Monday, February 19, 2007

2/18 DALLAS 5, sharks 2






A couple things.

First, they scored. Twice even. After going 190:22 without a goal, two goals in that time frame, not to mention two goals in 12 minutes.

Second, the Stars didn't score enough goals that I got a free thingie, but mainly because Dallas has no free thingie deal in place, so that was good.

As expected, this game was supposed to be a difficult one for the Teal to get the 2 points, as Dallas is a decent team, strong at home, and has played the Sharks tough all year long. With a few injuries still, the Sharks just looked like a tired, even partially uninspired team. However, the physical game looked quite strong, as Kyle McLaren, Douglas Murray, and Joe Thornton (among others) laid the lumber all night long, knocking guys down left and right.

Mark Bell's goal [8] at 1:52 of the 3rd period (Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Milan Michalek), ending the Sharks über schneid at 190:22, or about 9.5 periods of goalless hockey. Mike Grier [13] (Joe Thornton, Patrick Rissmiller) recorded the other goal for the Sharks, who opened the second half of their road trip in less than optimal fashion. With 3 games remaining (2/21 @ Washington, 2/22 @ Chicago, and 2/24 @ Calgary), the Sharks are 2-3 on this current road trip, having lost 3 consecutive games (5-0 Nashville, 3-0 Columbus, and 5-2 Dallas). Evgeni Nabokov started his second consecutive game, again making 16 saves, and receiving his 13th loss of the year.

Each of the last two trips has allowed me to meet a bunch of Sharks fans, and this time was no different, although I also got to meet a Stars fan this time around. Justin, a longtime Stars fan and reader of the Odyssey, stopped by for the very offensively eventful 3rd for the Sharks (not meaning to rub it in, but it was the one real bright spot in an otherwise pitch black situation), Josh, a Shark fan and the runner of DFW Sharks (look at the sidebar for the address for all you DFW area Sharks fans) stopped by for the 2nd, and Sean (or maybe Shawn), another Shark fan, stopped by to say hello. Thank you to all who stopped by to say hello, and those who I had the pleasure of talking to before the game during the pregame skate.

The Teal get a few days to tend to their wounds, and by Wednesday, when they face off against the Washington Capitals (4:00 pst), we could be seeing some numbers we haven't seen in a while. 8, 16, 26, 37, and 94. Any of: Joe Pavelski, Mark Smith, Steve Bernier, Curtis Brown, and the recently reacquired Alexander Korolyuk could be in uniform for the Sharks when they hit the ice at the Verizon Center come Wednesday night. All will be useful, regardless of their return, and, with the recent slump, each of their returns is highly anticipated. This matchup between the Teal and the Caps is the one and only contest between the two this year. The last meeting was last year in San Jose (Sharks win 4-1).

Go Sharks (broke the goal schneid, now time for the win schneid)
-Jess

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