Curtis Glencross #20 of the Calgary Flames receives the puck right in front of Evgeni Nabokov #20 of the San Jose Sharks while teammate Derek Joslin #65 looks on during an NHL game on December 5, 2009 at HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California. (Photo by Don Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)

There  have only been three times this season when the top line of  Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, and Patrick Marleau have failed to score a single point and they were not about to let that number get any bigger.  So when the San Jose Sharks hosted the Calgary Flames on Sunday night they were hopping that scoring threat would continue but unfortunately it didnt and the Sharks suffered a 2-1 loss thanks to Miikka Kiprusoff third period save that had everyone talking. 

The game was a cat and mouse match between the Pacific and West coast powerhouses and turned out to be the fourth time the Sharks top line could not generate a point.  While the Sharks were not able to generate a lot of points, they were able strike first with a goal by Ryan Clowe at 4:40 in the second period. 

Clowe’s goal was the only one for the Sharks as the Flames goalie was able to stop the 35 shots San Jose flew at him.  Calgary’s defense was also in top form as they were able to shut down all of San Jose’s top line including the NHL’s two top goal scorers.   Olli Jokinen would tie things up six minutes later after taking a crssing pass from Jarome Iginla and scoring from the inside post.  Daymons Langkow found himself in perfect position for the winning goal and help his team maintain their one-point lead over the Colorado Avalanche.

The 2-1 loss was the Sharks second in a row and only their second home loss to bring their record to (8-2-3).  The Sharks play again Wednesday night and lets hope the top line can get back on track and score.

Till next time, SharkGirl

Click here to listen to the show.

On tonight’s show:

- Angels & Demons (2009)

- Becoming Charley Chase (1920s)

- Interesting Death of the Week with B.K.: Robert Degen – alleged songwriter of the Hokey Pokey; Richard Todd – Actor

- Tonight’s score: Guido Nielsen plays Joseph Lamb’s complete Stark rags.

San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski (8) is unable to score past St. Louis Blues goalie Ty Conklin (29) in the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Power plays can be any teams nightmare or secret weapon and on Thursday night at HP Pavilion it seemed the nightmare was the Sharks while the St. Louis Blues used it as their own secret weapon in their 3-2 shootout win over the Sharks. 

The Sharks who came into the game with a two game win streak and one of the best power plays in hockey, failed to score any goals on them and allowed their fifth short-handed goal of the season, and the fourth in the last three games.  The game was a tug of war, with both teams playing physical and not giving up much in offense.  Dany Heatley would start things off, ending his season-worst four-game steak without a goal by scoring one at 1:19 in the first.  The 50-foot slap shot was Hatley’s 19th goal of the season and was created by Joe Thornton’s pass. 

Thornton’s assist kept his point streak to 10 games (3 goals, 15 assists).  Jay McClement tied things up for the Blues with his left-handed shot from the right side at 11:06 in the first.  Joe Pavelski would open up the second with his goal at 5:54 to give the Sharks a 2-1 edge.  The Sharks went into the third looking as though they had things all wrapped up when Carlo Colaiacovo scored a short-handed goal with 6.6 seconds left in the game after Nabokov made a kick save on Barrett Jackman’s shot. 

Overtime would be more of the same with both teams firing at each others net without any thing going in.  The shootout would come next with the Blues getting on the board first with the goal by Andy McDonald after Ryan Clowes own shot missed wide.  Joe Pavelski would try and tie things up with his own shot but was shut down after his shot missed the goalpost.  The Blues Brad Boyes tried to win the game for his team with his own shot but was denied by Nabokov.  Patrick Marleau would tie the scoring up with his eight-foot backhand shot that went past Blues goalie Ty Conklin.  T.J. Oshie would win the game for the Blues after his 20-foot wrist shot found its way in the back of the Sharks net.

The San Jose Shark are a great team, everyone knows that but after going 3-4 in shootouts the Sharks better think of a solution fast and I mean very fast.

Till next time, SharkGirl

Don Cherry needs to be stopped. I can put up with the subtle racism and blatant xenophobia, but I will not stand for his latest verbal proclamation. Last Saturday’s Coach’s Corner featured Don showing clips of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Dany Heatley, while exclaiming this is your number one line Canada. Bitch please.

I have discussed Joe Thornton’s Olympic eligibility ad nauseum over the past year, but with the Olympic roster about to be named I think letting Steve Yzerman know the reasons for Joe’s exclusion is imperative. The first reason is that no Joe Thornton led team has ever done anything of significance. Ever. Sure he puts up a ton of points, but he has never played well in a meaningful game. Congratulations, you put up 5 points against the Nashville Predators in late November. You have tremendous character. He has 12 goals in 76 playoff games and is -12. His game doesn’t have an extra gear. He plays with the same languid style whether it is the first game of the regular season or an elimination game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He gets a free pass for playing the 2004 playoffs with broken ribs, but you’d think he’d be able to put up at least one measly point, but he couldn’t even do that. Wait, sorry, I was giving him a free pass for that one.

The only way Joe Thornton should make team Canada is if he plays as the fourth line centre. He’s certainly not making it over Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, and Mike Richards. Even on the fourth line he’s suspect. He is 6’4 and 235 lbs, but he doesn’t use it at all. He’s a big man who plays a peripheral game. Are opposing players afraid to play against Joe Thornton? Probably not when the competition is the best players in the world. Will it be physically hard? Certainly not.

