Maybe a new alignment will help. I don't know. What I do know is that today's game is a 5pm. Be there. If you're late it may go to a shoot out. No one wants that.

Last night was all bad. he first was muy excellente. Leach looked good on his first night as a Shark and Randy and Drew were in fine form. (Randy Hahn, "the ultimate delay of game") Then, at some point in the second, Drew asked who stole the hockey game. It had gone from rough back and forth wow zing boom action in the first to slow grind with really only one team doing the skating and it wasn't the Sharks.

Nabby and Turco had a hell of a goaltending duel going all night though. It was amazing. Just amazing.

That save Turco made on McGinn? Unbelievable. ( looked, and NHL.com doesn't have it in the game highlights. Real shame)

The game really shouldn't have gone to the shootout, but it did. I hate the shootout, but not for the reasons you might think. Yeah, it kinda sucks that a skills comp gets to decide the end of a (hopefully) hard fought 65 minutes of hockey, but what really annoys me about it is that stress. Last night I had to sit through 11 rounds of anticipated heart break, waiting for the moment when I could either be filled with sweet relief or collapse, sad and drained, into the floor in front of my television. My better half sat watching me, with hint of sardonic glee in his eyes, as I cheered for my team and chanted Nabby's name over and over in the hopes it's help him make a save. He's not a sports fan, so to him, the shootout is a humorous look at how people react to chance in sports. For me, it's a chance to find out what hypertension feels like.

No sir, I don't like it.

What to expect tonight then? I don't know. It's the second night of back to back games, with travel having been involved for one team and not the other. The Sharks are coming of a series of home losses. The 'Yotes are also coming off a loss, but word yesterday that Ice Edge issued a letter of intent to buy the club and keeping them in the desert has to be helping morale big time. (If it needed any help to begin with. The 'Yotes have been playing inspired this season)

Perhaps I should have suggested the Sharks win it for the mammoths instead of Randy Hahn last night, since it didn't seem to do much to inspire them.

Do it for the mammoths Joe. Do it for the mammoths.

Tonight @ 7pm! Half an hour earlier than normal. Synchronize your Swatches!

Some times there are no words to express who one feels. At these time we turn to cartoons (and the words inside them, because those words are different.)

I suppose I should mention that the game against the Flames was Randy Hahn's 1000th as the play by play tv guy and the Sharks lost that game. They still need to win for him to properly celebrate.

Go Sharks.

That title could refer to many points in last night's game, but I am specifically referring to, and making a joke about, the decision to wave off Patty's goal late in the third.Another instance of  the intent to blow rule causing what was an otherwise reviewable, (and good), goal to be left high and dry. That goal could have won the game in regulation for the Sharks, assuming that the Kings didn't tie things up in the few minutes left following it. It wouldn't have been a good win by any means, but it would have been a win nonetheless.

The ref assured us that Patty had pushed Ersberg into the net, and he had intended to blow the whistle before the puck crossed the line. Whatever. I'm really beginning to hate that rule.

The replays showed that not only did Patty NOT push Ersberg back into his net, (Ersberg fell back himself, likely in an effort to stop the puck) the puck crossed the line before the whistle blew. But, again, intent is more important than actual actions on the ice. Don't get me wrong, I understand that there needs to be some level of fudging allowed because the refs are human, and can only react so quickly, but on plays like that, where it isn't clear, I'd rather they just review it. If you review that and say "nope, I made the right call." then fine. Just look at it, is all I am asking.

Click read more to read more.

I sort of hate doing this again, but to be honest, I really want to drag some more eyeballs to this blog, and this might be a way to do it.

A week or two ago, we mentioned we were in a blog off on an NHL board. Well, thanks to you all, we made it to round 2. We need your help to make it to round 3!

We're not FTF, we know this. We don't provided the wit and info FAS does, and we can't beat Plank and TCY (and K), which is probably why we're friends with the lot of them. And while I feel bad asking for you to vote for us over PJ...uhm...well, that's business. So if you get a moment, stroll on over to the round 2 thread and give us some love. In the not creepy way.

And hey, if you have some constructive criticsm, don't be scared to post it there. Gray's reading what's being said, and taking into account all possible improvements. (including to her spelling/proofreading skills)

Ah, the Kings. Why do you have to be so good this season? Why? We need an easy win at home, and you, good sirs, will not provide us with that. No, no, what you will do is cause us an insane amount of trouble. That is what you DO.

The Sharks will be facing the King's backup, Esberg, not Quick, but we have seen backups become brick walls against the Sharks before. I swear they all have some goalie force field hidden in the away locker room. They send each other texts so they can find it. This is the only sane explanation I can think of.

I don't usually do predictions but I think this game will make me roll my eyes and sigh at some point. You can put a crisp, new Washington on that call.

Solid as Ms. Cleo.

We have a few days before the next game, against the surprisingly good Kings of 2009 (or maybe not so surprising. This has been building up for a few years), so I figured I'd do a post about some of the goofy stuff I was chatting about on Twitter last night.

It's odd, so if you're saying to yourself, "I'm certainly not opposed to such flights of fancy, but dear me, how does this relate to the Sharks?" I have an answer for you; Joe Thornton likes woolly mammoths.

While I know mammoths and dinos weren't neighbors, it doesn't matter. As you can clearly see in the article, Joe refers to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum as "the one with all the dinosaurs and mammoths." And, as we all know, no man who likes woolly mammoths can be hating on dinos. The two just go hand in hand.

See? Totally relates.

Last night's game wasn't bad. The Sharks hit like 5 freaking posts and Kipur made this ridiculous save to deny Nichol at one point. Many, many many close chances for the Sharks, but they just couldn't tie it.

There was a fight like 8 seconds in. 8 seconds. Who says these two teams don't have a bit of a rivalry?

There were a few fights, actually, though none were overly impressive. The good thing is the Sharks weren't letting the Flames throw them all over the ice, as they have in past years.

Iginla wanted Douglas Murray. Douglas Murray welcome the challenge. Both sides had their fair share of checking players who, like Murray, are brick walls on skates.

Ok, Bouwmeester pushed Nabby's net off the moorings and nooooooooo one said anything. No call, though it was quite obviously. I think he also shoved McGinn into Kipur. Ridiculous.