a top farm system, but I think the play of McGinn, Couture, Demers, Joslin, Greiss and Ferreiro in supporting roles is proving those critics wrong. It’s pretty hard to argue with the #1 seed in the West – again.

Tomorrow night’s game in Nashville isn’t on TV. Instead, Comcast Sports Bay Area is proud to present the following programming for your entertainment. After all, it is a contact sport.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeMJOPlK-0E[/youtube]

*Vesce shown actual size

Dallas is certainly a worthy opponent, and the Sharks again managed not to lose in regulation last night, falling 3-2 in the shootout to the Stars.  Of course, the way they lost will the be the topic of discussion today, mostly because there isn’t much to talk about regarding the Sharks.  I don’t mean for this to be a strident, finger-pointing post, because these games happen, and you can’t expect the boys in teal to be in absolute top form every game of the year.  I thought Dallas played very well, with a few more crazy-Turk (Turco) moves than I’m used to seeing.  I was a bit surprised at their lack of offensive firepower- I thought their D would be the main issue with the Stars.  Only James Neal seemed to be a consistent threat, with Brad Richards (their top scorer) and Mike Ribero (their top actor) held at bay.

So the game seemed to be going according to plan, the Sharks finally manage to crack Turco on a classic Dany Heatley tally and a flukey Ryan Clowe wrist shot that went off the D, and then the third period happened.  The one off of Demers’ boot was just bad luck more than anything.  The second was worse, because it stemmed from a bad clearing attempt, with a scrum in front finally tying the game.  Fairly lively overtime, and like always, I go into the shootout with more than a touch of dread.  Nabby is tied for third all time in losses in the shootout (tied with Tim Thomas, behind only Giguere and Luongo) with a win percentage of .455 and save percentage of .584.

The title of this post refers to the odd (some might say lame) selection of the third shooter in the shootout.  McLellan kept his second best shootout player (Ryane Clowe, 6 for 13 all-time) on the bench in favor of Ryan Vesce (now 0 for 1 all time).  To be honest, after you get past Pavs (14 for 25) and Clowe, it does get a little thin, choosing between Dan Boyle (4 for 13), Patrick Marleau (5 for 17), Dany Heatley (4 for 21) or Devin Setoguchi (1 for 6).  I’m glad McLellan chose Boyle, because if nothing else, it’s entertaining watching Boyle make about a thousand moves, sending the goalie into a full spin and flop.  This time Turco spun and flopped correctly, and made a no-look save on Boyle’s backhand.

But Vesce, not so much.  He skated straight down the center of the ice, handled the puck a couple of times, tried to deke, and left the puck behind him.  He swept at it on the backhand, but because the forward progress had stopped, it wouldn’t have counted even if it had gone in.  Not exactly an impressive performance.

It’s a minor point, but who’s the goat in this situation?  McLellan for putting in a guy that’s ice cold?  Or Vesce who didn’t even manage to keep the puck on his stick when he tried to shoot it?

The Sharks are on another run, 8-0-2 in their last ten games.  The Dudes break down the late-game winner by Dan Boyle versus Nashville, the 1-point escape against Detroit, and the hurt the Sharks put on the defending Cup Champions.  With more players coming back from injury, Mike and Doug try and figure out how the lines will sort themselves out, and if the Sharks might even make a move for a defenseman.

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Marcel Goc makes his triumphant return to the Sharks Tank tonight after signing a one year deal with the Nashville Predators in the offseason. When you take a look at how much the Sharks bottom six forwards have improved, one has to tip their hat and give an assist to Predators GM Dave Poile for not resigning Scott Nichol and underutilizing Jed Ortmeyer, allowing them to fall into the clutches of our own Doug Wilson. Nichol and Ortmeyer have been two major keys to the transformation of the Sharks third and fourth line. Last season, the Sharks got limited offense and very little grit from their bottom six and this year these former Preds have brought a new attitude and work ethic to the mix. So, welcome back Marcel Goc. We may miss your blogging, but we do not miss your consistently disappointing play. I hope Poile is happy with your stat line and the $250,000 he saved by letting Nichol walk. Let’s look at the difference with the three stats that really matter for a bottom six center like Goc and Nichol: Hits, Faceoff % and PK time.

