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Sharks tread evenly until the third, and then step on the gas for the win |
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The San Jose Sharks grinded with the Edmonton Oilers for two periods, but when the third started they took their game to the next level and earned another two points by topping the Oil 3-2.
The Sharks were trailing in the second period, but after a Joe Thornton goal they went into the dressing room tied at two. It wasn’t until the third period that the Sharks played up to their abilities. Everything was better in the final twenty minutes. They killed a penalty and scored a power play goal, which turned out to be the game winner. The Sharks outshot the Oilers in the third and they generally looked like they cared more. The tell-tale sign for me was the number of blocked shots at the end of the second period was 5 and when the final buzzer went they had blocked 18.
The Havlat shuffle has been active lately and rightfully so. He has had a tough time finding a spot in the Sharks line-up. Tonight he opened the scoring while playing on the third line with Michal Handzus and Jamie McGinn. It was a brutal line change by the Oilers that led to a two on zero for Handzus and Havlat. After a couple of nice passes Havlat was left with an open cage and took his time making sure he put it in. He played a decent game tonight until he suffered an injury in the third period after he awkwardly jumped onto the ice and couldn’t get up.
Ideally teams have two scoring lines and two checking lines but with Havlat playing on the third line that could be another scoring threat and would spread out the Sharks attack. So far Havlat has shown flashes and played good periods here and there, but has under achieved as far as what we have seen him do in years past with Minnesota, Chicago, and Ottawa.
This is the first meeting between the Sharks and the Oilers of the 2011/12 season and the young Oilers aren’t the push over they once were. Last year’s first pick in the draft was Taylor Hall and he has shown maturation and the Oilers have this year’s first pick on the roster in Ryan Nugent Hopkins, who has been lights out. His poise with the puck is extraordinary for any player well alone an eighteen year old rookie and sits in 15th place among NHL scoring leaders with 33 points. Along with Jordan Eberle who got his team on the board tonight, they are the line to stop for the Oilers.
I know it’s a familiar tune for the Sharks, but after the first power play tonight declining the man advantage looks more and more like the way to go after Ryan Jones picked the drop pass by Demers to Havlat at the Sharks blue line and scored a short-handed goal to go ahead 2-1.
However, at the end of the day it was special teams that came through for the Sharks when Patrick Marleau scored while going to the net and received a Pavelski pass. Dan Boyle didn’t get an assist on the play but started it off with a bank pass you normally see on a pool table to Jamie McGinn down low who fed the puck to Joe Pavelski.
It was an odd combination for the power play and the coach spoke about personnel with the man advantage and special teams in general. “I’m looking for guys that want to outwork the penalty kill right now. I think Jamie’s prepared to do that. Power plays are a privilege in my opinion, it starts with talented players, but it is a privilege and you have to maintain your status there.
“I think our penalty kill is slowly getting there. Two nights in a row it came up big in the third period. As we continue to repair that we have to continue to work on the power play, when it is all said and done those are two areas have to get better for us to be a successful team.”
Four on four hockey this year has not been friendly for the Sharks as they have given up five goals and until tonight scored none. The Sharks second goal that tied the game was pretty fun to watch. It was the vets of the Sharks showing the young guns from the Oilers how to cycle the puck and maintain possession in the offensive zone. Joes Pavelski and Thornton along with Dan Boyle and Ready Eddie played a game of keep away until Big Joe found a hole to the net and beat Nikolai Khabibulin between his legs.
Captain Joe Thornton spoke about the four on four goal after the game “Pavs was just patient and then Pickles saw me and it was a fun goal to be a part of.”
The turning point in this game was the third period. The Sharks overcame a huge hurdle and killed off a penalty and scored on the power play. The young Oilers showed their age and were not a threat to score aside from the first few minutes where they applied some pressure.
Contenders & Pretenders
Patrick Marleau – had his wheels going again and scored the game winner. Regardless of what the top line does, or doesn’t do it will be difficult to take Marleau away from Couture and Clowe.
Jordan Eberle – had another highlight reel goal by beating Colin White and then Niemi to open the scoring for the Oil.
Jamie McGinn – is the kind of guy that the Sharks really need as they are coming out of their slump. His blue collar approach drew a penalty tonight; he added a helper on the game winning goal and has been hugely reliable for the Sharks.
Pretenders
Jason Demers – was pretty careless with the puck tonight and although he wasn’t blamed for the giveaway that led to the Edmonton shorthanded goal he left his team mate out to dry. Demers also spent a couple of minutes in the sin bin testing the team’s shaky penalty kill.
Theo Peckham – took an interference call that resulted in the game winning goal. It was an easy call for the official and he left his mates out to dry.
It was a tough night for the Sharks personnel wise as Martin Havlat left the game in what looked like a lot of pain and Colin White left after blocking a shot, neither player returned. White is a tough man and should be back but if he isn’t this will pose quite the dilemma for San Jose who already has two other blue liners on the shelf in Douglas Murray and Jim Vandermeer.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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