Sharks Hockey Analysis

Earl Grey for Everyone

Last night’s game was the most exciting game of the season at the Tank, by far. Lots of scoring, good chances, dazzling plays, and key saves. When I think about it now, I still smile. The best thing about it was, from a Sharks fan perspective, it seemed like a battle of conference powerhouses instead of the Sharks measuring a top team to see how they stack up. San Jose played as if they knew they could beat this team, a team with formidable weapons. As we saw last night, the Sharks have their fair share of weapons too. Actually, now it looks like more than their fair share.

As the title refers to, the theme of the game was individual Sharks players going up against individual Habs, and making them look stupid. Teabagging is the technical term. Big Joe teabagged Price on two occasions, but the second was the best. On the PP, with no screen, he took a slap shot from the right circle, and it got through Price. It trickled to the far post, and literally sat on the goal line for a couple of seconds, before it was cleared to the corner. Quickly, it was passed back to Joe, in the exact same spot. He stared down Price for the second time, took the same shot as before, and beat Price again, this time for a goal. How those nuts taste?

A little later, Cheech had his own Earl Grey moment when he took a pass from Joe at the blue line, and made a amazing power move right past our old friend Josh Gorges. He pretty much jumped over/around Gorges, muscled body position, cut to the middle, and roofed the shot. Hey Gorges, I think you got something on your face.

Then later in the third, a goal that will be talked about for years to come. Again on the power play, Campbell streaks into the zone with his hair on fire. By the way, this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping Campbell would do once he came to town. The other team can’t just stand up on the blue line anymore when they are on the kill. Campbell will just go right past them. So anyway, Campbell proceeds to pull a spin-o-rama at full speed between the circles and buries the backhand low. Price didn’t even go down. The Tank went absolutely friggin crazy, me included. Denis Savard would have been proud- Campbell made everyone else look like they were playing bantam hockey for that moment.

The Sharks have to do more than just show some flash from their top players. But right now, they are. They are getting good play from all of their top players (even Marleau scored last night, on a strong move), and playing well positionally. The agonizing wait we endured throughout the season looks like it’s starting to pay off.