It had all the makings of a dud and that was the only way to describe it after two periods. Honestly, I've had more thrilling naps. Let's check off the factors that made San Jose-Atlanta a yawner through 40 minutes.
- matinee game in mid-February, the month of perpetual boredom and depression
- bad ice as the result of a quick changeover and some scientific atmospheric mumbo jumbo
- two teams that play each other with the regularity of Halley's Comet
- neither team with anything to play for, one having clinched its division, the other awaiting lottery balls
- expansion teams with funny mascots and exotic color schemes
Each of those factors conspired against the sellout crowd at HP Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully both teams eventually stopped hitting the snooze button, turning the Sharks' 3-1 victory over the Thrashers into a decent game over the final 20 minutes.
"Sometimes these games are a little bit predictable. The standings sometimes get in the way of your preparation," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. "They're a pretty darn good hockey club offensively, they played their way through here out west, running through some good teams. We tried to have out guys prepared for that but the energy level wasn't where it needed to be early in the game. Obviously we came out in the third and played better."
***
Jeremy Roenick, Jody Shelley and Tomas Plihal returned to action, while Brad Lukowich took the pregame skate but didn't suit up for the game. Accommodating the trio's return to the lineup, Jamie McGinn, Lukas Kaspar and Brad Staubitz were returned to Worcester this morning, giving the Sharks the most complete roster they've had in over two months.
Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi
Michalek-Pavelski-Clowe
Cheechoo-Plihal-Grier
Shelley-Roenick-Lemieux
"It felt better as a coach playing them tonight," McLellan said, referring to the fourth line. "I know them a little better than some of the young guys we had up here, and we were able to roll four lines tonight."
***
Roenick was flying in his first game back since Dec. 11, taking the body and creating chances for his linemates on the fourth unit. He punctuated his return with an assist on Cheechoo's game-winning goal, the 700th helper of his NHL career, and was named the game's first star.
"It just means I've played a long time," Roenick said of the milestone. "I've played a long time with a lot of good players. It was a great play by Blakey to get a quick breakout and Cheech made a great shot."
For Cheechoo, it was his ninth goal of the season and third point in his last four games. The turnaround has been welcomed by Sharks coaches and players, who saw Cheechoo score only two points in his previous 15 games before the recent resurgence.
"He did what he had to do and shot the puck," McLellan said. "Maybe it's finally coming for him and it's nice to see."
***
- Atlanta was coming off an 8-4 victory over Anaheim and a 7-6 shootout win over Los Angeles, but didn't register its first shot until eight minutes had passed in the first period.
- The Ehrhoff-Semenov pairing was shaky at times, and Lukowich should take Semenov's spot in the lineup when San Jose rolls into Dallas on Monday night.
- Focusing on a couple of players throughout Saturday's game, I noticed that Marleau makes a smart defensive read each time he's on the ice. Meanwhile, Lemieux could take a penalty on every shift.
- Stupid penalties continue to plague Rob Blake. Not much chance of that changing at this point in the season, but there's no excuse for an 18-year NHL veteran to take penalties 140 feet from his own net.
- The Sharks have a tendency of dealing out long-term (3-4 year) contracts to young players, Michalek, Clowe, Carle, Vlasic, Murray, etc. Ryane Clowe keeps proving he deserves one, scoring his 21st goal of the season.
- Can someone please fix the partitions in San Jose before the team returns from its four-game road trip next week? The Sharks were burned a couple times against Edmonton and Los Angeles, and Atlanta could have potted a couple empty-netters thanks to crazy deflections off the glass.
- For all you rumormongers out there, Columbus, Tampa Bay and Boston had scouts present in the HP Pavilion press box. Not sure if any of those clubs would be prime trading partners for the Sharks, but it's interesting nonetheless.
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