Game Wrap Up: Edmonton @ San Jose

First Period

Snapshots: Nice first shift for the second line to get things started…. A fairly choppy period to start things off (are we celebrating icing and offsides like it’s going out of style?)…. Continuing with the rhetorical questions, is Ron Wilson back on the Sharks bench once again? Todd McLellan was throwing out different combos all night, with Patty centering Lemieux & Staubitz at one point during a faceoff in the offensive zone…. Lukas Kaspar took a hit to generate a nice scoring chance for Setoguchi, but Joe Thornton needs to attack that rebound with more vigor. He flat out got beat to the puck…. Pavelski’s goal was slick, but Ryane Clowe was the big reason that chance ever materialized. Excellent pressure on the forecheck…. Immediately following Pavelski’s goal, the Sharks were outworked for the rest of the period. It’s happened multiple times this season where the guys will take the shift off following a goal…. Stortini’s goal was a complete breakdown in the defensive zone. Boyle and Staubitz both overpursued the puck and left Nabokov hanging out to dry…. Kaspar’s interview with Scott Reese had more huffing and puffing than a Cheech & Chong flick….

Second Period

Snapshots: Nabokov had a huge save on Penner to help kill the remaining time left on the PK…. Patrick Marleau is one of the clutchest goal scorers in the league. I’d take him over Dany Heatley any day of the week (and not just because I’d be more comfortable carpooling to work with the guy)…. Joe Pavs should open up a museum. Great work shorthanded for our burgeoning PK artist…. Thornton had a few bumbles in the defensive zone, one of which led to a great Cogliano scoring opportunity. Those need to go to the wayside soon…. Hemsky’s pass from the sideboards to the crease has been open all freaking night…. All the emotion that began to bubble (and eventually boil over) in the second period is the sole reason why playoff hockey is hands down the most beautiful thing to experience in professional sports….

Third Period

Snapshots: Grind, grind, grind, grind…. My friend and I were talking about this last year when the Kings came to town (while moping about the Sharks power play troubles)- Rob Blake is so good at getting shots on net from the point…. As much crap we hear about Dustin Penner, he was a solid presence in front of Nabby tonight and gave our defensemen some problems…. Is it possible to send our net to the box for two minutes? Some pretty shoddy calls tonight…. I will take Semenov’s penalty any day of the week. What an improvement from last year and the beginning of this year as well….

Takeaways

Not a perfect game by any means, but a solid performance for most of the tilt. My main concern (damn it feels good to have something to complain about with a smile on my face once again) would have to be the Sharks shifts immediately following a goal. The Oilers did an excellent job of cycling at will and generating good scoring opportunities, effectively erasing the momentum from scoring.

Tonight was a step in the right direction. Big ups to the entire team answering the physical bell in the second period and grinding out a win in the third.

Go Sharks.