Now that Joe has been properly eviscerated let’s examine Patrick Marleau. Wait, people are actually considering Patrick Marleau for this team? He was close to being run out of San Jose a few years ago but managed to rebound well with an excellent season last year and an impressive start this year. However, much like Jumbo Joe, he wilts under pressure. Aside from the 2006 playoffs when he scored 9 goals and 5 assists (and helped me win $100 in fantasy cash) he has done nothing. Even including 2006 name a big game that Patrick Marleau has ever showed up for. I will accept any where he collects a mere point. Still not many. We don’t even have to discuss his proclivity for giving defencemen a clear shot at the goalie. He also had his captaincy taken away this summer. Responding with the season he’s having is only proving my point that he can’t play under pressure. He was totally incapable of leading a team that only needed to show up most nights to win. He couldn’t handle that pressure? Saku Koivu led the Montreal Canadians and battled cancer (can’t ever say this site is too pro-Leaf after a comment like that). Marleau couldn’t even lead a guaranteed 105 point team. Marleau is putting up big points now, but that’s because it’s not even January and he just has to pass a puck in Dany Heatley’s general vicinity and it’ll be an assist.

I’ve unfairly associated Dany Heatley with these other two. Dany Heatley will play for team Canada. He’ll probably be the second line winger with the possible chance to play on the first line in the event that someone struggles. He’s played well in the playoffs and has absolutely torn up the international competition when invited to play in the World Championships. I don’t really like him after his trade demand fiasco of the summer, but I want to see Canada win, and Heatley is one of the top-3 pure goal scorers in the NHL. He’s in.

If Satan asked you to compose a team of hockey players who would play a game to see if you lived or died, you’re telling me you would pick Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton to play? Well, Canada’s collective soul might shatter if they don’t win a gold medal in Olympic hockey this year. Joe and Patrick better take the time off and rest before their inevitable playoff collapse.

San Jose Sharks' Joe Pavelski, left, scores the overtime shootout winning goal on the Edmonton Oilers' Jeff Deslauriers in overtime of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

The Sharks felt they needed urgency in their play and not just when their down seven goals, so when they headed to Edmonton to play the Oilers they hoped that urgency would find its way from the first drop of the puck.  The urgency seemed to register from the start as Patrick Marleau’s hat trick and Joe Pavelski’s shoot out game winner helped the Sharks bounce back win a 4-3 over the Edmonton Oilers Friday night at Rexall Palace.

Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley added their own magic with Joe Thornton recording three more assists and Dany Heatley getting two points for the night.  The Sharks Patrick Marleau started things off with his first goal and the only one  in the first period at 5:23.  Ryan Potulny’s unassisted goal at 11:03 in the second period would be the first for the Oiler’s and the first of his two for the night.  Two more Oiler’s goals would follow, with the next by Dustin Penner followed by Gilbert Brule.

Later in the second former captain Patrick Marleau would crank things up with the first of his three goals at 5:55 to bring the Sharks only down by two.  Captain Ryan Clowe would follow his lead with a goal at 8:28 to bring the Sharks within one.  The Oilers wouldnt make the comeback easy as Ryan Potulny would score his second goal of the game at 14:57 in the third period.  Patrick Marleau would lead the Sharks back into the game with his second goal late in the third period at 18:34.  Overtime would come and go with no goals being scored by either team and would end in a shootout.   The Oiler’s Patrick O’Sullivan would be denied by Evgeni Nabokov as he took the first shot of the shootout.  The shootout would continue with misses by Patrick Marleau and Sam Gagner and would ultimately end with the game winner by Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks ended up on the winning end of the shootout win and hope to notch another win Friday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

Till next time, SharkGirl

San Jose Sharks left wing Frazer McLaren, left, brawls with Anaheim Ducks right wing George Parros in the first period of a NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Coach Todd McLellan is known for changing the dynamics of a team, never keeping the same one line together for long but lets hope for the sake of the Sharks that his idea of putting together Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick players for the Sharks delivered once again as the Sharks were able to put away Jonas Hiller and with a close but effective 3-2 victory in Anaheim on Saturday night. 

 The Ducks who are win less in their last six games did put up a fight against the Sharks but came up one goal short to fall 5-7-0 at home.  The scoring didnt start untill the second period with both Hiller and Nabi able to stop the shots fired at them.  The Ducks Jamie Wisniewski got things started for Anaheim with a power play goal at 1:20 after previously sitting out the final 2 1/2 periods of Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win against Tampa Bay due to a bruised right foot.  Ryan Clowe would tie things up for the Sharks with a goal at 8:08 in the second that was assisted by Kent Huskins, a former Anaheim Duck. 

At 10:54 Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton went to work with Heatley scoring a power play goal that would give his team a 2-1 lead.  Heatley scored his seventh goal in sixth games wich gave him his 18th goal of the season and the lead for the most goals in the NHL.   The Ducks would make one last-ditch effort and tied things up 2 apiece with Ryan Whitney’s power play goal at 19:46 of the second.  The Ducks were trying to break the tie with Marchants breakaway but failed to do so as his shot went wide.  BIg Joe would be the hero as Dany Heatley set up the Assistant Captain for his seventh goal of the season at 8:49 in the third. 

The Ducks were not able to answer the impressive first line change and hers one writer that hopes McLellan changes nothing with the big three.

Till next time, Shark Girl

Dany Heatley #15 and Evengi Nabokov #20 of the San Jose Sharks look to defend a shot during an NHL game against the Philadelphia Flyers on November 20, 2009 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. (Photo by Don Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Sharks and Flyers are two of the best offensive teams in the NHL and every player from both sides expected their meeting on Friday night to be a high scoring, competitive game.  The result was both with the high scoring coming from Dany Heatley’s second hat trick of the season and Joe Thornton’s four assist that helped pave the way for the Sharks 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at HP Pavilion. 

The atmosphere was high energy as the Sharks played their first home game since coming back from their second road trip of the season.  The Flyers came out swinging, with Danny Brice scoring the first goal at 9:16 in the first period.  Manny Maholtra would follow for the Sharks, scoring a goal at 15:11 on a power play after his shot deflected off of two Flyers and found its way past goalie Matt Carle. 

