SHARKSPAGE

Sharks defenseman Jason Demers accidentally punched linesman Brian Mach after a double minor penalty hit by Dallas agitator Steve Ott

There were warning signs that Saturday night’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars could get out of control. Already a pivotal division battle between two less than friendly teams, the playoff atmosphere boiled over on the ice late in the second period when Dallas Stars agitator Steve Ott took a 15-20 foot run at Sharks defenseman Jason Demers at the south end of the rink. The San Jose players exploded in retaliation against Ott, but linesman Brian Mach and referee Wes McCauley stepped in to prevent any furthur hostilities. Undeterred, Demers threw one unsuccessful punch through traffic, but a second punch directed at Ott landed square on the visor of the linesman Mach.

Demers immediately apologized, and he apparently apologized again as Mach lead him off the ice and into the locker room with three seconds left in the period. Referees Wes McCauley and Brian Pochmara gave Demers two minutes for roughing, and awarded Ott a 4-minute double minor for roughing and charging. “I wasn’t looking at (Mach) at all, I was looking through him to Ott,” Demers said after the game. “(Mach) sort of jumped in the way. He knew, and he was fine with it. I didn’t have any intention of doing that, it was inadvertant. Things happen in the heat of the moment. He was alright with it. I talked to him and apologized, and we went from there.”

It was an unfortunate play, but one that Sporting News columnist Ray Slover believes may result in futhur attention from NHL disciplinarians. A fine or a suspension may be an overreaction, especially if the above video is taken out of context to the game itself. There was bad blood on the ice after a pair of late collapses against Dallas earlier in the season, one rife with taunting from Stars center Mike Ribeiro during and after the game. Saturday night at HP Pavilion the game started to get out of hand in the first period, as noted by a pair of pre-incident tweets from this blog here and here. Linesman Brian Mach and Mark Wheler were tossing centerman out of the faceoff circle one or two at a time. They repeatedly sat in the faceoff circle barking at defenseman and wingers, who would often re-engage in extra curricular stick work shortly thereafter.

Referees Wes McCauley and Brian Pochmara had an equally forgettable evening. The rigid structure put in place by the linesman broke up any flow in the first period, and the referees compounded that problem by letting anything go in front of the net. The referees had problems with a muffled in-house mic, and they proceeded to yell out calls presumably so the fans in the stands could hear. It didn’t work. A pair of first period scuffles, one a big hit in front of the Sharks bench, and another with a scrum in front of Kari Lehtonen, only fueled the escalation. A few minutes after Hockey Night in Canada panelist Mike Milbury railed against fighting in hockey/violent collisions, and Coaches Corner analyst Don Cherry used video of a charging play by former Shark Mike Grier to rail against hits from behind, there was clear evidence on the ice of the referees losing control of a game.

Either the refs police action by throwing players in the box, the players can police themselves, or something bad can happen and the league can step in after the fact. The referees and players did not use option A or option B, and the bitter play on the ice got worse. A wrestling takedown at the side of the Dallas net, and an extended series of borderline stickwork by both teams preceded the late second period hit by Steve Ott. A cut and bloodied Brenden Morrow (occured earlier in the period), pleaded for a longer call on Demers. Joe Thornton appeared angry that a dangerous hit by Ott was worthy of a simple double minor. The last word goes to Steve Ott, who was on the bench laughing at Sharks players late in the third period with a 3-2 lead.

Given the unpredictable track record for the NHL front office dispensing justice to NHL games in the frontier territories, you can role the dice on whether Demers or Ott will be the beneficiary of extrajudicial league remediation. Joe Thornton was suspended two games earlier this season for a Rule 48 hit to St Louis Blues forward David Perron. Sharks center Scott Nichol was afforded a four game suspension for a high hit on Phoenix Coyotes forward David Schlemko. According to Pro Sports Transactions, Dallas Stars left wing Steve Ott has received 3 league suspensions totaling 6 games, and a $1,000 fine for a charging major and game misconduct.

Video courtesy of Comast Sportsnet California. Comcast analyst Mindy Bach calls the play in the clip.

