The Sharks continue to roll in Colorado breaking through the Avalanche with a hat trick from Patrick Marleau.
On the road or at the Tank the Sharks are proving to be a tough team to beat. San Jose went down 1-0 tonight and then followed with four unanswered goals. Led by Marleau with the Trick and Vlasic and Thornton with three assists each the Sharks never looked panicked or like they were not in complete control of this game.
San Jose is 7-2-1 in their last ten games and have played and beaten some tough competition including Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Detroit. The Sharks have become that opportunistic team that they lost to early in the season. They have been outshot, but have appeared in control of the games they are getting outshot in and coming away with two points more times than not. Their confidence has improved with the recent contributions from the third and fourth lines.
Now that the team is getting some depth scoring it doesn’t matter if they score the first goal of the game. They have learned to make good adjustments in between the first and second twenty. The Sharks have dominated their opponents in the middle frames and often put the game out of reach which is why the shot counts are not what we are used to seeing. The third period has been about protecting a lead and in many cases San Jose is being outshot.
The Sharks were out chanced and outplayed in the final period of tonight’s game but were able to protect their lead with good goaltending and smart play. This is a win that good teams manage, and the Sharks managed to earn two points while playing two days in a row. The Avalanche last played Friday night against the Stars and won 3-0. The Sharks looked tired in the third but that is expected after beating a very physical Dallas team less than 24 hours ago.
San Jose’s discipline deserves to be noted. They took only one penalty tonight and the PK took care of that. If the team can continue to stay out of the box they will be tough to beat.
The turning point tonight was the weathering of the storm in the first period. The Avs came out hard after watching the battle that the Sharks went through last night and came away tied 1-1. After throwing everything they had at San Jose they couldn’t get the lead which is terribly frustrating.
Contenders & Pretenders
Contenders
Patrick Marleau – was the go to guy tonight and has really took ownership of the second line. Splitting up Thornton and Marleau had to be a tough decision that they couldn’t have taken lightly. These two played together with great success for a long time but now they make a great one two punch up the middle.
Marc Edouard Vlasic – appears so comfortable defensively that he is now comfortable taking on the offense side of the game. He has played the best hockey of his career lately and gets back to back contender nods.
Thomas Greiss – continues to give the team what they want out of a back-up goalie, great consistency and wins. The team obviously is very comfortable playing in front of him and he is making a case to be the team’s permanent second goaler.
Matt Duchene – is already a star and fun to watch. His skill level is clearly among the tops in the league and his quick feet always leave me wondering which way he is going next. He was the only bright spot for the Avs tonight and finds his way onto the contender list.
Pretenders
Jean Sebastien Giguere – was not bad tonight but he certainly wasn’t spectacular. This team is young and needs veterans to step up against the top teams. Giggy is the game’s only pretender.
The Sharks have a big week coming up as they face the LA Kings, Chicago, and Vancouver. These are three teams that they have faced in the playoffs in the past two years. A big test for San Jose is ahead as the battle for early season Western Conference supremacy lies in the outcome of the next week.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
******
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Sharks Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Sharks-related on HockeyBuzz. Content is updated automatically whenever a new Sharks-related blog is published. For more information,
click here.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»