Danny Heatley would start the second period with the first of his three goal, scoring   in the opening 50 second of the second period.  The goal was created after he picked up a loose puck along the boards, passed it to Thornton and was reefed the puck to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.  Malholtra, who had earlier gotten the Sharks back in the game with a tieing goal in the first gave the Flyers the lead after he accidently pushed the puck into his team net after trying to clear the puck from the crease.  The Sharks were able to get back track late in the second, as Patrick Marleau scored with only five seconds left on  the second assisted goal by Thornton. 

 Dany Heatley would continue the scoring threat as he added a shorthanded goal at 8:421 in the third period.  A little while later Claude Gilroux would score his second goal of the night and in the process record his first multigoal game of his career.  The Sharks would not give up another goal for the rest of the game with outstanding goaltending thanks to Evgeni Nabokov, who had a 27 saves and improved to 6-0-2 against the Flyers.  Dany Heatley would answer the Flyers with his third goal which proppeled him to a second season hat trick and ninth of his career at 12:44 in the third.  The goal was also Joe Thornton’s team high fourth assist of the game that gave big Joe the 600 assist of his NHL career.  Captain Ryan Clowe would end things on a bang with his own goal at 15:22, to cement the Sharks big win against the Flyers.

Till next time, SharkGirl

Heading into last nights game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the San Jose Sharks the two teams stood at #1 and #2 in goals for to Goals Against. The Flyers held the down the #1 spot with an impressive +20 with the Sharks right behind them at +19.

The two teams are both improved from a season ago with C. Pronger joining the club in Philly and the accusation of Dany Heatley to the Sharks both players have made an impact from the start in their new threads.

The Sharks always have a strong regular season team that can’t seem to get the job done in playoff hockey. Last season was no exception as they were the number one seed that got knocked out of the second season in six games to the eight seeded Mighty Ducks in the first round of the playoffs. The Ducks had Pronger on defense last season but now would see him in a Philly uniform. In this early season the Sharks are currently the number one seed again. Can this be the season they finally represent the West? I think yes.

With their new sniper (D. Heatley 17 Goals) and the leagues best set up man (J. Thornton 24 Assists)add in the mix the always reliable goal keep Evgeni Nabokov (2.20 G.A.A). This could be the year the finally make something happen in.

+20. The Leagues best heading into last night’s play Goals For to Goals Against. Why? He goes by the name of Chris Pronger. Not only does Chris keep the puck out of his teams defensive zone he attacks the opposing teams. With 4 goals and 14 assists Pronger is a +14. Chirs is the main reason Philly has only given up 45 goals in 18 games played this season before last nights battle.

Last nights bill between the leagues two elite teams stood up to it’s expectations till 11:19 of the final session in a one goal game when the set up man (J. Thornton) hit the sniper (D. Heatley) for the second time of the evening on a similar type play as their first hook up. All though it wasn’t much of a snip as Thornton hooked up two beautiful passes for the goals that lead to the win. This hook up between the two was when the Sharks were down a man and it made for a 4-2 game. Later on the Sharks would get a power play chance and Heatley would finish off his trick while the Sharks would add another goal take the two points in a 6-3 win.

Check out the video clips of this game at www.puckvideo.com and more Video Blogs.

Dear Sabres,

I’m about to go to work, so I won’t be watching tonight, but I’ll be listening (sort of).  Tonight you’re playing the Panthers.  They are… not that great at hockey.  Just don’t screw up and everything should be fine.

Good Luck!

Me

Dear Drew Stafford,

I’m glad your hip feels better.  I’m a little disappointed you didn’t spend your time off gracing us with more of your Twittermagic, but I assume you had more important things to work on (like your PS2 skills).  Have a good game.

Dear Toni Lydman,

I heard you’re (probably) going to be back tonight!  That’s great news.  Welcome back to the lineup (probably) and go kick some ass.

Dear Andrej Sekera/Defenseman X,

So Toni is back (probably), which means one of you (Andrej?) will be sitting tonight (probably).  You’ve all been doing a great job, so I’m sure this decision is tough.  Um… I hear they have free popcorn in the pressbox.

Dear Mike Grier,

I’m sorry your groin still hurts – mostly because it’s not fun for you and you’re out of the lineup, but also because Lindy keeps saying things like “Groins are tricky/mysterious/full of intrigue” and that makes me giggle.  I’d like to stop feeling like I’m twelve.  The boys did fine without you last weekend, to the slight surprise of many of us.  Maybe this leadershippy stuff works even if you’re off the ice?  This is a delightful development.

Get better soon!

Me

Dear Joe Thornton,

Thanks dude!! Keep it up.

Me

San Jose Sharks' goalie Evgeni Nabokov (20) blocks a shot by St. Louis Blues' David Backes, right, as the Sharks' Dan Boyle (22) defends in the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Bill Boyce)

On Saturday the Sharks were in St.Louis to play the first game of their second road trip of the season, coming off a nail biting 3-2 shootout loss against the Dallas at HP Pavilion.

The best team in the NHL hoped to change that during their first game and boy did they as the team came away with a 3-1 against the struggling St. Louis Blues even though the Sharks were tremendously outplayed by the (6-8-4) team.  The Sharks only needed 16 seconds of good play to secure the win, as Heatley and rookie Jed Ortmeyer scored 16 seconds apart to improve the team to 9-0-2 in their last 11 games.

The Blues took the lead early with a goal by Jay McClement. after his backhander from the side of the net found its way past Evgeni Nabokov who had an impressive 38 saves for the night.  The Sharks would not score till the second period after being outshot 24-12 through the first two by the Blues.  The Sharks came back when Dany Heatley scored the tieing goal and his 13th of the season on a power play at 8:23 of the second period.  Exactly 16 seconds later rookie Jed Ortmeyer would score the goal that would prove to be the momentum changer for the Sharks, who were finally closing the gap in shots on goal.  Ortmeyer’s goal was off of a bad giveaway committed by Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, who felt the goal was the key difference in the game.

