The Sharks and Edmonton Oilers engaged themselves in what turned out out to be quite an entertaining game this past Saturday Night. Patrick Marleau’s 12th goal of the season, a power play goal 6:11 into the third period held up as the Sharks took the young and feisty Oilers 3-2. Marleau’s goal was just seconds after the Oilers Theo Peckham was whistled for interference in the Sharks offensive zone. The win was the 2nd for the Sharks in this important end of (2011 calendar) year home stand. With the win the Sharks improved to 17-10-3 (37 points) and 8th in the Western Conference Standings, though only 2 points behind the Dallas Stars (39 points) for first in the Pacific Division.
The Sharks will be welcoming in the Tampa Bay Lightning (14-16-2, 30 points, 13th in the EC) on Wednesday Night. Tampa despite some struggles this year are a team that can actually live up to their name and find “Lightning in a bottle” when needed. Powerhouse center Steven Stamkos leads the Lighting with 20 goals and 17 assists, and the rest of line up is made up of a roster than can give the opposition all kinds of problems in trying to figure out a way to slow them down, let alone stop them. Though down in the Eastern Conference Standings, they are only 5 points out of 8th and have the roster to turn things around and make a run for the post season. This is a team that will give the Sharks a good game and a good challenge, which is what the Sharks need to improve on their own game.
Looking back to Saturday:
Duke of Oil – First thing about the Oilers, let’s give them their due. They are definitely a young team in progress and remind me a lot of where the Chicago Blackhawks were about four seasons ago. The Oilers are not going to be playoff ready this season, but starting next season I would be surprised if they didn’t finish in the top 8 and a playoff spot. The Oilers are very green, yet very good. They gave the Sharks about all they could handle Saturday Night and gave team teal a good game. The Sharks and Oilers traded punches (not litterally) in the first period with each team getting nine shots on goal. Veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was strong early in net stopping back to back close range shots from Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski early in the period, and a later close range opportunity by Jamie McGinn. Martin Havlet was able to break the ice on the scoreboard as the Sharks caught the Oilers on a ill timed line change, allowing Havlet to go on a two on none breakaway accompanied by Michal Handzus. Havlet passed the puck to Handzus who was able to deek Khabibulin before passing the biscuit back to Havlet. Havlet then deposited the puck into the net to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
Antti Niemi meanwhile was pretty strong in net himself stopping 8 shots, but the one goal he gave up was just one of those where you had to tip your cap to the goal scorer, period. Jordan Eberle took a feed pass from Taylor Hall just past the Sharks blue line. Eberle then took off for the net and was able to go around Colin White before putting the puck in the one open area past Niemi’s leg pad and into the net. Eberle’s ability to control the puck and then just turn towards the goal was amazing. As a Sharks fan, you hate to see any goal scored on them, however, just as a hockey fan I also had to admire Eberle’s effort as he made a true “hockey” play. As far as the goal goes, Eberle earned it. The Sharks and the Oilers took to the second period tied 1-1. The Sharks seemingly would catch a break when the Oilers Eric Belanger was called on a hooking penalty to give the Sharks a power play. The Sharks power play has been struggling all season, and what would happen here didn’t exactly help things along in this department. A neutral zone turnover occurred when Jason Demers brought the puck up ice left the puck for Havlet, who over skated it. Oiler Ryan Jones jumped on the loose puck and basically had a penalty shot opportunity and he did not miss, drilling the puck past Niemi for a 2-1 Oilers lead.
Despite the short handed goal, Niemi rebounded from it nicely and later made a solid save on another Oiler short handed chance on a later power play. Meanwhile Khabibulin was solid on his end of the ice and frustrating the Sharks, and at one point stopped a strong close range slap shot by Logan Couture. Later on in the period the Sharks would crack the “Bulin Wall” and draw even when J Thornton scored his first goal in 14 games. Thornton took a feed pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic and slipped the puck five hole underneath Khabibulin who was trying drive towards the puck to cover it. The play started in the Sharks zone as Thornton was able to hand the puck over to Pavelski, who then feed it across ice to Vlasic, who in turn got it back over to Thornton for the game tying goal. The Sharks outshot the Oilers 14-7 in the second period.
The third period was fairly evenly played though the Sharks had a 14-9 shot advantage here too. Niemi made a key save early in the period when Taylor Hall had a breakway in the Sharks zone, but was turned away thanks to a Niemi pad save. The Sharks would get a power play chance when the Oilers were called for an interference penalty. Marleau’s power play goal was set up by Dan Boyle controlling the puck at the blue line and passing it towards McGinn, who intern flipped it over to Pavelski. Khabibulin was there to greet Pavelski and turn away his diving attempt, however the puck was kicked out towards the on rushing Marleau who took the rebound and buried it for a 3-2 Sharks lead. The Sharks would get challenged by the Oilers but were able to successfully hold off any Oilers onslaught, including a kick save by Niemi on a loose puck in the closing seconds. A good quality win for the Sharks against a team that’s only going to get better and tougher to play against.
Lightning Round – The Lightning bring their fast style of hockey into the Shark Tank Wednesday night. Aside from Stamkos, the Lightning also feature top caliber players such as Martin St Louis (saint lu’eese), Vincent Lecavalier, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Teddy Purcell and Ryan Malone who collectively have combined for 56 of Tampa’s 87 goals this season. Netmiders for the Lighting are veterans Mathieu Garon and Dwayne Roloson, both who have one shutout this season and have a history of giving the Sharks a tough time. Garon brings in a .905 save percentage while Roloson is at .882. The Sharks skated much better against the Oilers in winning their first Saturday home game since opening night, and will need to continue to bring up their level of skating and overall play since the Lighting no doubt will present the Sharks with a difficult challenge and will give the Sharks just as tough of a game as the Oilers just did.
This Just In: Sutter in SoCal – As of this writing, the Pacific Division Rival Los Angeles Kings have announced that former Sharks and Calgary Flames Head Coach Darryl Sutter has been named as the new Head Coach of the Kings. Sutter replaces former Head Coach Terry Murray, who was fired on December 12th. The Kings currently are 15-14-4 (34 points) and sit 10th in the current Western Coference Standings. The Kings come into the Shark Tank on Friday Night for their 3rd meeting of the year, the second at the Tank…this should get very interesting as should the rest of this Sharks homestand…
GO SHARKS!!!
The King Shark
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