The Tank, San Jose, CA

Wow. Underwhelming. Unlucky. Unconsistent.  Yes I know that isn’t a word.  The Vegas Golden Showers came to town last night on the back end of a back to back and smoked the Fish 6-3.  Martin Jones was very bad when they needed very good.  Clutch even.  Did not happen as the Sharks fell for the third straight home game after ripping off 6 straight wins and in general dominating opponents.

The tilt started promisingly as San Jose scored 30 seconds in to take the lead.  It wouldn’t last three minutes as Vegass scored twice in a couple of minutes.  To their credit, the Sharks responded with a clutch goal by Jumbo Joe to tie it again.  After that, San Jose chased the play for the rest of the night as the Goldens just physically beat the Sharks into submission.

Jonathan Marchessault scored on a sharp angle shot that had Jones flailing and whiffing on the puck to give Vegass the lead for good.  Jones’s night ended as Pete DeBoer had seen too much of not good enough.  Once the Sharks got behind, Vegass bent them over, smacked em around and in general got under their skin.  It isn’t in San Jose’s DNA to play smash mouth hockey and The Golden Showers made them pay on the power play, scoring three times.

Ryan Reaves was particularly effective in the physical play department, (yes they have one of those), as he used his linebacker like frame to intimidate the smaller Sharks, laughing all the way to victory. San Jose was missing key personnel as EK65 missed his umpteenth game and Captain America was out nursing the effect of a devastating body check laid on him by Filip Forsberg of Smashville in the previous game.

Another reason San Jose lost was trying to play their skill game when entering the O zone.  I know that sounds ignorant because that IS their game, but when an opponent is on you tight, you have to play the dreaded chip and chase style to create mayhem instead of searching for the perfect pass.  Over and over on the power play, San Jose passed up numerous good looks on shots to force a pass in where there was no space.

Where do they go from here you ask?  On the road, thats where as they visit the dreadful LA Kings and equally dreadful Anahymen Ducks to hopefully clinch a playoff spot.  They are still hoping to stay close enough to Calgary to wrest the top spot in the Pacific away from the Flamers, but its looking less likely.

As we enter the last 10 games of the season, San Jose is looking banged up.  They’re missing tip plays, the puck isn’t staying on their tape and opponents are going the other way and scoring. Justin Braun looked particularly bad on Reilly Smith’s goal a few seconds into the third as he fumbled a perfect clearing pass, which went directly to a Knight who played tic tac toe and put the dagger into the Sharks heart, scoring to make it 5-2.

I know that their unskilled play isn’t likely to continue, but it makes for a frustrating fan experience to watch a hated rival come into your barn on the second night of a back to back, dominate and win going away.  As the Sharks/Showers 1st round match up continues to look more likely every day, San Jose needs to reach deep down and find their game.  Again.

Reilly wonders about the phrase “Intent to Blow.”

A titillating phrase to be sure, “Intent to Blow”, meaning of course the ref meant to blow the whistle when he lost sight of the puck.  This occurred in Fridaze game against the Dallas Stars, when an apparent goal was waved off because the ref “intended to blow the whistle” as he lost sight of the puck under G Big Ben Bishop.

On the play, Bishop made the initial save and the play continued with a swarm of attacking Sharks around the net.  A second later, the puck was behind Bishop and San Jose began to celebrate.  However, the ref emphatically waved off the goal, indicating his “Intent to Blow” the whistle to stop play.

Upon review, the play stood as it was called, no goal.  Frustrating to say the least as the Sharks lost a tough game 3-2.  Lots of hitting by both sides, but ultimately the Stars would prevail as Bishop stopped a shitload of shot shots with his gigantic frame, 41 to be exact.  Martin Jones was almost as good stopping 27, and deserved a better fate.

“We have a 2-on-0 and the disallowed goal at one end, and they get a breakaway at the other end and we leave the period 1-1 instead of going up 2-0,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “It’s that simple. It’s a small margin right now.”

For those that watch the Sharks right now, there are no gimmies, all teams play hard against San Jose, causing many to question how good they really are.  Preseason pundits have them in the Stanley Cup Finals, but right now they aren’t even in the top ten of the Power Rankings.

On Saturday night, playing the Coyotes, the phrase Intent to Blow took on a new meaning as Arizona celebrated what they considered to be the go ahead goal, yet Aaron Dell stopped it just before it crossed the line.  Thank God for “Intent to Blow” in this case because the Sharks would go on to win the game 5-3.

We won’t talk about how they blew a 3-0 lead, because well, it my blog and we know how schizzy Team Teal is.  I’ll let Pete DeBoer tell you.