The third period was the same for the Sharks who were unable to register their first shot on goal untill there was 1:51 left in the game.  Joe Thornton would seal the win with his empty net goal with only 41.2 seconds left in regulation to give the Sharks a much-needed two points.

Till next time, SharkGirl

Goals always bring out the extremes of our emotions. Here we see the emotional extremes of Chicago Blackhawk, Brent Seabrook, as he throws a hip thrust/fist-pump combo cell-y for his onlooking sidekick. Meanwhile,  San Jose Shark, Joe Thornton, gives a Homer Simpson style, “Doah!”.

Dear Joe Thornton,

Why did you have to do this to me?  One more assist last night, and I wouldn’t have to be greeted with Ryan Getzlaf on the NHL stat leaders page.  Ryan Getzlaf makes me cranky.  He’s a Duck, I can’t stand his constant expression of fratty toolishness, and there was this thing. Shut up, Ryan Getzlaf.

On the other hand, I have no problem seeing you every morning.  You’re a Shark, you seem goofy and fun (and a little crazy and scary), and your NHL commercials are amusing.  Let’s do this thing, eh?

Oh.  Oh crap.  The Ducks play again tonight and the Sharks don’t play again till Tuesday.  I’m screwed.

Dear Patrick Sharp,

They call you the Sharpshooter for a reason.  That reason isn’t a 6-game goal drought.  Yeah, sure, six goals at this point in the season isn’t bad.  But it isn’t great, either.  Please don’t let your sassy nickname be for nothing.  Also, you are 58-94% of the reason I’ve adopted the Blackhawks as my Western Conference team.  You can’t just get by on your good looks and charm.

No, really, you can’t.

p.s.  I did see your shootout goal against Colorado (take 3) and it was snazzy.  Doesn’t count though.

Dear Thomas Vanek,

Guess who else only has six goals?  I don’t know what else I can say.

Dear Ryan Miller,

Words cannot express how much I love seeing you and your cock-eyed brow once, twice, sometimes even three times on the leader board every single day.  Crunchy 2010!!!!

Dear Tyler Ennis,

Congratulations on your first goal.  Buffalo is looking forward to your long and productive career as a Sabre.

Dear Sabres,

Never mind, I don’t want to jinx it.

Much Love,

Me

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 19: Joe Thornton #19 of the San Jose Sharks jumps over Dan Girardi #5 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 19, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Sharks gruelling east coast road trip was supposed to get the Sharks back on track on both sides of the puck, and while their opening game against the Washington Capitols was not how they wanted to start, the West coast team from San Jose has managed to win two straight, after their strong 7-3 win over the powerful New York Rangers. 

 The Sharks came into Madison Square Garden ready to face a team that has won their last seven games and hoped to control the tempo from the start, making the Rangers the ones that had to come back  from an early deficit.  Well, it sorta worked.  The Sharks again started the first period slow, becoming victims to their old low tempo compared to the fast, quick Rangers and found themselves down 2-0 by the middle of the first.  The boys from the West quickly regained their fast, hard-working ways in the middle of the first thanks to two goals, one by Brad Staubiz and the newly aquired Heatley, who scored on a power play goal. 

By the start of the second, the Sharks were tied 2-2 and never looked back smoking the Rangers in tempo and in goals.  The Sharks were able to take advantage thanks to the Rangers backup goaltender, Steve Valiquette, who was replaced by No. 1 netminder Henrik Lundgvist in the thrid, after allowing five goals on 18 shots- three on 1o shots in the second.  The tie at 2-2 would not stay for long, as former Rangers Forward Jed Ortemyer broke the tie with his goal at 1:19 in the first, which was followed by two straight goals for Devin Setoguchi including one on a power play.  Setoguchi wasnt the only big name to join in on goals, with Ryan Vesce and Patrick Marleau adding to goals themselves late in the third period.  Ryan Vesce recorded his third NHL goal in two games, Monday night providing a much-needed offensive points to the Sharks.  The Sharks never relinquished their huge lead Monday night against the Rangers, even after a late third goal by Enver Lisin to try to get New York back in it.  Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov was solid in his eight straight game for San Jose, finishing the night with a solid 27 saves.

While the Sharks were able to kick things into gear a little but sooner than their last couple of games, it still must be noted that it still took them a good 10 minutes and being down 2-0 to wake up.  The Sharks can take a lot of positive things away from the game, like their ability to come back from a two goal deficit and the great offensive input from six different players.  But the real question is when are they going to stop playing from behind and be the team that is being chased instead?

Till next time, SharkGirl

PZ Myers points us to two great letters from scientists to creationists distorting the meaning of their work.  The idea that non-biologists commenting on the internet can feel entitled to go around calling legitimate biologists frauds is so stupefying to me.  Do these people have no humility, no appreciation for the rigors of specialized scientific investigation, and no self-awareness?  Apparently, yes, some people have none of these things.

So, here are the letters from Joe Thornton (whose letter comes at the end of an article) and Richard Lenski (whose main letter is the fourth in the sequence on the page).

Your Thoughts?

WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 15: Evgeni Nabokov #20 of the San Jose Sharks makes a save during a NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals on October 15, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images)

Slow, tired, drive, and desperation are words that countless journalist and yours truly have used to describe the San Jose Sharks play during their first seven games of the 2010-2011 season, and just like all the other times, the ending resulted in another Sharks loss.  The boys were at the mercy of the Washington Capitols, specifically, Alex Ovechkin during their 4-1 loss at Verizon Center. 

 Ovechkin who has scored against every team except the Sharks in his 330-game NHL career, scored two quick goals in the span of 28 seconds to hand the Sharks their second straight loss and first of their east coast road trip.  The story was the same old, same old as the slow tempo of the team, and early penalties were the undoing of the Sharks.  The usually low penalty team had five first-period penalties alone that twice gave Washington 5-3 man advantage, which the Capitals took advantage of.  The Capitols went up 1-0 thanks to Alexander Semins power play goal early in the first period but the Sharks were able to get it back to 1-1 late in the first on rookie Benn Ferrieros goal on an assist from Scott Nichol and Kent Huskins.  Evgeni Nabokov was able to keep the Sharks in the game untill Alex Ovechkins first of two goals in a span of 28 seconds in the second period. 