Marcel Goc (2009-10) 8 hits, 55.5% and 1:23 PK time.
Scott Nichol (2009-10) 53 hits, 64.2% (2nd in the NHL behind Paul Gaustad) and 2:07 PK time

Not to mention that Scott Nichol is a whopping 62% on PK faceoff draws and Goc is under 50%. Doug Wilson has delivered change in a big way with a player that might not get the press, but Nichol for Goc was a remarkable and much needed upgrade.

The Predators will be without their star blueliner, Shea Weber, tonight while the Sharks are getting back Seto and Vesce. I could see this causing semi-chaos upfront initially with the Sharks falling behind early, and I could also see this as what they call in the betting world a “trap game” with the Sharks perhaps looking ahead to a date with Dallas on Thursday. It’s for this reason that I hope McLellan starts Thomas Greiss tonight to keep the Sharks focused in their own end, forcing them not to check out against the weaker, hoe down dancing opponent. While the Preds are 2-9 against the Sharks in their last 11, I still smell trouble and a tight 3-2 win by the Sharks.

How do you like the new blog and sexy features? Just in case you were having trouble getting up for the game, a little dance down memory lane for you. Will McLellan play Staubitz tonight and scratch McGinn? We’ll have to see…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpl_SuXygw[/youtube]

W-O-W.  That’s how Jamie Baker described the keep-in Dan Boyle performed at the blueline before he passed to Thornton, who then dumped it into the slot for Pavelski, and Heatley cleaned up the garbage for the Sharks’ fourth goal.  This is after Dan Boyle made Ruslan Fedotenko and Martin Skoula look like a couple of beer leaguers, faking and deking right and left before burying a low wrist shot far side that chased Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh net.  Second in the league in points by a defenseman, Boyle has played the first month of the season with a broken thumb, and we witnessed last night what can happen when Danny is 100%.  Holy crap.  Is this guy fun to watch or what?

But Jamie’s exclamation about the clinic Boyle put on really applies to the whole 5-0 Sharks trouncing of the defending Stanley Cup champions.  Actually, it wasn’t completely unlike the win the Sharks handed to the Pens last year at this time, though that one had a much more modest score (2-1).  Sidney Crosby is still a handful, and he got a few dynamite chances, but we saw none of the breakdowns the Sharks commited against Columbus a few weeks ago in leaving Rick Nash alone in the slot, or the head scratcher against Washington in leaving Ovechkin alone on a 2-on-1.  The Sharks quietly dominated play much of the game, and answered the bell with physicality when Pittsburgh got tired of being humiliated.  I think Jody Shelley’s fight against Eric Godard was the best one I’ve seen him fight in two years.

The Sharks are again on top of the NHL in points (although Colorado is tied with us with a game in hand), and many of the kinks have worked themselves out.  Pavelski, despite missing 15 games, was an integral part of everything last night.  Malhotra chipped in on the power play.  Scott Nichol continued his domination in faceoffs, got an assist, and had several scoring opportunities.  We witnessed last night how good the Sharks can be.  All this without Devin Setoguchi, Rob Blake, or Torrey Mitchell in the lineup. Of course the next question out most Sharks fans’ mouths will be “but can they do it in April?”

I’m getting tired of that question.  I’m savoring this win.

Because I have U-verse, that means I can’t get Center Ice (stupid AT&T).  The one plus with U-verse is I get great internet bandwidth at home, which makes NHL Gamecenter an obvious choice.  A bit more money than Center Ice with several more features.  The big downside is obvious- you can’t crack a brew in front of the TV at home and watch Canes-Sens.

The live streaming is just ok.  Not sure if it’s the server load or what, but I generally get better video performance with hulu or other video sites (admittedly that’s not live).  The “Adaptive” streaming mode, which gives you tivo-like features as well as changing quality of video depending on your pipe, is a decent compromise.  When the quality goes down, the video gets a bit more pixelated and the puck harder to follow, but at least the link stays up.  If you aren’t in adaptive mode and the network slows, the whole video freezes for a moment or two, which gets infuriating very quickly.  Adaptive mode also enables you to watch up to four games simultaneously.  Click on the game you want to get the sound from that feed.  It’s pretty intuitive.  I don’t really use (or have a use for) the in-game features like chat and running stats, and even if I did they are overlayed on top of the video.  Why would I want to block my own view with that crap?