“We found a way to win,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were a little fragile, but at the same time, I didn’t think we gave them a whole lot. It seems like right now the chances we give end up in the net. I think there’s a lot more good than bad, but we still have some work to do.”

It’s a long season, yes, and we do have a lot to like about San Jose’s game.  Incredibly skilled on offense, Brent Burns is horrible on defense.  HORRIBLE.  Stalwart D man Marc Eduard Vlasic looks tired or injured as really fast guys go around him.  Brendon Dillon and Evander Kane are the only two Sharks I can see willing to hit anyone.  Honorable mention to Radim Simek, San Jose’s newest D call up for leveling some devastating hits recently.

Logan Couture on a sweet breakaway puts it through the 5 hole on Aiden Hill.

Me and the Boys out for a skate.

Great stuff goin on across the league, Hockey fights Cancer, Mustaches grown by teenagers to draw attention to the fight and some great games in the last couple of days.  While in a turkey induced haze, I watched a few games yesterday including the Flyers/Rangers, Hawks/Lightning and the Nucks/Tiburones.

Flyers game was close and well played by Philadelphia and Henrik Lundquist.  The King stopped 39 shots and generally stood on his head to keep the BlueShirts in the game but Philly and G Calvin Pickard were too strong.  The game was 1-0 for most of it with the Flyers breaking it open near the end with 3 unanswered goals to win going away 4-0.

The trouble in Second City continues for Patrick Kane and Johnny T as the Lightning defeated them at home 4-2.  Tampa was seemingly scoring at will early in the game leading 3-0 and 4-1 before the Hawks found their game to score a couple of goals.  Louis Domingue played very well in a backup role to Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is out with a broken ankle.

Sharks and Canucks was competitive but San Jose won going away 4-0.  Eric Karlsson had a three point game including a power play goal and the primary assist on his brother from another mother Melker Karlsson.

However, the dark side of the Sharks reared its ugly head the next night in Vegas, as San Jose was pummeled, rolled, kicked to the curb and not even given taxi fare home as the Golden Showers beat em up 6-0.  Inexplicable to me how a team could dominate one night, travel 300 miles and get their teeth kicked in.

Vegas is still a formidable team evidently, as the Sharks continue to have trouble with their neighbors in the Pacific Division. They have never beaten Knights in the regular season over 1+ years except for an OT win in San Jose last year. Thats 0-4-1.  Next up, the redhot Beefalo Sabres in B town.  Good luck Team Inconsistent!

The Tank, San Jose, CA

Captain America saves the day.

The Nashville Predators come to town with a gaudy won loss record, best in the NHL and leave with a stunning loss to the San Jose Sharks.  Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski put the dagger in Nashville’s heart and twisted it for good measure by tying the game late in the third and then scoring the winning goal 13 seconds later to win 5-4.

Nashville was coming off of an OT loss to the hated Anahymen Ducks on Monday, and looked out of sorts in the first period as San Jose put up a three spot on the Preds.  Nashville looked slow and was trying to “get their legs” as the Captain, Marcus Sorensen and the new Anntii in town, Anntii Suomela scored to give the Sharks a commanding 3-0 lead.

3-0 lead is nothing against the Predators as they stormed back with 2 goals in less than 4 minutes and pinned the Sharks in their own zone for the rest of the second. They scored the tying goal with about 2 minutes left in the second period and then took the lead to open the 3rd period as San Jose was looking up at the Preds, as they took a 4-3 lead.

Nashville continued to frustrate the Sharks as they controlled the play and almost scored again with about 10 minutes left in the game, but Martin Jones made the save of the year on Filip Forsberg. Jones was hugging the far right post, and then as Forsberg chose the top left corner, performed a Jackie Chan kung fu maneuver by launching himself back to the left, flying across to save the day, snaring a certain goal as Forsberg stared in disbelief.

A few minutes later, Joe Pavelski scored from his office in the slot to tie the game at 4-4.  On the ensuing face off, Joe Thornton won it and sped down the half wall, took a pass from Sorensen and scored the 400th goal of his illustrious career over the glove hand of Jussi Saros to win it for the Home team.

Nashville has only lost 3 games in regulation and 4 overall, all to teams from the Pacific Division and two to San Jose.  Both Sharks wins were of the dramatic come from behind variety and particularly galling to the Preds because they had come back from a 3-0 deficit and were poised to send the home crowd home with long faces.

It was not to be as Joe Thornton joined a select group of players with 1500 games, 400 goals and 1000 assists.  Only 6 others had done this, including the Great Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr and Ray Bourque.  No, not even Wayne Gretzky did it.  Damn, he’s good and a certain Hall of Famer on the first ballot.