[Update] Sharks defenseman Jason Demers will not face any supplementary discipline from the league office, as per TSN’s Darren Dreger on Monday morning. According to Dreger, NHL director of officiating Terry Gregson immediately spoke with linesman Brian Mach after the incident, and in addition to Demers apology the officiating crew agreed they may have stepped in too early. “Gregson says Demers did not direct the punch at the linesman and therefore, rule 40 – abuse of an official – doesn’t apply,” Dreger said.

[Update2] Correction: it was linesman #76 Brian Mach and #56 Mark Wheler who stepped in to break up the action.

Two unanswered goals by Dallas Stars lead to 3-2 Sharks loss, San Jose’s win streak snapped at 8

SHARKS LW #29 RYANE CLOWE KNOCKED INTO DALLAS G #32 KARI LEHTONEN IN 3RD

SHARKS RW #10 JAMAL MAYERS SPLAYED ON TOP OF #32 KARI LEHTONEN IN 2ND

#19 JOE THORNTON FACEOFF WIN, #63 MIKE RIBEIRO FACEOFF LOSS IN 2ND

If the San Jose Sharks 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday night at HP Pavilion was a sign of things to come for the remainder of the regular season, it is going to be a long, hard slog. Both teams are two of the toughest in the league to play against when they put an early lead on the scoreboard. San Jose overcame a shorthanded goal against by Jamie Benn inside of 1:20 in the first period, then built a 2-1 lead on goals by Kyle Wellwood and Patrick Marleau. Football and rugby analogies were more appropriate then hockey ones for the first two periods, but in the third period there was a lull for San Jose and the Stars pounced. Sniper Loui Eriksson connected for his 28th goal of the season, and center Justin Williams used his “magic gloves” to score the game winner at 12:38. The Sharks 8 game win streak was over.

“I think we are getting into a different phase, more divisional and more conference play starting tonight with Dallas,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said before the game on Saturday night. “We play Dallas and Phoenix 6 of our last 17 games, over one third of our remaining games will be against these two (teams). Throw in another four against Anaheim and LA and a lot of your schedule is concentrated. I don’t know if it changes our approach, but we better be prepared.” There are no free games in the Pacific Division, and the stretch run may very well boil down to a war of attrition come April 8th or 9th.

Dallas earned a critical two points against a divisional foe. Any margin for error the Stars had built up early in the season was gone after a stretch where they lost 9 of 10. Still hurting after giving up a late lead to Anaheim in a 4-3 OT loss on Friday night, Jamie Benn took advantage of a puck that hopped over the stick of Patrick Marleau and split the Sharks defense at center ice. Benn used a quick forehand to backhand move before tucking the first goal of the game by Antti Niemi five-hole. The Sharks had been on an 8 game winning streak, but a lot of the wins were of the tight, grind it out variety. The few victories that came with any breathing room occured when San Jose took an early lead, then wore down opponents to build on it.

They would have to battle back against Dallas, a team they had taken to overtime on three previous occasions. Dallas registered two impressive victories and earned 5 of 6 possible points (2-0-1). The Stars and Sharks combined for 80 total shots November 18th at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Recently traded James Neal and Mike Ribeiro scored in the final 3 minutes of regulation, and Riberio added the game winner in OT to provoke significant soul searching for San Jose. It was the second straight late lead the Sharks had given up, and a subsequent shutout loss to Columbus only heightened the problems and initiated a measure of sould searching at the time for San Jose.

Fast forward to January and February, and the post-losing streak Sharks had reeled off a 17-3-1 record behind a strengthed team defense and the spectacular goaltending of Antti Niemi. The Sharks started to build momentum against Dallas on the back of their third line with Joe Pavelski centering Kyle Wellwood and Torrey Mitchell. Pavelski is the catalyst on the line, creating turnovers and using his playmaking ability to spark production from two speedy converted centerman. A Pavelski shot off the end boards deflected to Mitchell, who used a hard backhand to get the puck to Wellwood on the doorstep. “That shift we were throwing things at the net,” Wellwood said. “It went off the end boards and Mitchy found me hiding in the crease and I was able to get a stick on it.” It was the only the 4th goal in a season-shortended 19 games for Wellwood, and only the first point in 9 games for Mitchell. Both players have been working hard in the offensive and defensive zones. Mitchell has been firing the puck hard from all over the ice, getting 11 shots on goal in his last 4 games, but production from both wingers is lacking. Creating a bonafide third scoring line is a must heading into the post season, and right now the Sharks are not quite there yet.

