A San Jose Sharks Blog

In the first period of Wednesday night's game, Torrey Mitchell scored his 3rd goal of the season thanks to a strong forecheck. On the play, Marty Turco was forced to play the puck quickly to one of his defenseman as Mike Grier put pressure on him from the behind the net. The sloppy pass allowed Jeremy Roenick to intercept the pass and kick it out front to Mitchell who was able to pop it into the empty side of the net.

About six minutes later, the Stars scored when the Sharks made a bad linechange and left Craig Rivet all by himself to defend two players. Fortunately, Team Teal bounced back quickly and in a big way. Less than three minutes later, Devin Setoguchi scored his 6th goal of the season giving an assist to Joe Thornton. Then 59 seconds later, captain Patrick Marleau picked up a loose puck on the near side and roofed one past Turco who was partially screened by Steve Bernier. At the end of one, the score was 3-1.

In the second period, there wasn't any scoring at all, but that's not to say that San Jose didn't have its chances. During the middle stanza, the Dallas Stars gave up three separate powerplay opportunities. Unfortunately, San Jose struggled to put any quality shots on net. The momentum that started in the first period definitely died by the end of the second period.

In the third period, the Stars found their legs. For most of the 20 minutes, it appeared that San Jose was on its heels. As a result, Dallas took advantage and erased the two goal lead on the powerplay and at even strength.

This brought the game to overtime which was very exciting. Both teams got a number of scoring chances, but both Evgeni Nabokov and Turco kept the score tied.

On to the shootout. I'm not going to lie, but everytime the Sharks go to the shootout, I pretty much give up hope of gaining that extra point. Who could blame me? According to Randy Hahn, the Sharks are the worst when it comes to the shootout, while the Stars are regarded as the best. However, this time around, Team Teal ended up on top. With Nabby stopping two shots, Setoguchi and Marleau clinched the win and brought home the final point.

Overall, the Sharks looked pretty good. The first period was a continuation of what I saw against Phoenix, but the rest of the game was below par. It just goes to show that the San Jose needs to play a full 60 minutes. Otherwise, they'll let teams come back and steal a point, or worse...two points. However, now is not the time to be critical because Team Teal has won three games in a row against Pacific Division foes...and still sit in first place.

Notes:
It seems as if Drew Remenda is making a push to get some post-season hardware for a number of Sharks players. Can't say I blame him because a number of Sharks may be worthy of the recognition if they keep at their current performance levels (*knock on wood*). Here are the awards that Remenda mentioned along with his early season picks.

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Comeback Player): Jeremy Roenick
Calder Memorial Trophy (Best Rookie): Devin Setoguchi