2/26 anaheim 3, SHARKS 2

Somebody forgot to give the Ducks the script. Sharks come home from überlong .500 roadtrip to face off against the hated rivals to the south in front of 17,496 screaming teal clad maniacs, and triumph over them in, well, triumphant fashion. The triumph and subsequent triumphant fashion were met with resistance, as Anaheim back up tender Ilya Bryzgalov made 40 saves, and the Ducks stuffed as many defenders into the crease as often as possible, to steal the show last night, and quack out of SJ with a narrow victory.

For the fifth time in his last six starts, Evgeni Nabokov allowed at least two goals in the first period on less than 10 shots, thus earning him a full time name for this manuever. From here on out, the Sharks Hockey Odyssey will refer to such a feat as the ENS (Evgeni Nabokov Special). After the Dustin Penner sponsored ENS, Milan Michalek singlehandedly tied the game at 2, first with a goal on the powerplay [16] (Matt Carle, Joe Thornton). He followed that one up with another one about 11 minutes later [17] (Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo), and the game was knotted going into the 3rd. Despite constant pressure, Bryzgalov stopped everything that came his way (18 shots in all), and Teemu Selanne buried a cross ice pass from Chris Kunitz, and the Ducks went on to win. Evgeni Nabokov made just 16 saves, and earned his 15th loss of the year.

As I have said all the time when I have come home, it was very nice/bordering insanely wonderful to return home to the Tank that I know and love so much. Everything that comes with the Tank is wonderful in my eyes, which I guess is all that matters, since I get the wonderful pleasure of seeing 41 games there this year. The people, the Shark Head, the fog horn, the popcorn chicken, everything. So glad to be home, for a whole nother game.

The Sharks, with just recently acquired forward Bill Guerin (Craig Rivet is expected to be out still, with immigration issues continuing), take on the Western Conference leading Nashville Predators (7:30 pst). The Predators lead the series 2-1, with both wins coming at the HoP (4-3 on 10/26, and 5-0 on 2/14), the Sharks winning the previous game at the tank (3-1 on 12/9). Excluding playoffs, the home team has won the last 11 games in this matchup, and the Predators have lost 5 straight at the Tank. Tonight, Predators vs. Sharks, Forsberg vs. Guerin, 7:30. GAME ON.

Go Sharks (stupid Ducks)
-Jess