After Ovechkins first goal the Sharks looked tired, slow and mentally not there and when the lead was stretched to two the Sharks just looked like they didnt care about the game at all.  Head Coach Todd McLellan along with both Rob Blake and Joe Thornton had harsh words as to why the Sharks lost, with Blake quoted as saying, “We played with no desperation and no drive whatsoever.  We cant even get the puke out of own zone on a power play.”   The unusually critical tone for the new Sharks captain has not been what the Sharks are ust to and hopefully the pissed off attitude of Blake can get the rest of the Sharks to follow in line.

 Till nextime, SharkGiirl

By Surly Jacob.

In a game lazier fans were not even awake for, the Los Angeles Kings made full use of the top left corner of the net, scoring two beautifully accurate goals over Islanders’ backstop Martin Biron’s right shoulder to extend their winning streak to four.

Most Kings’ fans were excited to get their first look at John Tavares today.  Unfortunately they’ll have to wait to get that look, because even though the stat sheet claims Tavares played 22:58 of the game, you wouldn’t have known it.  Tavares was mostly invisible, Kyle Okposo generating most of the Islander’s offensive chances.  In fact, the only time Tavares was noticeable was when he was fanning on or shanking one-timers.

The Islanders came at the Kings with speed throughout the game, testing Jonathan Quick often, but only breaking through once in the contest.  Late in the game, Matt Moulson scored a rebound goal against his former team to cut the Kings lead in half.  Moulson, who is dating Quick’s wife’s sister and sporting a new head of long black hair, has some good joke ammo for the next family get together, but not enough as his goal did nothing to help New York win their first game of the season.

As I predicted in the pregame, at least Islander fans can be happy they didn’t give up a lead.

The Kings were perfect on the penalty kill for the second straight game, killing off three shorthanded chances.  They also extinguished the only positive statistical torch the Islanders had lit in the early season, as center Anze Kopitar’s power play goal in the second period was the only one its kind the blue and orange have given up this season.  Kopitar’s goal was a pretty one to witness.   He took a point pass from Justin Williams and waited patiently for Dustin Brown to block any chance Biron had of seeing the shot that traveled higher than it did forward.

Drew Doughty’s goal in the third was also a crowd pleaser… atleast it was for the crowd watching on TV or listening secretively on the radio at work in Los Angeles.  The crowd in New York, not so much.  Doughty took a pass at the right face-off circle from Jarret Stoll and ripped a slap shot over Biron’s blocker.  No screen, no traffic, only wicked perfection.  Doughty, who hopes to get 5 wins before he loses 5 teeth, played another solid game despite having to sport a face mask that would have most kids his age rolling with laughter or sobbing on vicodin.

Teddy Purcell played a game worth pointing out.  Receiving the second assist on Doughty’s goal, Purcell made the play possible moments before with a strong back check behind Quick to get the puck out to Stoll.  The message of toughness Terry Murray and Dean Lombardi have been drilling in to his head since his demotion down to Manchester last year has worked like a good old fashion Stalin-esque brainwashing.  Also playing strong games were the three amigos on the checking line.  Alexander Frolov, despite being scoreless, used his body effectively and showed much needed hustle, often reaching deep down for that little extra boost to jump around Islander defenders.  How often he shows that hustle will likely go a longer way than his stat sheet towards securing a new contract with the Kings.  Michal Handzus also played a defensively dominant game, poke-checking away some of the Islanders’ best opportunities, while Wayne Simmonds out-worked everyone on the ice.

Jonathan Quick earned the NHL’s second star of the week earlier today and made 28 of 29 saves to stay among the league’s top starting goaltenders for the year.  Quick did have trouble in the opening period with rebounds, as is becoming too habitual to not turn against him at some point, but as the game wore on he settled things down.

Kopitar and Ryan Smyth, with an assist on the first goal, extended their point streaks to 5 games.  Kopitar now sits with the elite company of Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, who are also scoring at a 2 point-per-game clip, each with 10 points in the first 5 games.

Luckily for the Kings, they get a much needed day of rest before back to back games on Wednesday and Thursday.  They will only be traveling down the turnpike to Manhattan to face the Rangers before making a much longer trip to Detroit for a game the following night.

The Kings are now 2-1 at home and 2-0 on the road.  They also, at least momentarily, lead their division and are tied for 1st in the conference with Calgary.

All is well on this Columbus Day.

Phoenix Coyotes forward Scottie Upshall scores one of six Coyotes’ goals against the Los Angeles Kings and goaltender Jonathan Quick on October 3.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images via PicApp.com.

But that did not happen, to coin a phrase, according to Hoyle.

Indeed, the Kings were expected to easily defeat the bankrupt, owner-less Phoenix Coyotes on October 3 and then lose three days later to the class of the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks.

Instead, the Kings looked more like the Keystone Kops than a National Hockey League team in an embarrassing 6-3 loss to the Coyotes and then turned right around and defeated the Sharks on October 6, 6-4.

Against the Coyotes, one word describes the Kings’ performance.

Disastrous.

Phoenix easily ran around, past and through the hapless Kings in the Kings’ home opener. They were so bad that the phrase “comedy of errors” does not even begin to describe just how awful they were, especially in their own end.

Poor positioning. Standing around and watching the other team. Lack of poise. Poor decision-making. Blatant turnovers. Failure to win physical battles. The list of problems was very, very lengthy.

“It’s definitely not the start we wanted,” said center Anze Kopitar, who scored a goal and added an assist in the game. “We had some breakdowns in the defensive zone that led to their six goals.”