The first period devolved into staccato and physical play on the ice. Linesman repeatedly tossed centers from the faceoff circle for seemingly illusory reasons, but then they proceeded to direct traffic on the blueline and on the wings as well. The in-house mic system was muffled for the referees, who in turn tried to yell penalty calls to the audience, and later yelled directly at the benches. The Sharks and Stars did not help matters. With Brad Richards sitting for the 9th game with concussion like symptoms, Dallas regressed to its old smashmouth hockey tactics and the Sharks obliged them. Ben Eager checked defenseman Trevor Daley hard against the end boards, a hit which stacked up and took out Patrick Marleau as well. Douglas Murray also hammered Mike Ribeiro up against the Sharks bench, and the Stars came back at him with fists and sticks swinging in retaliation. A Justin Braun point shot ricocheted off the post so quickly, most of the fans in the stands started celebrating. Several of the Stars took umbrage with the number of Sharks near the crease, and an extended rugby scrum ensued.

Two more notes from the first period. There was an interesting on-ice battle that emerged between Joe Thornton and newly acquired offensive defenseman Alex “Goose” Goligoski. Pressuring Goligoski deep on the forecheck, the new Stars defenseman reversed direction several times until Thornton went behind the net to chase him out. “Goose” then quickly skated up ice with Thornton trailing, and wristed a hard shot on goal from the point. Goligoski created space for himself, and got a second shot on goal all sparked by his play in the defensive zone. Earlier in the period Thornton had yelled hard at a ref as Goligoski crossed the blueline offsides. Gogo chirped at Thornton and stared daggers in the back of the linesman who made the call. Both players would battle the rest of the game. Also of note with 4 minutes left in the first, goaltender Antti Niemi covered most of the net down low for an extended sequence on his knees. Niemi moved laterally hard left to right, then posted up several times for shooters up high. Still on his knees, he slid fluidly right to left, then back left to right to cover a wraparound opportunity. There was little to no room beneath his pads the entire time, and his glove was positioned well throughout. Textbook play, and it is a facet of his game repeatedly mentioned by hockey scouts.

In the second period the game started to get out of hand on the ice. Patrick Marleau combined for a slick give-and-go that resulted in the Sharks goahead goal at 1:22. Heatley hit Marleau with the high sauce (saucer pass) in stride, and the Sharks alternate captain sticked it high above oustretched Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Antti Niemi came up big on the other end of the ice with a highlight reel glovesave on center Tom Waddell, and a sprawling, flopping save on a spinned shot by Loui Eriksson. The Stars had a legitimate beef with San Jose when a Joe Pavelski shot deflected off traffic and Jamal Mayers and Torrey Mitchell crashed the net for a rebound. Both Mayers and Mitchell had inside position on three Stars, and Mayers was knocked on top of Lehtonen with a hard check from behind. Mayers made full use of the play, using Lehtonen as a chaise lounge, and the entire Dallas Stars team on the ice came at him. From that point on, a usually mild mannered Lehtonen was swinging his stick at any player getting too close to him in net, and even punching Joe Thornton off the left post.

The referees or linesman could have let off steam from the game like a pressure valve, but they did not. Instead they were too busy trying to bark orders on faceoffs that they missed a wrestling takedown on Joe Pavelski at the side of the net. Pavelski laid flat on his back with his arms out asking the referee how he could miss the call. Twitter warning from this blog aside, the game was almost lost completely when Steve Ott hit Jason Demers with a borderline check late in the second. With three seconds remaining, Demers tried to drop the gloves with Ott but a linesman and a referee stepped between them. Demers tried one unsuccessful punch, but a second one missed completely and struck linesman Brian Mach square in the face. Demers apologized immediately, then it looked as if he apologized again as he was lead off the ice, and he relayed his apology to the media after the game. More on that incident in a subsequent post. Steve Ott was also given 2 minutes for charging, and an extra 2 for roughing, but it was not enough. If the game had devolved to this point, players should have been headed to the locker room, and it should have happened much earlier.

