Ever since the beginning of the season, Sharks fans have been looking for their team to dominate a game from start to finish. This past Thursday, the Sharks did just that, dominating the Calgary Flames by a final score of 6-1.
Dan Boyle returned to the ice against the Flames after missing Tuesday's game against the Predators to be with his wife Amber who gave birth to their first child, a baby-girl named Easton Sky Boyle.
I think the day off to celebrate gave Boyle a jump-start Thursday, as he contributed with three assists from the blue-line in his return to the lineup.
Boyle wasn't the only Sharks defenseman who had three assists against the Flames; both Rob Blake and Christian Ehrhoff did, as well. In fact, the Sharks set a franchise record of nine points from the defense in a single game.
Todd McLellan's system that incorporates defense from the offense seems to be getting through to his team. It's still early, but in my opinion, McLellan ought to be the front-runner for coach of the year.
The one weakness the Sharks may have had coming into Thursday's game was their power-play. A power-play that had only been successful 16.2 percent of the time.
That would change dramatically against the Flames when San Jose finished 4-9 with the man advantage and at one point were 4-4 after scoring on a 5-on-3 advantage.
Joe Pavelski gave the Sharks the early lead at 8:04 of the first period. Only seven seconds after Calgary's rookie defenseman Adam Pardy was called for hooking, Pavelski put the Sharks on the board.
After winning the face-off back to Ehrhoff, Pavelski drove to the net and was the beneficiary of a rebound off a Rob Blake point shot, Joe-Pa slid it into the wide-open net giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Less than 30 seconds later, with the same line still on the ice, Milan Michalek gave the Sharks a 2-0 advantage. Michalek took a feed from Pavelski, burned the Calgary defense on the outside, faked a slap-shot and got Flames goal-tender Miikka Kiprusoff to bite on it. Milan then took an extra stride and wristed one short-side for the 2-0 lead.
At 15:02 of the opening period it was Patrick Marleau's turn to cash in on the power-play. After the Flames were caught with a too many men on the ice penalty, Marleau converted with three seconds remaining on the power-play, once again off a Rob Blake point shot.
A little over a minute after Marleau scored, Flames forward Todd Bertuzzi was called for high-sticking and the Sharks went back on the power-play. This time it was Joe Thornton, as the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks from the 1997 NHL Draft switched places.
Joe followed Patty this time with his third goal of the season at 17:42 of the first. Boyle guided the puck towards the net where Setoguchi got a stick on it and then Thornton put home the garbage.
4-0 after one period of play.
comments (7) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
Good recap, and a fun game to watch. You and I covered a lot of the same themes--avoiding last playoff's collapse, extinguishing the Flames in our title, defence and power play effectiveness...great minds think alike!
from about 1 month ago
yeah i like your changing of my title, i know b/r likes the teams put first, but i wanted to use the term "put-out" but i didnt have enough room to do so with the teams being first.
yeah that was my 2nd game of the season, so far ive seen a couple good ones, OT against philly and thursday against the flames. of course theyve only lost 1 at home lol
from about 1 month ago
I didn't change your title--this was your original, 'cause it was unedited when I got to it...
BTW, I'm teal with envy about you seeing those two games. I'm not sure I'll be able to go at all 'cause money's tight, but I'd love to be right behind their bench...I think I could bait Bertuzzi to jump over the glass to get me, a la Tie Domi! He'd kick my @$$ but I'd have no more money problems!!!
from about 1 month ago
Hey, I just figured out someone else must have changed it, 'cause it is different, and I like it better, too!
BTW, I'll be on NHL2Day with Alan Bass today around noon. I'm not sure what it's broadcast on live, but you can get it on Youcastr.com.
from about 1 month ago
sik bro! my friends and i have a school radio show that we use youcastr to get it out on the internet.
from about 1 month ago
http://www.youcastr.com/casts/archive/nhl-2day-nhl-2day-nhl-2day-episode-117-featuring-mj-kasprzak-and-matt-eichel
from about 1 month ago
yeah i listened in to a bit of it. good stuff. i didnt know the habs were one of "your" teams lol
write a new comment