Jeremy Roenick Scores a Pair

Murray, Roenick, & Nabokov shine in Sharks' first win

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night by a final score of 3 to 1. Thanks to the efforts of Douglas Murray, Jeremy Roenick, and Evgeni Nabokov, Team Teal is now in first place within the Pacific Division. I know, it's too early to think about standings, but gaining 3 out of a possible 4 points on the road is a very good start.

San Jose did a great job of jumping ahead of the Canucks by scoring all three of their goals in the first period. At 5:30, Jumbo Joe Thornton continued his scoring ways by putting one past Roberto Luongo on a very nice move. With Jonathan Cheechoo crashing the net, the Canucks defense had to stay back to protect against the rush; this allowed Thornton to drag the puck to the front of the net for the clear scoring chance.

At 11:48, Jeremy Roenick was the lucky recipient of a loose puck in the crease. Fighting for position in front of the net, JR quickly jumped on the opportunity to put in his first goal of the season. On the play, Torrey Mitchell and Murray received assists. Then, less than four minutes later, Roenick scored his second goal of the season and the 497th of his career. After a faceoff win in the Canucks' zone, Murray picked up the puck and ripped a shot towards the net which JR redirected to the back of the net.

On the night, the Sharks went 0 for 7 during the man advantage; for some reason, the chances are there, but the puck simply isn't going in. I guess it doesn't help when you have Luongo in net, but this is something that needs to improve if the Sharks want to be the dominant team everyone expects them to be. Fortunately, Team Teal had Nabokov in net who made a strong showing by stopping 22 of 23 shots. Though Vancouver did not put much rubber on the net, when they did, Nabby had to make some great saves.

Overall, it was a good win, but not a great one. There were numerous times when the Sharks could have put this game completely out of reach, but instead, they left a little light of hope for the Canucks. As a result, Vancouver tried to take advantage of this opening and really made a strong push towards making a comeback. On a couple of plays, Vancouver had wide open nets to shoot at, but failed to score.

At the end of the day, the effort was there and the Sharks got the two points. On Sunday, San Jose will be taking on the Colorado Avalanche; their first real test on the young season. I can't wait to see Scott Hannan try to handle the line of Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Cheechoo. Scott is good; there's no doubt about that. However, he's never had to face this line outside of practice.

A San Jose Sharks Blog