The title of this blog translates to, "The Sharks Won 3-0." Well, I hope it does, if I remember any Spanish.

I felt like using some Spanish tonight, ONLY because the hype surrounding tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning had more dramatic storylines than an episode of a Spanish telenovela. Hence, my use of the Spanish language.

Enter in two teams who were re-vamped over the summer. Then, you throw in Dan Boyle’s return to Tampa Bay, a considerably bad break up, to put it lightly. Defenseman Matt Carle got to play against his former team. Finally, factor in a cranky, dissatisfied Sharks team looking to make up for some poor defensive play as of late.

You can cue the crying women with dripping mascara any time now.

Here’s what we saw tonight:

- Brian Boucher got the start and the shutout. That wasn’t too surprising. The Sharks closed out a tough road trip, playing three games in four nights. Having played the night before against the Florida Panthers, it was a good time to give Evgeni Nabokov some time to rest by riding the pine pony.

Sorry, I couldn’t help but include a Mighty Ducks reference, one my favorite movies as a kid. Not sure why, to be honest. Maybe it was Joshua Jackson?

While Nabokov is still a great goaltender making key saves, he doesn’t really seem like the Nabby we all know and love, which probably has something to do with the defense not being as tight as we are accustomed to. However, the team is still learning a new system, and I feel that their newfound offensive prowess is a great upside.

Anyway, Boucher's performance tonight only added to the confidence that Sharks fans and the team has in his abilities to backup Nabby.

- Alexei Semenov was the healthy scratch tonight, as Doug Murray was in his first game back after being a scratch due to a mysterious “upper body injury."

- Marcel Goc finally got off the schneid, scoring his first goal of the season from Boyle and Mike Grier. Goc made a simple play by just shooting the puck, and, sure enough, it found its way in the far corner of the net. Lightning goalie Mike Smith also overcommitted a bit on that goal.

- Ryan Clowe also scored on the power play. Clowe tipped the shot from Christian Ehrhoff in front of Smith. Ehrhoff has easily become one of the best defensemen for the Sharks, and he made that goal happen just by moving his feet. The only knock I have at Ehrhoff would be taking a bad holding penalty at the end of the second period.

- Devin Setoguchi scored his fifth goal of the season by making a quick shot and finding the short side. I hope I’ll continue to keep saying this throughout the rest of the season, but Setoguchi is awesome and has really impressed many thus far. Seto works hard along the boards and plays pretty well through the neutral zone. He has great skating ability, and creates lots of scoring chances. He was just all over the ice tonight.

The Sharks closed off their first extended road trip of the season 2-1, and their record is currently 7-2. Whatever the Sharks tried to improve upon on after two games of lax defense seemed to work tonight.

The Sharks are still at the top of the Pacific Division and the Western Conference, but they should watch their backs as the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings are closing in on them.

The next game is at the Shark Tank at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

-Danielle
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