11/17/07 anaheim 2, SHARKS 1 (SO)

Two games against the Ducks, two shootout losses.

Sandis Ozolinsh did everything he absolutely could to assure the Sharks would get the W on the evening, besides actually scoring a goal. He did take the slapper that was redirected by Torrey Mitchell and found it's way past J.S. Giguere and made the save of the evening and possibly the save of the year by plucking an Andy McDonald shot off the goalline with a diving backhanded stop.

Despite outplaying the Ducks for some of the game (when not on the poweplay, of course), the Sharks were not able to shut the door on the So Cal Fowl all the way, taking a point in the skills competition loss. Mitchell had the aforementioned Sharks goal, and Chris Kunitz had the lone goal for the Ducks, both deflections that neither goalie had a chance to stop. Besides each tally, both netminders were awesome, making 28 regulation and overtime saves a piece. Nabby made the start again, his 21th in 21 games this year. The Dmitri Patzold hologram on the bench could not be reached for comment, as, well, holograms don't have vocal chords.

Saturday, we saw yet again that the two teams thought by most to win the Cup out of the Pacific are terribly heartbreakingly equal. Anchored by strong goaltending and steady defense (well, most of the time), these teams haven't even really begun to get scary on the offensive side of the puck. When that happens, may the rest of the Conference look out. These two teams will meet thrice in a one week period in December (16 at Anaheim, 18 and 22 in San Jose), and it is at that point we will see truly where these teams stand, however, at this point, I like where the Sharks are, as they definitely seem to be coming together.

Well, the Sharks have a long time to come together, as they now take a full week off. When they return from their extended Thanksgiving break (not league mandated, but nice), they will host game #11 of the PacDiv 12 when the other LA team, the real LA team, the Kings, come to town (7:30). The Kings really are just the Kings, however, they're finally starting to get good. They can get good all they like, it'd just be preferable if they waited until after they play the Sharks.

GO SHARKS (HAPPY TURKEY DAY TO ALL)
-Jess


Sandis's save, courtesy of Yahoo Sports