Tonight @ 7:30pm

Our perennial feathered foes return tonight for a rematch. The Ducks played, and beat, the Blues last night, so hopefully they'll be tired and listless and generally hopeless ineffective. Probably not, but a girl can hope, can't she?

Dan Ellis is rumored to be in nets tonight for the Ducks, which has lead to, and while likely cause more #OccupyEllisCrease on twitter. Nemo is supposed to get the start tonight for the Sharks. It will be interesting to see how well he's rehabbed after coming back from surgery to remove a cyst. People may wonder why it took so long but a) I hear those hurt really really bad and b) I'd rather not rush our goalie back.

The Sharks need to come out strong tonight. Losing 2 in a row is balls, but losing 3 in a row to start the season would be worse. Did I just jinx it? I really hope I didn't just jinx it...

At least, not yet.

The Sharks managed to put together a good 30 minutes last night, and while it certainly wasn't enough to beat the Blues and their good 40 minutes of hockey, it was an improvement over the Friday night showing against the Ducks.

The Sharks managed to pull themselves together for the last 10 minutes of the first and all of the second, but couldn't adjust to the Blues in the 3rd. The Blues, meanwhile, having realized the Sharks had adjusted their game to more successfully counter their attack, regrouped in the second intermission. The Sharks, on the other hand, looked out of sync and confused in the third, and while they had the lead for a bit, they was eventually lost to the tune of 4-2.

I saw some Greiss blame going on last night; now really people, are we going there already? Only about 1/3 of the top line was on last night (because JoePa is ALWAYS in go mode), Boyle and Burns were scattered, Clowe missed his guy once, I think Desi or Demers did too, and there was a whole lot of sloppy skating going on. Boyle said the ice was sub par, and while I won't doubt that from watching how the puck bounced around, it certainly wasn't the reason they lost. And additional hindrance, yes, but their play was pretty much the biggest factor last night. Griess, on the other hand, was doing his best to keep the guys in front of him in the game. Remember, the goalie is you last line of defense. The team in front of him is supposed to prevent the opposition from reach him. If they get that far, you can't assume he will stop all shots all the time. He's only human, after all. So cut Greiss some slack here. The team's failings last night were not his.

Am I worried yet? No. I am disappointed though. As I stated earlier on Twitter, I was really hoping for 6 points out of this series of games.  The possibility of only getting 2 is sort of sad. Considering the Sharks were already behind, having only played one game in a week, the points would have been useful for staying competetive in those early, (and rapidly shifting), standings.

Tomorrow will be a good test for the Sharks. Will they remain off-kilter, or will they regroup and come out guns blazing? Only time will tell.

Tonight @ 7pm

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Well, that was disappointing, wasn't is?

I stand by my assessment that all the Sharks needed to do to win that game was the play like that did on opening night, with perhaps a better PK effort. The better PK effort was there, but the rest of the performance was not so much. The Sharks looked quite a bit like a team that hadn't played in nearly a week. Fancy that, eh?

While making the Ducks look like the better team is depressing, (and let's be honest, last night, they were the better team), it was game two. We have 80 games to go. While the internets (yes, internets) seems ready and willing to throw all hope out the window, I think that may be a tad presumptuous. Two games is a small sample size to be pulling potential patterns from and let's be honest here, this team is NOT going to repeat last season's less than stellar star because TMac won't let them. Part of me feels like a brokenrecord already here, but I suppose, after last season't shakey start, the concern is more genuine than it might have been in years past. Let's not write the season off yet, shall we?

Just remember, if nothing else, always, always, blame aliens.

Found here

Game 3 is tonight against the Blues. Pregame show starts at 6:30pm. Be there or be without Sharks hockey,

What vengeful god made this schedule? We wait, fairly close the patiently, all summer for the Sharks to return and then we get ONE GAME and nothing more for a week. How torturous! Well tonight, that second long wait finally ends, as the Sharks square off against their long time, and much hated, opponent the Anaheim Ducks.



The Ducks have had a rough start to their season, which for Sharks fans is just fine, thank you. Divisional opponents failing is always a plus, especially early in the season when points are just starting to add up. Starting in Europe will do that. And while the Ducks have won one of their two games so far, they looked atrocious in both. All the Sharks need to do is come out and play the way they did against Phoenix, with a decidedly better PK, and they should be able to crush the Ducks in a similarly demoralizing fashion. With the Tank invading the Pond tonight, the timing is prefect for a crushing road win.




Go Sharks! no comments

WHOO!

Well, that was fun wasn't it? The Sharks beat the 'Yotes 6-3 in their home and season opener, lighting up Mike Smith like the San Francisco skyline. All four lines had goals, the puck possession in the first was a thing of mid season beauty, the D was clicking pretty well, and Greiss looked pretty solid. I think the only man in the building who might have been more motivated than Greiss was Smith, and that came after he was already in the hole 4 goals.

Special teams clearly need some work. OK, the PK clearly needs some work. The PP was nowhere near as noticeable, which, while probably meaning it also needs some work, the PK was just ridiculously wacky at times. Yes, the 5 on 3s were a pain in the ass, and hard to kill, but all of the Coyotes goals were on the PP. Two of the three also came off Shane Doan's stick. Stupid Shane Doan. Being good at his job. Thankfully for the Sharks, and sadly for Phoenix's fans, the same cannot be said for his line/teammates. At least not for tonight.

Michal Rozsival left early after being nailed in the face by a puck. It looked pretty damn bad from where we sat. Blood was all over the ice and he was clearly in a lot of pain. Mina and I were really hoping it was just his nose it hit, and not his eye. A broken nose would suck, but it'd be a helluva lot better than a broken eyeball. We didn't get any updates about his condition at the game, although the official wrap confirms a nose hit.

There was a lot that looked good out there tonight. You could tell that the Sharks definitely had been working on some of their past weaknesses during camp, and it's paying off. Again, the PK needs work, and sometimes the passes got a little sloppy (but not too often), and a few times the third and fourth lines looked a little discombobulated, but all and all, it was a solid start to what I think is going to be a very, very, very good season.

That's right folks, our intrepid heroes are back after facing down the long off season. Once again, one team has one goal; taking down the evil force that is SPECTRE the other 29 teams in the league and emerging victorious in June, finally having claimed their long sought after prize.

Tonight's opponent is a familiar one.



The divisional rival Coyotes kick off the Sharks season tonight at the Tank. Not really notable,(but I'm going to note it anyway), the Coyotes were the only team the Sharks lost to in the preseason. They were also the only team they faced with an essentially Wor-Shark squad, while the 'Yotes tossed out their suspected starting line up. Not exactly like the match up we plan to see tonight, when the Sharks newly remodeled defense and top lines roll out for the first time.

Street Fair kicks off tonight at 5pm right outside the tank. Puck drops at 7:30. Randy and Drew are back, as are Bakes and Rusanowsky radio side. Hedican should be back as well, along with Brodie Brazil.

Greiss is your starter in net tonight.

Dust off you GO SHARKS! chant and hold onto your butts! The season starts tonight.

Go Sharks!!