“We weren’t managing the puck good, we weren’t passing the puck, we didn’t play heavy enough or support each other,” added Kopitar. “Those are all small details that lead to a good result in the end.”

The Kings saved their worst for their own zone.

“It has to be a team effort in the defensive zone and we did not have that tonight,” said defenseman Rob Scuderi. “We had guys who were covering the same guy, we’d lose our coverage on a one-on-one and it created a small two-on-one. That’s all any NHL player needs to create some space and some two-on-ones in front of the net and they were able to do that for the majority of the night.”

“It’s tough to create in your defensive zone for your team,” added Scuderi. “Every time we got the puck out, we had to make a line change and get off the ice because you played thirty seconds of defense. That’s all you can play if you’re doing it the right way and we weren’t generating anything offensively.”

Scuderi said that the young Kings have to learn how to play at a consistently high level.

“We had some periods in the first and third where they couldn’t generate much, but that’s not enough,” he said. “You can’t even give a team ten minutes in this league. Otherwise, they’re going to turn that into a couple of goals.”

“That’s something that can’t happen,” he added. “We’ve been preaching team defense and that’s got to be our building block. That just wasn’t the case tonight. I don’t know how many quality scoring chances between the dots we gave up and that can’t happen if we’re going to be a consistently winning team.”

Head coach Terry Murray saw things much the same way that Kopitar and Scuderi did.

“That’s probably the worst scenario you can have on an opening night,” Murray lamented. “We looked very out of synch, we were not passing the puck well, over-handling, a lot of turnovers. Just sloppy play.”

“Making plays was not there,” Murray added. “That was something we did well last year on a game-to-game basis and that was not evident here at all.”

Then there were the turnovers. And not the little ones that a player can sometimes get away with that many people fail to notice. Rather, these were big, fat turnovers, the ones everyone sees coming a mile away and always end up with a goal by the team receiving the overly generous gift.

“There might be three or four goals where we had the puck and ended up turning it over,” said Murray. “We were going one way and ended up turning the puck over and they were coming back at us in odd-man situations. That’s the part we have to be better at.”

Goaltender Jonathan Quick allowed six goals on thirty shots against, but he could not be blamed for the loss.

“I had no thoughts of pulling Quick,” said Murray. “I’d like him to be better. The first goal [a blast from the right face-off dot by Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata], I’d like to have that one back. But then the giveaways were a couple of real fast plays in front of him that he had no opportunity on. He’s our number one guy.”

Their performance, or lack thereof, against the Coyotes seemed to come from out of nowhere.

“We finished the exhibition games playing at a pretty good level,” Murray noted. “Our practices have been good. If there was an opening night nervousness with this young group, that could be it. But on the other side, you’ve got to work through it.”

“You’ve got to be a lot better than what we showed tonight,” Murray stressed. “Just with puck management, it was not good enough and its got to get better fast.”

With a game against the Sharks just two days away, the Kings could not afford to let this loss get to them, no matter how embarrassing it might have been.

“It’s shocking, but it’s not the end of the world,” said Scuderi. “As a team, you have to be able to learn from your mistakes. Although this was incredibly disappointing and not the debut we wanted to make in front of our home fans, all we can do is look past it and learn from the lessons we had here tonight and that’s not to come apart as a team, because we certainly did tonight.”

“We have to learn from this one and there’s got to be a big understanding about why we do things and how we have to do it to get prepared [for the next game],” Murray explained. “But we have to move by it. You can’t let it linger. We’ll talk about, we’ll review the game on video but we have to get ourselves prepared for the next game.”

A MIXED TURNAROUND

Whatever the Kings did in practice prior to their contest against the Sharks worked…for the most part.

Indeed, after jumping out to a 4-0 lead a bit more than halfway through their game against the Sharks, the Kings wound up blowing that lead, allowing four power play goals on four San Jose power plays.

But just 26 seconds after Sharks forward Dany Heatley scored his first goal with the Sharks at 14:24 of the third period to tie the game, Kings forward Teddy Purcell scored on an easy wrist shot from the below the goal line in the right corner to give the Kings a 5-4 lead. Purcell’s goal was a bad goal—the puck snuck between the pads of Sharks backup goalie Thomas Greiss, who relieved starting netminder Evgeni Nabokov after Kopitar scored on a long wrist shot from high in the right circle, a soft goal, at 12:16 of the second period.

“The goal that was scored by Purcell—that’s a shot mentality,” said Murray. “There’s not a lot of guys who are even going to think about putting pucks to the net in that position. Not a lot of guys would score on that, either. It seem to come to the guys who have that knack and Purcell is a scorer. It’s good to see it go in.”

Right wing Dustin Brown added that one of the aspects of the game the Kings improved upon from their debacle against Phoenix was their presence in front of the San Jose net.

“[Purcell’s goal was] the result of getting guys to the net all night,” said Brown. [Right wing Wayne] Simmonds’ goal and [left wing Ryan] Smyth’s goal were the result of guys crashing the net, making it hard for the goalie to see the puck.”

“When you throw pucks at the net from sharp angles, with guys there, you never know what can happen,” added Brown. “It’s another area we need to continue to build on.”

The Kings were solid at even strength in this game, another big improvement over their performance against the Coyotes.

“I thought, at even strength, we did a great job keeping them to the outside, even their big guys, their dangerous players,” said Scuderi. “We made the right, simple plays, kept the puck going north and we didn’t give them a chance to set-up for too long.”

“If you look at our five-on-five play, we didn’t give them that many opportunities,” said Brown. “They had four power play goals tonight. If you look at the Phoenix game, we beat ourselves with our passing. We set them up for two one-timers, the turnovers. Tonight, the Sharks had to earn everything they got and they did it all on the power play. Our five-on-five play was much better.”