Joe Thornton scores his 400th as teammates mob him.

Joe Thornton scores the tying goal in the Flyers game. Classic form!

11/3/18 San Jose, Land of Tesla

Your intrepid reporter was there ensconced in a corner seat in section 110

Big game last night for San Jose as they took on the Philadelphia Flyers.  It was Star Wars night at the Tank and the place was rockin. We got free Star Wars shirts, mine says Obi Wan Kaneobi.  Philly was in town and the Sharks historically have owned them, 20+ wins over the last 25 games.

The contest was a see saw affair with the Flyers scoring first, and jumping back ahead as the Sharks would tie.  G Calvin Pickard was playing well and denying most of the San Jose forays into the O zone.  It was Timo Time Again! when he tied the game on a beauty of a touch play from Tomas Hertl.

Joe Thornton was a force in the game as he scored the tying goal with a few minutes left in regulation.  He continues to make strides returning from an infection in his surgically repaired knee that sidelined him for nine games.  Regulation ended with the game tied at three.

Thirteen seconds into OT Timo Time reared its ugly head for Philly, when Meier got loose and scored on a sweet feed from Logan Couture.  Damn that dude can play, 11 goals in 14 GP setting a Sharks team record, passing Patrick Marleau.

This game was played fast and furious as these two teams don’t like each other.  The Sharks made numerous bad passes with Erik Karlsson leading the way. But he also made some great plays, Deep penetration into the O zone almost at will.  Throwing it right to a Flyer to foil a great entry into the zone.  In a word, inconsistent which has been a theme all season in my columns. and in Erik Karlsson’s play.

The Flyers committed to a more East/West style of zone entry as they played cautiously with the lead, This allowed them to pounce on mistakes and score twice at the end of the first two periods, once with 30 seconds left and once with less than a minute remaining.

Erik, RELAX, we know you’re great.

To wrap it all up, the Sharks got a win and the fans (or most of them) went home happy.  The drunk Flyer fans were pretty funny but went home sullen and silent, while exultant strangers high 5 ed each other in the hallways.  Its why we go….

Face off at the Good Ole Hockey game.  Did I mention I was there?

San Jose, CA

Reilly T. the Hockey Dog

With the return of Joe Thornton to the lineup, the Sharks are looking to establish the defensive consistency they are known for playing, because is has been lacking.  They are scoring.  Timo Time is my favorite time now, with the emergence of Timo Meier, the Swiss born forward.  Dude can play.  But their woes would continue on Tuesday against a rebuilding Rangers team as they fell in a shootout 4-3.

To their credit Tomas Hertl scored with 1.3 seconds left to tie the game and salvage a point from an otherwise rather drowsy game.  Martin Jones hasn’t gotten into his normal rhythm of facing a good number of shots to to stay focused and has given up goals at very inopportune times to snatch defeat from the grip of victory.

The Erik Karlsson era is a mixed bag by the eye test, if not by the analytics test.  I only watched him sporadically when he played with the Ottawa Senators, but what I saw impressed me.  Two years ago, he played in the Eastern Conference Finals with broken bones in his heel, and almost singlehandedly willed the Senators to the Stanley Cup.  He won two Norris trophies for for best D man in the league.  He can dangle through three or four guys and put sick shots on goal.

But…, he’s still learning how to play with his new team.  He has on several occasions given the puck directly to the other team and the turnover has led to goals for the other side.  His penchant for pinching up has given Karlsson some trouble with the transition game.  There is no question he is fast enough to “Play Fast” in today’s NHL, but again, I’m waiting for consistency.  From him and all the rest of the Sharks.

With a lot of San Jose’s players over thirty, one might try to say that they need to get younger.  I disagree and can articulate it this way: playing fast requires lightning reflexes, touch passes, stretch passes, Straight up North/South speed and incredible stickhandling.  The Sharks have all that and more, clutch scoring and even some snarl from Brendon “Dilly” Dillon and Evander Kane. Good balance across the board.   But something still needs some tweaking.

I miss Chris Tierney, he was in the Karlsson trade.

While it is debatable that I have an articulate thought, I’ll leave you with this one.  San Jose is supremely talented and might win the Cup.  Now wouldn’t that be nice!

Most games leave me hanging by a thread!

Nashville, TN

Reilly Wonders if this is the Year

So far so meh?  Not really, but the Sharks have been inconsistent to say the least.  From a high point of destroying Philly on a recent road trip, to coughing up the lead in two road games they should have won, to winning handily against former nemesis the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose is searching for an identity.

