Sharks Appear Ornery...and Win

Video Highlights from Last Game

I'm not sure what was being said in the locker room, or at the players' homes, but the San Jose Sharks were playing angry last night...and I'm not going to lie...I really liked it. As the game got chippier, the chirping got louder and you could just see the anger on some of the players' faces. Both squads were slashing, cross-checking, tripping, punching...it was awesome. From a Montreal Canadiens perspective, I imagine their passion came from simply needing the points to get into the playoffs. As of this morning, Montreal is in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in the East with the New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers. In regards to Team Teal's display of a mean streak, I think they were just tired of losing having dropped three out of the last four games.

I can't stress how much I liked seeing our players play mad. Last year's team would have "pretended" to be mad and pushed back, but this year's team looked sincerely pissed off. We can thank GM Doug Wilson for that as he was the one who added players like Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer, and Manny Malhotra...all of whom joined in the rough stuff. Their rugged play seemed to infect the other Sharks as well...during different parts of the game, Dany Heatley, Rob Blake, and even Joe Thornton started to show their untapped grit. You throw in some usually ornery suspects in Ryane Clowe, Brad Staubitz, Jamie McGinn, Jay Leach, and Douglas Murray...all of the sudden, you have the making of a full-blown "brouhaha"!

After being down by a goal at the end of 40 mintues, Team Teal was able to rattle off two unaswered goals in the third coming off of the sticks of Heatley and Malhotra. It was almost as if we stole the playoff playbooks from the '05/'06 Edmonton Oilers or the '08/'09 Anaheim Ducks

"Beat up on those punks until they soften up and then score sloppy, but timely goals"

It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. More importantly, unlike the playoff game against the Ducks last year where the Sharks pretended to be tough, I think this year's San Jose team is sincerely tough...clearly tough enough to win.

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