Game Forty-Two Recap: San Jose Sharks 3, Vancouver Canucks 1

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Could I be any later with this recap?  My bad.

Anyway, game impressions:

• The first fifteen minutes or so of the first period were dullsville.  Neither team was doing anything offensively other than getting the puck into the other team's end, saying "here you go," and retreating into their own end.  Must have been one of those sidebet game-within-a-game Hot Potato contests.
  
• After that, the Sharks showed up and were allowing as close to nothing resembling a Vancouver scoring chance as you could wish to see.  Meanwhile, Joe Pavelski and Torrey Mitchell were men on a mission, dive-bombing into the slot time and again while creating general havoc of the right kind.  Roberto Luongo must have been wondering if his teammates had decided to hold a sympathy session for his skipping the All-Star game to be with his pregnant wife by skipping their defensive duties.  Either that, or the Sharks choosing to wear their white sweaters confused the Canucks, who as the road team thought they were the ones wearing white and so whenever someone bearing said color came by thought it perfectly understandable why they were trying to set up shop in the slot.  Here, go right ahead... oh wait, you're shooting at the wrong net... oh wait again... oops...
  
• After the Sharks went up 3-0 early in the third, they became rather loosey goosey and hey end to end rushes are great fun so let's be good hosts and allow our house guests join in the fun.  They've really got to stop doing that.  But they survived.

It's getting close to thinking the "why we're not winning at home" spiel can be retired.  And not a minute too soon.  Good stuff.  The Sharks are on track to becoming who they ought to be.