With the dawning of the Erilk Karlsson era, its a pretty exciting time for a Sharks fan.  Never have they had so many weapons at their disposal.  With arguably the top TWO offensive defensemen in Karlsson and Brent Burns, there should be big time scoring from the blue line.  Timo Meier and Kevin LeBanc are a year older and stronger, they have the ‘Don Father’ Joonas Donskoi, some other Finn named Anttii Suomela, a flashy scorer type from the Finnish elite league, and a Swede Marcus Sorenson, arguably their fastest player.

Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane, Logan Couture?  They were good for about 85 goals last year, and can easily be counted upon to score 100 this year.  I haven’t even mentioned the best defensive D man Marc Eduard Vlasic and the steady hand of Martin Jones in net

So far so good, maybe.  They are 4-3-1 and could be 6-2.  That was before their HUGE comeback win last night over the Nashville Predators.  The game was seesaw, scintillating and a display of skill unmatched by most teams.  Both goalies played great and still gave up 9 goals between them as the Sharks prevailed in a comeback victory 5-4.  It was the Sharks first victory in Nashville in 7 years. Hallelujah!

So now, what next?  Carolina is next for San Jose, providing another good test for playing against a very fast, shot generating machine of a team coached by former NHL star Rod Brind’Amour.  Their record is identical to San Jose’s and they are the surprise of the Metro division, residing in 1st place.

Timo Meier scores the first of 5 goals the Sharks put up on the Preds last night.

Reilly Predicts a CAPS Victory in Six Games

Las Vegas, NV

It is inexplicable to me and probably a large portion of the hockey community to accept that the Ls Vegas Golden Showers are in the Final.  While I’m long past being surprised because I watched them beat a very good San Jose Sharks team and arguably even better team in the Jets, it does speak to the the Great Satan Bettman’s dream to have an expansion team win in their inaugural year.

The draft rules that the NHL (Bettman) set up were a joke compared to the precedent set in past league expansion drafts.  For example, the San Jose Sharks were not even given a chance to draft from other teams rosters.  Their team was composed of the bottom 50% of one of the worst teams in the league at the time, the Minnechota North Stars.  The Stars subsequently moved to Dallas and won a cup five years later.

In 1993, the Anahymen Ducks and the Florida Panthers were added to the league.The 24 teams existing in the league at the time of the draft were each allowed to protect one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards. All first-year pros were exempt from claim, and all second-year pros on the reserve list were exempt from claim.  In the 2000 expansion the rules remained in place.

Why the change for the Vegas Golden Showers?  Isn’t it obvious?  The first pro sports team in Las Vegas had to have a better chance to win than other traditional expansion franchises precisely because of who runs the town: The sports books and casinos.  Now I don’t know, but I’m guessing Satan Bettman cozied up to the civic leaders and offered them different terms because of a couple of things.

One is obvious, shit tons of money poured into the town from building an arena, all the concessions, Knights schwag, etc. The other reason is more subtle but equally insidious.  Bettman and the NHL wanted to guarantee first year success so that the buzz would be so intense and the spotlight would remain on the Knights all year, and if the unthinkable happened, as in they made the playoffs, the narrative of amazement would continue.

OMG, this has never happened before, first year team makes it to the dance in their first year!!!  If you listen to NHL Network Radio, the hosts (I’m talkin to you Scott Laughlin!) never stopped talking about how unlikely and how cool and how amazing and how awesome it was that they were successful.

It was eerily reminiscent of the Trumpian narrative, of how this upstart candidate upset the traditional/conventional world and won the Presidency.  Vegas followed suit (pun intended) and turned the hockey world on its ear by being successful in their inaugural season.

The other thirty teams and their fan bases were jobbed in the sense that Las Vegas was given advantages never before given to an expansion team.  As I write this, and reflect on their season, it occurs to me that their was pretty much little chance that they wouldn’t be successful.

I admit, I thought it was an extra four wins per season for my team and the rest of the Pacific division.  But once December rolled around and the Showers were in 1st place, I could tell that they were a much different expansion team.  When you have a 3 time Stanley Cup winning goalie to build around, numerous former #1 draft choices playing for your team, plus second line players from both offense and defense, YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A GOOD TEAM, possibly great!

The series is tied 1-1 and who knows whats gonna happen.  Vegas has been remarkably resilient in the Playoffs so far, beating some good teams, sweeping the Kings, ousting the Sharks in six and a beat up Winnipeg Jets team in five games.

Nuff said.  No I don’t want Vegas to win, #ALLCAPS GO CAPS!