The Sharks power play could not connect early in the third period, and it has been a problem that has persisted. San Jose has 2 power play goals in its last 16 man advantage opportunities. “When things are going well (on the power play), we are moving and there is a lot of pace on the passes. Lots of shots and retreiving pucks,” Patrick Marleau noted. “I think we were a little methodical tonight, not moving as quick as we could.”

The Sharks were playing without their powerplay quarterback Dan Boyle, who would miss his 4th consecutive game Saturday night. San Jose head coach Todd McLellan noted that his squad has the firepower to get the job done, with or without Boyle. “The fact is we have people back there who can do it. It is not just the back end, it is the front end,” McLellan said. “We are pressing a little bit trying to make plays that aren’t there instead of making the obvious one. We are having a little trouble getting our shots through. Give Dallas some credit, they blocked a ton of shots. At times they had 5 goalies, they did a tremendous job.”

Dallas was able to reverse its fortunes from a night earlier in Anaheim. Loui Eriksson tied the game with his 23rd goal of the season at 7:37. Fresh off of skating to the rink entrance and getting a dry pair of gloves, Stars center Jason Williams scored his first goal of the season on his next shift at 12:46. Williams carried the puck behind the net, and slid a shot that deflected off the stick of Dany Heatley and passed Niemi. The Sharks were unsuccessful on a late power play, and for the last 7+ minutes they took repeated runs at the Dallas zone. Several times the puck traveled just wide of the net, or sat tantalizingly in front before it was cleared. In the waning seconds a loose puck sat to the right of Lehtonen, but no Shark could get a stick on it as the fans in attendance collectively lost their minds. The Stars held on for a very impressive road win in a game against two hostile teams, the San Jose Sharks and the officiating crew.

Game Notes:

GAME NOTES: San Jose Sharks goaltender Antero Niittymaki was activated after missing an extended period with an undisclosed lower body injury. Reserve goaltender Carter Hutton was re-assigned to Worcester of the AHL. Dan Boyle, Kent Huskins and Scott Nichol were also out for San Jose. The Dallas Stars played without injured center Brad Richards, defenseman Nicklas Grossman or vetern right wing Jamie Langenbrunner. Several dozen local high school hockey players were in attendance Saturday night at HP Pavilion. Along with newly created leagues in Northern and Southern California, there is also a league covering central California encompassing nearby high schools. It is another step outside of tier and recreational youth hockey to help develop talent and create interest in the sport in California. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi was called for a rare “game smothering” delay of game penalty in the second period. The Sharks and Stars were a combined 0-5 on the power play. In its 20-in-20 series detailing the top 20 San Jose Sharks players in the franchise’s 20 year history, Comcast tabbed Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Evgeni Nabokov as the top three players in the team’s history. In a fan poll, Sharks faithful sided with this blog’s offseason ruminations that Marleau, Thornton and Nabokov were 1-2-3 in franchise history. Comcast noted Thornton as being the first Hart and Art Ross trophy winner in franchise history, and said that he was a “game changer” for the Sharks. This blog noted Marleau’s playoff game winning goals (tied for the most with Johan Franzen since 2001), numerous franchise-best offensive marks, and off-ice charity initiatives pushing Marleau over the top.

A photo gallery from the game is available here.

[Update] Stars get it done in San Jose – Mark Stepneski for ESPN Dallas.

[Update2] Stars find their way past Pacific-leading San Jose, 3-2 – Mike Heika for the Dallas Morning News.

“It’s playoff hockey, let’s be honest here,” said forward Steve Ott, who assisted on the winning goal and then stayed out for much of the final five minutes trying to make it stand up. “It’s the end of the season, and the standings are ridiculously tight. It makes it extremely tough, and extremely competitive, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Dallas had blown two-goal leads in its two previous games. It rallied to take a win against Phoenix, but then lost in overtime to Anaheim. That makes the Stars 2-0-1 so far on a four-game road trip that ends Monday in Los Angeles.

[Update3] Dany Heatley: ‘I was trying to just take that lane away and obviously put it in. I owe Nemo one for that’ – David Pollak for the Working the Corners blog.