“When we play within our structure, we’re a pretty tough team to play against,” added Brown. “We also limited a lot of our mistakes, which prevented them from getting a lot of chances [at even strength]. Our game is a lot of chipping, checking and getting guys to the front of the net. That wears on their defense big time. It’s a more simple, better executed game.”

Their head coach was quite pleased with his team’s turnaround at even strength.

“It was the way it was last year,” said Murray. “I thought we were a real good shot-blocking team last year. We collapsed and did our job in our home plate attitude and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I think tonight we saw a little bit of what it was last year.”

“[Center Michal] Handzus’ line was outstanding,” added Murray. “They were matched up against [Sharks star center Joe] Thornton on almost every shift and that’s a big challenge. That’s where that line with [winger Alexander] Frolov and Simmonds answered that challenge. They love that kind of attitude going into the game and they were very, very good against premier players in the game.”

Kings left wing Raitis Ivanans drops the gloves with Sharks left wing Jody Shelley after Sharks forward Brad Staubitz elbowed Kings defenseman Davis Drewiske in the head on October 6.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images via PicApp.com.

At the 13:24 mark of the second period, Sharks forward Brad Staubitz took a run at Kings defenseman Davis Drewiske, who was chasing down a puck for an icing call. On the play, Staubitz led with his elbow while Drewiske was engaged with another Sharks forward. Staubitz’ elbow struck Drewiske squarely in the head.

Drewiske was slow to get up, but was not injured. The Kings took exception to the highly questionable hit and enforcer Raitis Ivanans wanted to go after Staubitz, but he made a very quick beeline to safety at the San Jose bench.

Instead, Ivanans duked it out with San Jose tough guy Jody Shelley, with the clear decision going to Ivanans, who was visibly upset with Staubitz for taking liberties on Drewiske.

Supporting teammates in similar situations was a problem last season for the Kings, but not this time.

“I really like what Ivanans did after the hit on Drewiske,” Murray emphasized. “They were trying to get something going. They got some energy guys out on the ice and they were trying to stimulate their team and get it excited about something. They got a hit, but Raitis stepped right in to support his teammate. It was a great job by him.”

“It might’ve gotten them underway a little bit, but I think in the long term, those kinds of plays by our guys are critical to our success,” Murray added.

Indeed, there were many more positives in this game for the Kings than there were three nights earlier. But there was one, huge negative…blowing their 4-0 lead due to poor penalty-killing.

“We’re glad that we stayed composed to get the win, but the penalty-kill has got to be better,” Scuderi lamented. “It put the game in jeopardy and it should never have been that way. But, for the most part, the guys stayed composed and at least we came back and won the game.”

The first Sharks power play goal illustrated just how bad the Kings were on the penalty-kill.

On the play, Sharks winger Devin Setoguchi took a pass at the left inner hashmark—he was wide open in the slot without a Kings defender anywhere near him. He took a pass from Thornton and, at the 16:00 mark of the second period, easily one-timed the puck past Quick, who had no chance.

“That’s a play between the dots, a dangerous shot, that’s something we can’t allow as a penalty-kill,” said Scuderi. “If we’re going to be a consistently winning team, we can’t have that type of effort.”

“They’ve got some good players,” added Scuderi. “They got a lucky bounce on one, but they other ones? We just have to be better. They’ve got talented players, but we’ve got to have our sticks in the lanes, at least deny them the back door passes and make them shoot the puck.”

To be sure, the Kings have not been good on the penalty-kill in their first two games of the season. But it is too early to be overly concerned.

“I don’t know if it was our penalty-klll or the San Jose power play,” said Murray. “They’ve got some world-class players out there and they move the puck around awfully well. Maybe we got spread out a little bit—they found the middle again. We’ll have to take a look at it and address it.”

“We’re going to watch video and figure out what’s going on,” said defenseman Drew Doughty. “We’re making little errors and a power play like that is going to capitalize on it.”

“We were top ten in the penalty-kill last year,” said Brown. “Penalty-killing is something you have to work out early on and you have to give them credit. You’ve got five pretty good players moving the puck around. It’s not going to be easy to kill off penalties against that team. They can pretty much do it all. But that’s something we’re not too worried about. It’s just a matter of looking at video and seeing where we can be better. That kind of stuff works itself out.”

DOUGHTY COMES BACK STRONG

Against Phoenix, Doughty played the worst game of his NHL career, marked most notably by two hideous turnovers that handed easy, gift-wrapped goals for the Coyotes.

Doughty’s atrocious performance already had some people talking about the dreaded sophomore jinx that so many young players go through. But the second-year defenseman turned in a much better effort against San Jose.

“We were pretty disappointed with the home opener, the way we performed,” he said. “Coming into this game, we just wanted to stick to the basics, our game plan, and I thought we did that pretty well.”

“I didn’t do too much [to prepare for the game against the Sharks],” he added. “I knew I had to play a good game. I wasn’t even close to my best last game. I played pretty bad, so I just wanted to forget about it.”

“Even though I did play one of my worst games as a King, I just wanted to forget about it and [go] out there tonight and I thought I played a pretty good game. It’s good to jump back like that and I look to improve every game.”

YOUNG KINGS GROWING UP?

One thing the players talked about after the game against the Sharks was that there was never a feeling of dread when their 4-0 lead evaporated.

Indeed, they never felt like they had lost control at all.

“Did we want to blow a 4-0 lead? No,” said Brown. “But the feeling on the bench didn’t change. Whether we were up 4-0 or tied 4-4, I think we all felt this was our game to win.”

“The twenty guys are starting to come together and believe that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what the situation is,” added Brown. “We have the ability to pull out games.”

Brown pointed to the experience gained from last season as the foundation for that mentality.

“Last year was a huge learning experience in these types of games,” Brown stressed. “These are games that, a year ago, I don’t think we would’ve won, being up 4-0 and blowing it in the third. Once they scored that fourth goal, last year, it would’ve gone the other way.”