The big benefit to getting NHL Gamecast is the games archive.  You can get games all the way back to the 2007-2008 season, or games from just a few days ago.  Because Tom asked in the last thread about the Pens, I watched their Thursday night matchup with the Kings.

The biggest annoyance with Gamecast is the way you access archived games.  Across the top of the screen is the schedule, going back only a few days.  That’s one way to access games that already happened.  This is good, although I wish that scroll went back a week or more instead of a couple of days.  The other way to access an old game is very backwards- you choose the team from a list, then the opponent, then the date.  I want to choose a game by two different methods: by date, and by team then date.  For instance, if I want to scout the Sharks opponent, I have to know who they played last (and the date) in order to watch that game.  Dumb.  You should be able to choose a team, then have that team’s schedule appear.  Choose the game you want from the list.  The other thing is, that backwards method is only for the games that don’t appear in the schedule on top.  I tried to choose Pens-Kings from that list, by selecting Archive, then this season, the Pittsburgh, but LA wasn’t in the opponents list.  Really dumb, and I almost just gave up then, figuring the archive wasn’t available yet.

Anyway, once you actually get into the archived game (assuming you found it), the video quality is great.  You can even picture-in-picture (or multi-play) with other archived games.  That is really sweet.  One problem- if you switch to multi-game from single game, it starts the single game you’ve been watching over from the beginning.  And there’s no way to skip ahead, except by 10-second increments. This almost makes multi-game archive viewing useless.  Another thing- if I have the game paused for a while (to write parts of this post, for instance) sometimes the whole thing freezes up, and I have to start the game over again.  Clearly, there’s room for improvement with NHL Gamecast.  Overall grade: C+.

After all this playing around, I finally get around to watching the Kings-Pens contest on Thursday night.  The Kings were on a major hot streak at the time, and continued it by beating the Pens 5-2, cracking the Pens perfect away record so far this year.  This sounds like a beatdown, but in fact the Pens were up 2-1 until Kopitar tied it almost 7 minutes into the third.  The go-ahead goal didn’t happen until there were less than 8 minutes left in the game.  It was a pretty even matchup until then, with both goalies making very good saves.  They had to because the D on both sides seemed a bit weak.  The Pens did play without Malkin, Gonchar, and Tyler Armstrong.  All three will probably be out tonight, and according to this, even Alex Goligoski is questionable.  That’s huge.  Goligoski has 13 points, only one behind Boyle, and has really stepped up with their top offensive defenseman (Gonchar) out.  It’s been Letang and GoGo on their top PP unit, and they might have to put Brooks Orpik up there tonight.

The Pens top line is still very dangerous- Bill Guerin had a ton of chances against the Kings, and we all remember how annoying Chris Kunitz can be since he played with the Ducks.  The second line is much easier to handle, with Staal used to playing with Kennedy and Cooke, now he might be playing with Fedotenko and Chris Bourque.  I hope the Sharks can jump on that weakness, though they have injury troubles of their own.  With Blake out, there is no defensive depth.  Glad we get the last change tonight- if we get the wrong matchup against the top line, there could be trouble.  And now with the news Pavs is back, and Crosby a bit banged up, I have to call a win for the Sharks.

In the “who cares” department, you may have heard the last podcast where we beat up on the Columbus announcers a little bit.  The Pens announcers, Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey (one-time Sharks captain) are on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Great play-by-play and commentary, up there with Randy/Drew and Dan/Jamie.  On the radio side, which I didn’t listen to, is the legendary Mike Lange, who always sounds like he smoked 10 cigars then swallowed a bag of charcoal right before the game starts.  And he says stuff like “scratch my back with a hacksaw, he SCORES”.  Can’t beat that.

We’ll see you tonight with our Dudes On Hockey shirts on.  Come and say hi if you see us.  Might I suggest a free beer to break the proverbial ice?