Sharks win 4-3, but two points come with a price

It is definitely going to be a tough stretch going forward. I’m confident dw won’t make any stupid trades out of desperation. If wallin is the only one out for the really long term I think the sharks would be able to keep it together until his return. If more than one of these guys misses more than a few games I think we have a problem.

Braun and Vlasic play well together, based off what was seen last night. Since odds are good he may be up here for awhile, even if it’s on and off, he might be exactly what the Sharks need to bust Vlasic out of his slump.

Seeing as how we need three starting replacements on D, I would like to see Braun, Joslin, and Petrecki get the call. I don’t think pairing two rookies together would be a good idea so lines like this would have to work:

Boyle – Joslin
Vlasic – Braun
Murray – Petrecki

It will be interesting to see what combos are used as we face the wings. Yikes.

Good write up and I agree Plank, don’t think DW will trade yet.
 Wow, that was a crazy 48 hours, each game had its fair share of issues, but its in those cases that players can raise their game and rise from the NHL player pack. Boyle, Murray, Vlasic and Braun…freaking cheers guys!! 2 D down in the first…cue the Ray Ratto commercial, whatever dickface that decided to air that picked the perfect time, if Ratto said ‘you gonna eat that’ at the end it would’ve been more believable, CSN seems to have a real understanding of the Sharks fanbase, not. ‘Fan Up’? They can ‘Shut the Fuck up’! There is my reaction to that.. I am glad that we only gave 2 points away instead of 4 like last back to back. That was a great effort from the whole team and damn Heater can shoot! Bring up Moore and Joslin. SHARKS!!!!

Dont forget the Sharks also almost lost another big lead in the 3rd period, that also isnt a good sign going forward.

Onto the defense issue, trading isnt likely an option, nor is free agency. The big names that could possibly be available are Jay Mckee, Shane Hnidy, Mathieu Schnieder, and M-A Bergeron. That isn’t a list that inspires me to go out and make a signing.

With the 4 healthy defense from last night (Boyle, Murray, Vlasic, and Braun) and the one in the press box, (Joslin). I think the right call up is Jay Leach. He is a solid veteran who has experience with the Sharks from last year. This is the exact situation he was signed for in my mind, the emergency role player with that lovely two way contract. This allows the temptation of icing a two rookies or a rookie on every pairing to not be a factor.

Murray-Boyle
Vlasic-Braun
Leach-Joslin

One thing to be careful of though is that Murray has been picking up some serious dings blocking shots over the last couple games, how much is that affecting him? It may be wise to call up Mike Moore as a 7th D or atleast leave his number on speed dial with a private jet waiting so he can make the trip to SJ at the drop of a hat.

Losing two more bodies hurts a lot. Wallin isn’t amazing, but he’s been solid and Huskins has been working hard and holding up his responsibilities. Good to see the guys rally, even with the scare at the end, and get a win that ended up being hard-fought and gutsy.

The way Braun has played gives me a lot of hope. He was our most productive defenseman last night (though Murray’s many hits/blocks and Vlasic’s 5 blocks earn them contention for that title, too), and he wasn’t bad against the Canucks. He managed to be only a -1 in that cluster-Nuck in a decent amount of minutes for a rookie.

If we can hold out for the return of any two of Huskins/Demers/Wallin (especially those first two), it might all work out.

And I think, at this point, if DW trades he doesn’t go for a top 3 guy right now, but a guy who is close to NHL ready or who is playing bottom-line minutes and might be ready to step up. I think even that might be a stretch, but it’s probably all we can afford right now if we feel forced to trade.

Yeah, I’ll take the win, but there’s no excuse. Being up 4-1 with less then 10 minutes to go, then letting the Oilers score twice within a minute or so is unnaceptable.

I’m not as concerned about our late “collapse”. The defense was overworked for a good portion of the game, and I think everyone had to take extra shifts… definitely fatigued the guys.

I’d be happy if Leach is called up. I had forgotten about him, but he seems like a fairly decent replacement. Nothing outstanding, but not exactly crappy either. And here’s a chance for some of our young guys in the AHL to make their mark. Moore, Joslin, Braun, and Petrecki come to mind… though I’d rather have Leach than Petrecki at this point.

