A San Jose Sharks Blog

I'm not exactly sure why, but San Jose seems to have Vancouver's number this year. Of the six games played thus far, the Sharks have only looked decent in two of them, and they were both against the Canucks.

Throughout the first period, the Sharks were on the penalty kill trying to fend off Vancouver's skilled lineup. Fortunately, they were able to kill all five Canucks powerplays and escape the first 20 minutes in a scoreless tie. In past years, the Sharks have proven to be one of the least penalized teams in the league, but I think Tim Hunter was right when he said that we weren't working hard. It seemed as if the Sharks were always second to the puck or on the receiving end of a hit. In a scenario like that, players will often end up taking the stupid penalty.

However, thanks in large part to Douglas Murray's fight, the Sharks got going towards the latter half of the game. At 9:37 of the second period, the big tough defenseman decided to shake things up. The Sharks were down a goal and appeared to be on their way to a third regulation loss. Fortunately, Murray got the best of Rick Rypien; pulling the sweater over the Canucks player's head and pounding on him before the officials broke it up. To be honest, if that was a Sharks player getting beat up, I would have wanted the refs to jump in a bit earlier, but oh well...it got San Jose going.

The very next shift after the fight, Team Teal seemed to have a lot of jump in their step. They were skating hard, getting to the loose pucks, making crisp passes, and putting shots on net. As a result, the Sharks were able to come back.

Late in the second period, on the powerplay, a Patrick Marleau cross ice pass sprung Steve Bernier in on Roberto Luongo...all alone. While moving to his right, Bernier deftly slid the puck back towards his left and through Luongo's legs for his first goal of the season. This tied the game at one.

Then in the third period, the Sharks' offense really got going. Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Jonathan Cheechoo scored consecutive, unanswered goals. Both Pavelski's goal and Thorton's goal were the result of slick puck handling in close. On both plays, Luongo overreacted and put himself out of position to stop either shot. As for Cheechoo's goal, this one was the result of hard work. After backhanding the puck towards the net, Cheechoo picked up the rebound on his forehand and quickly ripped a wicked wrister upstairs past the Canucks goaltender.

Later in the third period, the Canucks scored a powerplay goal, but it was a little too late...the Sharks had this one in control.

Note: Though the offense did very well, the defense is deserving of a nod. The goaltending of Evgeni Nabokov definitely kept Team Teal in the game; especially on the play where he robbed the Canucks of an empty netter.