High Energy Game at Shark Tank; Win for the Fins

Energy ran high on a game that featured the two teams involved in one of the blockbuster trades of the offseason. The San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators squared off, and anyone who believes the game didn’t mean a little extra to certain players on each side didn’t read the script for this film. This spirited game would end with a Sharks victory 5-2.

Dany Heatley, Milan Michalek, and Jonathan Cheechoo all seemed to have a little extra in the tank. Michalek scored twice against his former team on two goals showcasing the two attributes that made him successful in San Jose: speed and an accurate shot. Cheechoo had a couple good scoring chances early on, only to be robbed by Sharks netminder Thomas Greiss who put together another strong performance.

Though he didn’t score, Heatley would end up with two assists, and eight official shots. That doesn’t count the 10 or so that missed the net, he was shooting everytime the puck hit his stick. One powerplay in particular turned out to be a set-up contest, as the four other Sharks on the ice simply kept feeding Heatley in the slot as he threw at least 5 shots in a row toward Ottawa netminder Brian Elliott.

But the first star of the game would be the individual who played in his 900th career game, all as a San Jose Shark. That player is Patrick Marleau, who put in two goals on the night to move him past Heatley and into second place behind Marian Gaborik on the goal scoring leaderboard.

The first goal started from a Marleau check that jarred the puck free to Heatley at the blue line. Heatley used the boards to get the puck down to Joe Thornton and he hit Marleau in the slot for a one-timer that beat Elliott five-hole. As expected, Thornton assisted on both goals, as did Heatley.

The second goal would come on the doorstep after a Heatley shot pinballed in the crease.

Marleau’s two scores sandwiched a Jamie McGinn goal just 55 seconds after Marleau’s first tally. McGinn has the best shot on the Sharks that no one knows about. After Scott Nichol made a great defensive play in his own zone, he hit a blazing McGinn through the neutral zone. McGinn came in on the breakaway and wristed the shot top shelf.

After Marleau’s second goal, Ryane Clowe would score on a puck just thrown towards the net that Elliott probably should have had. Clowe could use some of those bounces after the slow start he got off to, but he’s been heating up a bit lately.

Manny Malhotra would add an empty netter at the end of the game to put the game out of reach.

Thomas Greiss played well in net. He was aggressive all night, coming out to challenge shooters on numerous plays. Though he did some fumbling with the puck, he always recovered to find the puck before anyone else could get to it.

This is the only meeting between the teams this season, but there’s still a little less than three quarters of the season left to debate who came out the winner in this trade.

The Sharks will host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. This matchup has been considered a good rivalry match for Sharks fans after all the playoff encounters the teams shared. The club also claimed defenseman Jay Leach off waivers from the Montreal Canadians.

Rob Blake didn’t get a point to break my prediction streak, though he was on the ice for three of the Sharks’ goals. The next prediction I’ll shoot for a Devin Setoguchi goal, he’s still getting back into peak form but he had a couple good scoring chances and one good hit in today’s game.