San Jose Sharks

[bballplyr321]

Is neimi going to be playing in game one or is he going to miss time?

SOrry newper. The general thought is that Neimi took the first game off because there are 6 days between games for the Sharks so giving him that extra time will help him get to 100%. If it was the playoffs, I personally believe that he would have been playing

The same can be said of Havlet as well.

[bballplyr321]

So what do people think about Pavelski taking faceoffs in the first period while on a line with Thornton. Will this be a regular thing throughout the season or just something they are trying out. I figure Thornton is shifting to C and Pavelski to RW after the faceoff but this is pretty big for leagues that count faceoffs won.

I would not read anything into it. Pavs was taking faceoffs when they were on the right side. Thornton was taking the faceoffs on the LH side. I think it is purely a function of the fact that Pavs is right handed and Marleau is left handed.

The thing that SHOULD be concerning is the number of faceoffs that the team was losing in general. For a team that has been VERY good over the past two years at taking the draw, they sure looked overmatched in that area.

[bballplyr321]

General thoughts on the game tonight

1. If you take a penalty on the Sharks, you are going to pay the price. Wow. I seriously have a new man crush and his name is Brent Burns. He seemed to always be in the right place. He snuck down low and then popped back up high. His snap-shoot was lightning quick and fairly accurate as well. He looked better than I ever would have hoped.

2. Boyle still played a ton of time on the PP. He was on PP1 AND PP2. But he looks like he might be losing a step. He was definitely not the best defensemen on the ice last night.

3. PK looked BAD last night. I hope they can shore that up.

4. As I alluded to in my previous post, the Sharks could NOT win a faceoff last night to save their life. Ouch. I think they will get better over time.

5. The third line was awesome last night. They were fast, they caused a ton of turnovers and wrecked havoc with whomever was out on the ice against them. To be honest, I was not expecting big things out of McGinn but he played a REALLY good game. Better than Wingles in my opinion

6. Speaking of Wingles, he looked awfully timid to start the game last night. He did get better as the game wore on and he picked up his first NHL point (it was a function of the fact that he plays on a line with Couture and Clowe) but it was pointed out to me that he was in position on the Clowe goal if there was any kind of rebound. I doubt he sticks on that 2nd line especially with Havlet coming back pretty quick but I think he has another gear that he can tap into.

Last note, I wish Michal Rozsival a speedy recovery. He took a puck off the face last night and went down hard. You never want to see something like that. You just hope that he bounces back.

[newper114]

How did marleau look? Seemed like it was a pavelski show but what's marleau doing out there?

[tgraveline]

Marleau had his moments and made a great pass down low to set up one of the goals. He'll be a stud again. I was bummed to see Thornton held off the scoring sheet, but I think overall he played well and created room for everyone else on the ice to do their job. I'm thinking this is not going to be a regular occurence.

I was a little worried about Pavelski taking FOWs from Thornton, but I think when one gets thrown we'll always have a good opportunity on that top line to win faceoffs. This is just game one and we looked good early on against a terrible team, but our PK was abysmal. I think they just didn't care as much because we were so far ahead, but that cannot be the case in the future.

I really liked Handzus and his play.

And of course, Brent Burns was great to see on the PP. I was shocked when all the guy on CSNCA were saying he'll make the biggest impact on the PK and I think they're wrong on that. He's a PP spe******t, not PK. He's fine in his own end, but that's not his area of greatest strength.

[kluu]

Marleau's assist on Pavs first goal was AMAZING! Marleau was on the side of the net and passed it through the dmans 5hole and landed on Pav's stick perfectly in the slot.

3rd line was awesome. Mitchell the most noticable of all. Super impressed by Torrey. Mcginn was good, I've been optimistic of him since the beginning. Handzus with a nice wrap around, lucky bounce to get in the net, but nice play nevertheless.

Gotta agree about Wingels, the fit wasn't right for my taste.

Looks like our "energy" "checking" lines could become depth scoring lines with energy....or something like that..

Boyle was solid offensively as usual, but he did look slow at times in his own end. Boyle's ATOI should be reduced with the addition with Burns.

Clowe was being Clowe, alot of solid board work. Couture had a sweet 180 backhand pass to Clowe for a goal.

Hmm what else...Demers made some creative passes with the man advantage.

Vlasic still got his superior stick checking, offensive skills still stagnant. His shots keep gettin blocked...

[kluu]

were playing tonight...

[tgraveline]

Hiller was his usual Shark Killer form. This team needs to learn how to get into the slot and rip some good shots on him. He uses his body so well and keeps himself elevated so high when he drops down too. I think the Sharks need to hire Goldman to scout him out for his weaknesses and start chipping away at his armor and start beating him. I do love the rivalry though. I didn't see much of tonight's game as we had an emergency Pie run. Got some good Marie Calendar pies on sale!

[kluu]

good thing u missed it, it wasnt fun to watch.

oh man, pavs undressed lydman so bad, highlight of the night. the greatest part was when lydman looked straight down at his own legs as pavs put the puck between. classic

[tgraveline]

I did see that actually, just didn't see him finish it off. Oh wait, he didn't lol. Oh well, it's just game two for them. Hopefully today is a lot better.

[kluu]

pavs will be our goal scoring leader by seasons end.

[tgraveline]

It's either the Big Pavelski, Couture, or Marleau. I'm liking what I'm seeing on the 2nd line now that Havlat is playing. The chemistry appears to be building and I think we will see even more scoring from the second line than we ever have before. Pavelski is a stud and plays like he wants to win every game. I love that he got the opportunity and I hope the top 3 gel even more and this line rocks it.

[dyzfunctioned]

pavs will be our goal scoring leader by seasons end.

Pavelski is an absolute stud. Been a big fan for a while and am glad to see him finally getting more ice time/playing on the top line. Though for the most part he's hovered around the 9-10% shooting % and is converting at 20% this season.

That being said it wouldn't shock me to see him finish with 35/40-45. Though who knows, maybe with Thornton setting him up he'll continue his torrid goal pace and will finish 40/40.. I'm hesistant to say that though as he's never cleared 25 in his career, even in the WCHA.

[kluu]

look at him on a knee with his left leg in the air! i was so pumped after that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...cDjmYVfk#t=16s

i needa find a way to take a snapshot of that then find someone to make a sick wallpaper with it

[kluu]

oh yea a little on Havlat. I was talkin to my boy during last nights game and I started rambling on about how we never had a player of his type. Yea its been only two games but wow I was so impressed.

There was a play where he was doing some crazy shoulder/head fakes to keep dman frozen. He's so shifty and deceptive. I'm trying to think of a player like him that was once a shark. Maybe Seto... He used to do it but not very successfully. Heatley likes to do those shifty moves too, but his body is too slow.

Anyway, Havlat is looking great. Seems to have rejuvenated Couture as he was slumping the first few. Clowe is doing what Clowe does.