Haircut Opens Schnide Buster; Sharks win 9-1

Devin Setoguchi was in a notable funk the last two weeks. So to shake things up he had Torrey Mitchell’s girlfriend shave his head completely. It was a tactic Setoguchi used in the minors to get out of a similar scoring slump.

The San Jose Sharks last game against the Edmonton Oilers, Setoguchi scored twice to break out of an eight game scoreless streak. After a 9-1 win tonight over the Calgary Flames, could that haircut have gotten all the secondary scorers off the schnide at once?

Though the daunting first line contributed two goals in this effort, all six players on the second and third lines scored goals in this game.

Eight different players scored goals and that didn’t include the NHL’s  leading goal scorer Patrick Marleau. It was a great effort overall as 14 of the 18 skaters had at least a point.

Joe Pavelski scored first on a rebound from Miikka Kiprusoff. The goal was his first in nine games. He would add three more assists to cap off a four-point night.

Manny Malhotra scored the second goal of the game skating by Dion Phaneuf who had taken a bad angle, then beating Kiprusoff five-hole. This was Malhotra’s first goal in 11 games.

Scott Nichol scored the third goal of the game, his first in 26 games. The goal was Nichol’s 100th career point, and he’d add two more assists by the end of the night.

Jed Ortmeyer scored his first goal in 27 games to put the Sharks up 4-0. He’d also add two more assists to his point total.

Dany Heatley added a power play marker, his first in… two games. The ninth and final goal also belonged to Heatley.

Ryane Clowe scored his first goal in nine games as well. He hacked away at a loose puck in front of Kiprusoff and on his third attempt put it in the net. Kiprusoff was pulled after this goal at the end of the second period with the score 6-0.

Setoguchi built on his haircut mojo from the Edmonton game to score a beautiful goal on a breakaway. Taking the pass from Pavelski, Setoguchi fought through Robyn Regehr all the way to the net then beat Calgary backup goalie Curtis McElhinney on Forsberg/Jokinen-esque move. Setoguchi also picked up his 100th career point assisting on Nichol’s goal.

Speaking of Regehr, some of Setoguchi’s mojo must’ve leaked onto him during the encounter because he got Calgary’s only goal of the night and it was his first in 141 games.

The eighth and final scorer was none other than Sharks captain Rob Blake. Blake got off a 16 game goal-scoring schnide with his power play marker.The tally put him one behind Paul Coffey on the all-time power play goals list for defenseman.

Evgeni Nabokov wasn’t tested much but was good when he was. Nabby stopped 21 shots.

As you’d expect in a lopsided tilt, the game got chippy and there were a few fights in this one. Brad Staubitz tussled with Brandon Prust in the first period and in a surprise battle in the third period, Torrey Mitchell fought with Rene Bourque.

Is it all a coincidence or did the haircut really solve the Sharks’ secondary scoring issues overnight? So far so very good.

Next Game

The Sharks don’t have a lot of time to enjoy the victory as they’re headed to Los Angeles to take on the Kings for another Pacific division battle tomorrow night.