Sharks short-handed defense stands strong in 5-2 win

The San Jose Sharks will most likely be looking for a defense-man at the trade deadline if anything at all. Perhaps they made a case that they do indeed go eight deep on the back-end after a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Defensive stalwarts Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic did not play in this game. That’s about 45 minutes of ice time missing from the D-men that had to be shared out. To pick up the slack and dress six defense-man, the Sharks called up Jason Demers and Derek Joslin.

Demers in particular gave Sharks fans a glimpse of what could turn into a great offensive defense-man. He’s shown flashes thus far, but with expanded minutes in this game he was able to showcase some things that make his future look bright.

The lead didn’t really become large until the last five minutes of the game, so Demers’ nearly 22 minutes of ice time was mostly of the quality variety. He also became only the third Sharks defense-man to score two power play goals in one game. It was the first multi-goal game of his career.

Offense is something that fans have become accustomed to with Demers, but in this game he played well on the penalty kill, made some slick “Vlasic-esque” poke checks and moved the puck with Boyle-like skating ability. I’m not naming him the next big thing, but it’s nice to finally see him getting to display his talents.

Personally I think he’d be perfect paired up with Douglas Murray while Boyle is out. His game is the most similar to Boyle’s and frankly the Rob Blake and Douglas Murray combo scares me a bit. Stone hands (Murray) and stone legs (Blake) aren’t a good mix in my book.

Then again if I had it my way Kent Huskins would be the odd man out on defense. I’d prefer to see Demers with Jay Leach as the third pairing because of the offense Demers provides on the blue-line.

Not to be undermined in all this is where the other three goals of the game came from.

Patrick Marleau continued his terrific season with two more goals to push his league-lead to 37. The second goal in particular highlighted some of Marleau’s better attributes. When Dany Heatley took the puck down the wing, Marleau skated past a defender to make it a 2-on-1 if Heatley could get the puck over quickly. His attempt was partially blocked by the defense-man flipping the puck into the air. Showing some great hand-eye coordination Marleau batted the puck out of mid-air and into the net:

Joe Pavelski sandwiched a goal between Demers’ two and Marleau’s two. Pavelski took a feed from Marleau on the power play and made a move around Wild defense-man Brent Burns then roofed the puck into the top right corner.

Out of the seven goals in this game, six were scored on the  power play.

Evgeni Nabokov played great when the game was tied and with a 3-2 lead. Nabby stopped 36 shots in the contest.

Scott Nichol finished one short of the team record for hits in a game with eight.  A few were of the big-hit variety.

Next Game

The Sharks last home game before the Olympic break will be on Tuesday when they host the Detroit Red Wings.