St Paul, MN

San Jose visited the Wild on the last game of their 4 game road trip, looking to end it on a positive note.   Unfortunately, they gave up the lead with 4 minutes left continuing their maddening trend of win 3 lose 2, grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory after blowing a 2-0 lead.  Martin Jones was great for the Sharks 36 saves on 38 shots, singlehandedly keeping them in the game until, with 4 minutes left he gave up the tying goal to Eric Staal.

On a goal that was mostly bad luck mixed with some soft play in front, Staal scored on the wraparound after it glanced off of Marc Eduard Vlasic’s skate and through the five hole.  They would go onto lose in OT on a horrible giveaway by Brent Burns.  Yes, again.  The vision of Burns on his belly, vainly flapping his fins to block the shot is a sight all too common for Sharks fans.

Moving on towards the playoffs, San Jose looks beatable because of a couple of trends, one familiar and a couple more that defy logic.  One, they get outmuscled for the puck too often, with their opponents smacking them in the face and daring the Sharks to respond.  One San Jose forward, Timo Meier is a physical force and will go toe to toe with anyone.  All of the rest refuse to engage their protagonists.  Also, the management doesn’t provide an enforcer, and the players do not fight for each other.  Despicable

I don’t know if its coaching, or the several European players on the Sharks, but it occurs often.  The last place Arizona Coyotes used the tactic recently, beating San Jose last week, literally and on the scoreboard.  Video shows San Jose can be beaten if you beat on them enough.  I’ve heard teams use video for scouting.

Another trend is losing after taking the lead, late in the game.  9 OT and shootout losses confirm this. Win half of those games and the Sharks are right on Vegas’s tail, a couple of points behind.  One more Captain Obvious observation: the Sharks miss Joe Thornton deeply on a couple of levels.  One is in the physical realm, as in he doesn’t take anyones shit, and two, he scores almost a point a game.

There is no timetable for his return, perhaps for the playoffs.  How effective will he be?  50%, 75%, who knows?  The term first round exit occurs to me.  Once again.  BTW, Sharks are on 0-3 since acquiring the great Eric Fehr from the AHL San Diego Gulls.  Bench him.

Brent Burns beaten again in OT loss to Minny

Logan Couture and Brendon Dillon celebrate Cooch’s goal against the Ducks

Sharks with two scintillating wins over the weekend, both of the comeback variety.  While Saturday night’s affair against the Connor McDavids (Oilers for the uninitiated) was a slug fest with 10 goals between the two protagonists, the win against the Anahymens was particularly sweet.  More on that later.

Saturday’s game against Edmonton had all the makings of a rout initially as the Sharks struck for three goals in the first and could have had more if not for Al Montoya’s timely saves.  The second period was horrid for Aaron Dell and San Jose as the Oilers struck for three and then opened the third with a goal to take the lead.

Normally, the Sharks would not be able to retake the lead especially after giving up 4 unanswered.  The Oil smelled blood and were coming hard and often.  Yes I know that sounds vaguely sexual, but there was nothing sexual, just a gut check for San Jose. Viscerally speaking D Joakim Ryan was the gutsiest of the bunch, scoring the winning goal with about two minutes left and Captain America added a rather skillful empty netter, Sharks win 6-4.

Which brings us to Sunday night and the hated Ducks.  Anahymen took an early lead and scored again in the first but it was disallowed because of an offsides, challenged perfectly by Coach Pete DeBoer.  San Jose, having played less than 24 hours before was struggling to find their legs and their game but played a much better 2nd period, outshooting the Ducks at one point 18-2.  They also held them without a shot for close to 15 minutes.

The third period saw the Anahymens score another goal and things were looking grim.  What made this game different was San Jose’s composure in the face of a relentless smacking around by the Ducks.  One hit after questionable hit after another, some late, some penalties, some downright f ed up. At 9:09, the Sharks broke through an a goal by Couture, drawing them within one goal at 2-1.

The highly skilled smacking and stickhandling continued down to the wire as the Sharks got chance after chance on John Gibson.  Finally, at 19;07 on a hard slap pass by Couture to the front of the net, Timo Maier banged it in.  The Pond went silent as the Sharks celebrated.

OT was scoreless and in the shootout, Logan Couture scored the winner on only the Sharks second shot.  Martin Jones looked more solid than he has in two months and stopped both Ducks attempts.

What can we conclude from this display of bravado and grit?  Young guys playing great in pressure situations and in the absence of key personnel.  That was great to see for the fans, and Logan Couture wasn’t so bad either with a goal, an assist and the shootout winner. Hope springs eternal right?

Next up tonight, the Arizona Coyotes.

Timo Maier celebrates his tying goal, scoring with 53 seconds left tin the third period.