San Jose Sharks down Vancouver Canucks (again): knee-jerk reaction
Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
The San Jose Sharks remained undefeated as they downed the Vancouver Canucks for the second time in two weeks. We’ll leave the official recap to the Associated Press. Here are a few knee-jerk reactions for your consideration.
It was a head shot. Plain and simple and it shouldn’t matter who is wearing what jersey. In case you weren’t watching the game, Alex Edler made a clear attempt at the head of Tomas Hertl, and it will be interesting to see how the league calls this one. While Hertl did change the angle of Edler’s attack, replays showed that the Canuck had no intention of doing anything besides clipping Hertl in the head.
The contact sent his helmet flying, and considering the fact that Edler has a history of making bone headed plays, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a few games for his trouble. If Brad Stuar’s hit was a suspendable offense, so was Edler’s contact with Hertl.
Besides Edler sinking to his usual lows, this was an entetaining hockey game in which the Sharks scored at least four goals for the fourth consecutive game. Joe Thornton? Still no goals. Joe Pavelski? Nadda. That should put fear into the hearts of San Jose’s opposition. Ten different players have put the puck in the net for the Sharks, and all four lines are moving like clock work right now.
Oh, Antti Niemi was pretty stellar as he outperformed Roberto Luongo for the second time. He made several key saves early before the Sharks could get going, and was the best player in white tonight.
Your neat factoid of the evening:
"Matt Pelech’s first NHL goal was the game-winner. 3rd straight Sharks game that a player’s first NHL goal was the winner (Hertl, Nieto)."
— Darin Stephens (@SharksStats) October 11, 2013
Things couldn’t be going much better on either side of the puck for San Jose right now. They’ll have Friday off before taking on the Ottawa Senators back at the Shark Tank on Saturday. That’ll do it for our knee-jerk reaction. Feel free to leave yours in the comments section below, on Twitter or on the Facebook.