SHARKSPAGE

Heatley plays an inspired game, Logan Couture scores twice in 4-0 shutout of the Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA SUN FAILS TO COME UP WITH CATCHY HEADLINE AFTER 4-0 BLOWOUT LOSS

FULL MOLSON CANADIAN BEER CAN THROWN ON ICE BY OTTAWA FAN IN 3RD

Ottawa fans delivered on Thursday night, the Ottawa Senators players did not. After days of building fan and civic anger, Dany Heatley returned to the scene of the alleged crime and registered an inspired performance as the Sharks earned a 4-0 shutout against his former team.

Buzzing around the Ottawa net, Heatley narrowly missed by inches and hit the post on two quality point blank scoring chances early in the first period. He then drew a pair of hooking calls on Sergei Gonchar and Nick Foligno that lead to the Sharks first two power play goals by Patrick Marleau and rookie defenseman Justin Braun. Gonchar was forced to hook Heatley after he stickhandled around 4 players, and nearly pulled the puck backhand to forehand on goaltender Pascal LeClaire. Exiting the box in the second period, Heatley took a breakout pass and was hindered by Foglino at the last second. Heatley also was a factor on both power play goals, setting up in front as Marleau buried the rebound of a Dan Boyle point shot, and taking a hit to keep the puck in the zone on Braun’s goal.

“It is nice to get out of here with a win, no question,” Dany Heatley told the assembled media scrum after the game. “You know this was coming. You kind of now the reaction that would occur, but I thought the boys played well from Nemo on.”

That “reaction” skirted both sides of the line for most of the day. Ottawa sportstalk radio and the local gossip broadsheet chummed the water and tried to funnel the fans in a certain direction, but as usual the creativity of the loyal hockey fanbase traveled its entertaingly own path. The organized efforts included a local radio station engineering a Heatley Hate Fest rally at a local bar with lemon tosses and Heatley targets, the Ottawa Sun offered do-it-yourself Heatley pacifier masks in Thursday’s edition, and intrepid local television reporters better suited for south Florida hurricane duty braved the unwashed masses for on-the-spot reactions. Meh, not impressed.

The 18,017 fans inside the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa were another story entirely. They chanted “Heat-ley Sucks” dozens of times during the game, during the warmup, and boo’d #15 every time he touched the puck. The national TSN broadcast of the game featured several of the signs fans brought to the game, and showed several Heatley jerseys with the E, L and Y taped over. It was not a reference to former XFL football star He Hate Me. A half dozen fans threw Dany Heatley Ottawa Senators jerseys onto the ice at a stoppage in play at the start of the third period, seconds before former Ottawa 67’s standout Logan Couture scored the first of two goals on the night. Couture would score again in the third on a slick feed off the wall from Ryane Clowe. Near the end of the game Ottawa fans crossed the line throwing full water bottles, full beer cans and beer cups on to the ice among other items.

“I had a gut feeling (Heatley) would play real well, he does in this type of environment,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said after the game. “The louder it got, they more boo’s he got, the better it was for us actually… none of that stuff bothers him.”

The Ottawa Senators failed to watch playoff tape from previous Sharks playoff performances against Anaheim and Detroit. Agitating the Shark only makes it angry. It significantly increases the chances that you will leave the arena with a loss, and possibly with a limp. San Jose has struggled on the road of late, breaking a 6-game road losing streak with a 4-3 win over the last placed Edmonton Oilers. In that span the Sharks were shutout for 3 straight games, gave up back-to-back 2-goal leads against Colorado and Dallas (disallowed goals would have made 3-goal leads in each game), and suffered a 6-1 blowout loss at Vancouver. The Sharks needed to rebound on the road and put up a solid performance in front of goaltender Antti Niemi, who ran hot and cold in November.

The Sharks exercised their gameplan, and turned in a solid 60 minute effort from top-to-bottom, something head coach Todd McLellan has been calling for since training camp. “I thought we played a great team game. After the Detroit loss, I thought we had a day to regroup and think about what makes us a good team,” Heatley said. “We stuck to our gameplan from start to finish, we got it behind their D early. Once we got in their end, all four lines did a good job of holding on to it and cycling the puck, and we created scoring chances off that.”