“It’s a credit to everyone in here,” Brown continued. “I think that’s a lot of what we learned last year as a team. Tonight was a matter of [moving from] thinking you’re going to win to knowing you’re going to win. Tonight was an example of us taking a huge step. That team is one of the top teams in the league.”

“That’s where we’ve gained on teams such as San Jose, teams like that. We’re starting to gain on the experience level and that’s a huge advantage that they’ve always had.”

Murray sees the growth as well.

“It’s a sign of maturity,” he said. “Everybody continued to talk on the bench about let’s keep going after it, doing the things we’ve been doing so well in the game, get the puck and really stay strong with smart plays.”

“The most important thing we need to take away from this game was the composure to stay with the game plan, to have the confidence to continue to play the way we played most of the game,” he added. “The five-on-five was excellent. There was a lot of hard play, heavy play. You end up staying with it and you get the win. That’s what we have to take away from this game and build on it.”

These are just a few of the hottest guys in the NHL. (In my opinion and no specific order)

Sheldon Souray

A beautiful wife, beautiful kid and a Edmonton’s best D-man.

Brad Richards

Always on a top line, A consistent goal scorer and not very good at video games.

Patrick Sharp

Sharp: The better of the two Patricks on the Chicgo Blackhawks and a bit of a prankster.

Mikko Koivu

Most dependable guy on the Wild and an adorable  baby face.

Joe Thornton

This guy has the funniest videos ever and he’s a gifted scorer.

Cal Clutterbuck

1. His last name.

2. led ALL NHLer’s in hits… as a rookie.

Jeff Carter

I think he looks like Jesse McCartney? Yeah?

Zach Parise

A consistent top goal score and a Minnesota boy!!

Jonathan Toews

With the help of Patrick Kane he managed to bring hockey back to

the Windy City and lead them deep into the play-offs.

Steve Mason

Reining Calder trophy champ and Veznia trophy nominee.

Sidney Crosby

Youngest player to lead a North American sport in scoring…

and now he has a Cup.

Brooks Laich

He’s Canadian, he recycles and plays pro hockey.

What’s not to love about him?

Vincent Lecavalier

His French Canadian accent= sooo cute!

Ryan Getzlaf

He’s pretty much the face of the Anaheim Ducks and he was with the club when they won the cup in 07.

Derick Brassard

Look at his cute baby face and that killer smile

Peter Mueller

A guy manly enough to play pro hockey but sensitive enough to to wanna be a teacher. Awww

(Plus he’s from Minnesota, so what am I to do?)

Tell me what you think? Anybody to add? Anybody to lose? Lemme know.

Next week or later this week my NHL Notties list.

By Surly Jacob.

The season starts today.  We can pretend.

Everything is fresh. The team is pumped. This is going to be the year.

Right?  Good.

The San Jose Sharks paddle into town tonight, minus Joe Pavelski, who is out for a few weeks with a foot injury. They will however boast the talented Ottawa Senators’ offseason malcontent, Dany Heatley, who has played on the West Coast only a handful times in his career. In all, the Sharks have 13 new faces on the team.

The Kings have made slight adjustments to their lineup. Peter Harrold will play in the place of Alec Martinez, who is out with the ever specific “lower-body injury”. Martinez is taking a “therapy day”, the new buzz word for a day “off”.  He will be paired with Jack Johnson. Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi will play alongside Matt Greene, presumably to shut down San Jose’s top line of Heatley, Thornton and rookie Benn Ferriero. Drew Doughty will continue to play with Davis Drewiske. Terry Murray hopes to correct the poor passing and soft breakouts of which the Kings suffered in the forgettable game against the Coyotes on Saturday.

Tonight’s game against the best pre-playoff team in hockey has evoked its share of naysayers about projected results.  The ever confident and inspired Kings fans would cite however that a Kings team with fire in their belly and system on the brain can and has beat any team in the NHL. What we all can agree on is that the Kings must conquer whatever nerves handicapped their performance on Saturday. Dustin Brown must show on the ice why he is the rightful captain of this team. Each of our players must play to win, no exceptions. Facing off against the newly appointed captain of the Sharks and the former of ours, Rob Blake, holds an opportunity to show the NHL that those who believe in the Kings do so for good reason. Think of it as a shot at redemption. After all, we only have so many opening night “do overs” before others start to notice.

Go Kings Go!

Some thoughts after last night’s game:

• For once, the Avs were the fast, young team.  Overall team speed is very improved.
• The Avs played hard and simple game.  Dmen just sent pucks to the net, resulting in two deflection goals.
• Darcy Tucker scored our season’s first goal.  We’re cursed!
• Unimpressed by Cumiskey – he looked out of place a horrible giveaway in the first that ended up in the back of net. 
• Anderson looked good in the 3rd, especially.  Sitting on a 3 goal lead, the Avs were outshot  19 -1.  He kept the game from getting too exciting in the 3rd and really stood out on the 5 on 3 kill.
• What a pass by Stastny on Wolski’s second goal.  We missed him so much last year.
• Ryan O’Reilly didn’t look out of place to me tonight.  He still has 8 games to mess it up, but don’t be surprised if he’s not sent by to juniors.
• Someone must have convinced Joe Thornton this was a playoff game because he was invisible.  
• Would have been wonderful to see Duchene score on one of those breakways.  There is no way he is going back to juniors.  
• Nabokov gave up 5 goals on 20 shots.  Only one of those was a bad goal, though – McLeod’s goal – Nabby gave up a bad rebound on Stewart’s low, hard shot from the boards.
• Versus (and Devils) play by play man Doc Emery knows nothing about the Avs.  Mistaking Hannan for Foote, Stewart for Hejduk and saying that the Avs have 7 retired numbers, and #26 was pulled down for Stastny.  
• Great, inspired effort by the Avs.  Let’s see how much of a drop off there is Saturday afternoon against Vancouver.