Should be interesting to see the lineup versus the Wings… and how well they’ll do against a strong offensive team.

I’m scared, somebody hold me.

and this is what happens?! I was in the air for the Hawks game, which looked decent from the highlights, watched two periods of the Vancouver game, which was bloody awful, and was in the air for the Oil last night. Man, this reminds me of what the Wings went through last year (or was it the year before?) with all the injuries, sitting in the bottom-middle of the standings, looking like this would be an off year. Still some time left in the season, and we get to see some youngsters play! We just gotta roll with this, Sharks fans.

According the official TOI stats, Huskins and Wallin contributed for 9 shifts and 9:12 of ice time combined. That meant that the rest of the defense had to play a combined 111:48 – roughly 27:42 each (assuming there were two defensemen on the ice at all times – thankfully, Pavelski could play the point on the PP and helped with those minutes). Those types of minutes are hard to play on a normal night – that it was on the second half of a back-to-back made it even more impressive.

In Justin Braun’s first NHL game, he played 16:56, a rather typical number for a rookie/third-pairing defenseman. In his second NHL game, he played 22:48 – borderline top pairing minutes in a normal situation. He was thrust into the role of a top four defenseman on an NHL team in his first pro season – in his second NHL game, nonetheless – and had 2 assists, was a +2, blocked 2 shots, and really only had one big mistake.

I was impressed with the forwards, as well. As the four remaining defensemen were pretty much glued to the point to conserve their energy, the forwards were the only forecheckers and were often outnumbered down low. Yet, they were able to create and sustain several cycles throughout the game, keeping the puck away from the Oilers and allowing the defense to have some easier minutes. There was one amazing cycle later in the game with Heatley and Thornton, with the two of them quite literally skating in circles around the Oilers for an extended period of them. No goal resulted from it, but it was an example of two of the big guys on the team taking charge and absolutely dominating the opposition.

Dan Boyle, as I expected after seeing both Wallin and Huskins get hurt and with Braun playing only his second NHL game, played over 30 minutes. He did that on the second half of a back-to-back. The guy is amazing.

Yes, the team allowed two goals in the third period to make things more tense than they needed to be, but ultimately they got the two points, and showed considerable character after having to play two whole periods with only two defensemen.

Our blueline is cursed…

Its the regular season and hence teams are not making moves because its just for regular season points. What do those mean once the playoffs begin?

Sharks have plenty of talent to get into the playoffs. Any trades have to be made with an eye on how it changes the team come playoff time. Nothing else. We don’t need to make a move now that just makes us better for the next month or whatever time is needed to get these guys healthy. Now if a permanent long-term solution is offered then sure DW is going to make the move, but no reason to think that will happen until February.

Braun, Joslin, Leach, Moore…all guys who can suit up at the NHL level. Do we really need to be that worried?

It’s funny going from baseball season to hockey season. In baseball it seems like you know every detail of a players injury, what he is doing to rehab, and when he will be back. In hockey it’s all such a mystery. Guy takes a puck to the face and it’s an “upper body injury” all so vague and nebulous. I totally understand why they do this, it’s just an adjustment coming from baseball! I really expected to see something on last night’s injuries this morning…. silly me.

The Sharks are only going to get better from here. Being down a few key D men is just what they need to fill the gaps and try to play alot more mistake free hockey. Now, it’s a bit counterintuitive, but I do think having less men will cause them to shorten shifts and play on their toews toes. I look forward to seeing what D pairings come out for the Detroit game!

I wonder if they called Rob Blake and asked him to please start working out.

Ugh :(

Excellent thoughts Plank. I’m not going to hit the panic button until we hear that one of these was placed on LTIR. But if that happens, we’ll be essentially trying to make playoffs with AHL defense, plus tired Boyle who’ll have to log 30 minutes a night, inconsistent Murray and Vlasic.

DW said when they released Lilja that he’s confident in our young corps. As he didn’t do anything to sign depth, he’ll live or die now by these words now.

Anyone see demers is skating today? Does that mean he’s not gonna be out much longer? Plsssssss?