The on-ice performance against Ottawa mirrored a similar effort earlier in the season at Colorado. The Sharks rolled four lines, got the puck behind the defense, and forced a quick opponent to skate 200 feet to create offense. In that span San Jose could use their size to wear down opponents over 60 minutes. On Thursday night the Sharks executed that gameplan to a T, despite 50% of the blueline and Devin Setoguchi sitting out of the game with injuries. With Niclas Wallin, Kent Huskins and Jason Demers recouperating, young blueliners Derek Joslin (44 NHL GP over 3 seasons), Mike Moore (5 NHL GP) and Justin Braun (4 NHL GP) filled in admirably.

The Sharks blueline was misfiring on occasion when it was 100%, but a resurgent Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Douglas Murray have steadied the blueline defensively in recent games. Joslin, Moore and Braun also could be auditioning for the 6th/7th role, or at least warrant a longer look, if they could string together games with offensive production on the backend. Mike Moore scored his first NHL goal November 17th in Colorado, Braun registered his first NHL goal on the power play 8:22 into the second period Thursday night in Ottawa. After Dany Heatley took a hit by took keep the puck in the zone at the point, Braun recognized the pursuit of Senators forward Mike Fisher and wristed a long point shot on goal that beat LeClaire.

Braun was a 7th round draft pick in 2007, but he is starting to open a few eyes at the NHL level. In the AHL, he lead the Worcester Sharks defense in scoring with a goal and 8 assists in 17 games played. In his last 3 NHL games Justin Braun has registered a goal and 3 assists. He is a defenseman with a howitzer of a shot, who when he gets it going can pile up a number of shots on goal in a period, let alone a game. What should peak San Jose’s interest is that those shots are on goal, and heavy enough to create rebound opportunities for forwards. At only 23 years of age, it remains to be seen if Braun will be held out for more AHL seasoning a la Moore and Joslin, or if they take a chance and throw him into the fold a la Jason Demers.

In addition to the return of Dany Heatley, 21-year old Sharks center Logan Couture also returned to the city where he played four seasons for the Ottawa 67’s junior team. With his family in the stands, Couture noted after the game that a number of 67’s fans were in the building rooting for him as well. “We know what the story was going to be coming into this,” Logan Couture said after the game. “We really wanted to win for Heater, and for ourselves. We have been so inconsistent this year. With this 5-game road trip, we wanted to put together a couple of good games. We started tonight.”

Couture is quietly leading the goal scoring race for NHL rookies (10), and trails point leader Jeff Skinner by 4. With a 53.8 faceoff percentage (147-126), Couture is one of six Sharks centerman above the 50% mark with over 100 draws taken — Joe Thornton (192-162, 54.2%), Joe Pavelski (143-133, 51.8%), Logan Couture (147-126, 53.8%), Scott Nichol (124-84, 59.6%), Patrick Marleau (88-65, 57.5%), Torrey Mitchell (63-52, 54.8%).

The current 5-game road trip will hit Northeast division leader Montreal on Saturday and the Western Conference leader Detroit on Tuesday, before traveling to Philadelphia and Buffalo on back-to-back nights. As much of a statement game as Detroit will be, the entire road trip will gauge where the Sharks are at in what has been a volatile 2010-11 season. “It just gets tougher and tougher on the road trip, when should get tougher and tougher as well,” head coach Todd McLellan said.

[Update] Ottawa aftermath: Tasteless anti-tribute, a “Boo-Who?” headline and that goalie confusion explained – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.

[Update2] Dire days for Ontario’s NHL teams – Elliotte Friedman for CBC.com.

[Update3] In the Cheapseats: Dany’s return fails to spark Sens – Don Brennan for the Ottawa Sun.

At least the fans had their fun, including a group of them who walked down to the glass early in the third period and tossed what we assume were old Heatley jerseys onto the ice. The best chant of the night: “Dany Douche Bag.” Others included “Traiiitooor” and “F.U. Heatley.” A sampling of the signs: “Heatley, I peed in your Gatorade.” “Heatley drinks his own pee.” “Kick Dany’s Fanny.”

By the end of the game, however, the boos were being directed not at Heatley, but his old teammates. They deserved them, as they were so, so bad.

As usual, the only positive Heatley comments by either Brennan or rumor-meister Bruce Garrioch are those quoted by other people. The Ottawa Sun should have tried to save face today and run a blank front cover. And credit to Heatley, unlike Lebron who showed up Cleveland fans with a shower of white chalk on Thursday, #15 for San Jose put his head down, played his game, and thanked Ottawa fans that supported him. Class. Urinal cakes with his picture on them, throwing ticket stubs and full beers onto the ice, booing your own team? No class.