Machesney, WorSharks Are Kings Of Checkers In 2-0 Whitewash Of Charlotte

The Worcester Sharks played one of their best games in recent memory and behind Daren Machesney’s second shutout of the season defeated the Charlotte Checkers 2-0 Saturday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 4,386 fans.

The Checkers entered the game with the number one offense in the American Hockey League, so with the goaltending issues Worcester has most observers thought the WorSharks would have to score goals in bunches to have any shot at defeating Charlotte. Thanks to Machesney, and with a little help from Benn Ferriero, one was all they would need. But it sure didn’t look like that early on as the Checkers seemed more than content to play up and down hockey with Worcester. The best chance in the early going went to Charlotte when center Zach Boychuk broke in alone on Machesney. The netminder made the save but immediately looked behind him. Luckily the rebound went harmlessly into the far corner to keep the score even.

Later in the period after some extended time in the Charlotte zone the Checkers pinned Worcester in their own zone, but a couple of blocked shots and a pad save by Machesney kept the game scoreless. In one of those plays that looked meaningless at the time but turned out to be huge, Frazer McLaren gathered a loose puck along the left wing boards and skated out to the red line, dumping the puck in on Charlotte netminder Mike Murphy. With his team needing a line change and Worcester offering a token forecheck as they changed behind the play Murphy held on to the puck to stop play. Just seconds later he would regret that decision.

On the ensuing face off Andrew Desjardins won the draw cleanly to Sean Sullivan at the blue line, and the defenseman wasted no time blasting the puck on net. Henderson, who had barely moved an inch from his staring point off the face-off, tipped the shot past Murphy at 12:15 for the 1-0 WorSharks lead.

In a scary moment with just a handful of seconds remaining in the first period linesman Bob Paquette was injured when he crashed into the boards as the teams lined up for a face-off. As Paquette skated backwards along the blue line to take his position his left skate came out from under him and he fell backwards, sliding head first into the boards. He was down for quite a while with the WorSharks trainer attending to him, but was eventually able to get to his feet. He was very wobbly, and the trainer and Dan DaSilva helped Paquette to the Zamboni entrance so he could go to the officials’ dressing room. Soon after heading to the dressing room Paquette was sent to St. Vincent’s Hospital–right across the street to the DCU center–for observation. Referee Jeff Smith took on the role as the trailing linesman as Ed Boyle stayed ahead of the play to call the blue lines.

The end to end play would continue in the second period, although the ice was tipped decidedly in Charlotte’s favor. Machesney would again come up big in the period, this time stoning center Jon Matsumoto. After some pinpoint passing through the WorSharks zone Matsumoto ended up wide open about 15 feet in front of Machesney, and he blasted a one timer that the netminder was able to flash that pad on to keep the Checkers off the board. Charlotte would get a golden chance with about 10 seconds remaining in the period, but defenseman Brett Bellemore’s rocket blast pinged off the far post. As the puck bounded along the goal line Ferriero was there to sweep from harm’s way as the period ended.

Ferriero would again save the WorSharks with just over 13 minutes remaining in the third period when Machesney was down and out with the Checker pressing. With WorSharks players diving all over the crease to prevent the puck from entering the net Ferriero was just able to get the shaft of his stick on a bouncing puck as it lay in the goal line to again swipe it away. The forward then jumped to his feet and carried the puck away to eliminate more trouble. On his next shift Ferriero had Worcester’s best chance of the period when he outraced Murphy to a loose puck, but the netminder was able to scramble back between Ferriero and the net to block the shot.

With two minutes remaining it looked like Worcester’s luck had run out when Oskar Osala grabbed a turnover in the neutral zone and skated in alone on Machesney. Osala tried jam the puck home past the right pad, but Machesney held firm at the goal line with the stick save as everyone crashed the net looking for the lose puck. But all was safe for Worcester as it was under Machesney, and again on the goal line. Soon after Charlotte pulled Murphy for an extra attacker, and after a Sean Sullivan blocked shot that saw him collapse to the ice Tommy Wingels grabbed the loose puck and fired it three quarters of the length of the ice for the empty net goal at 18:52. From that point on all that was left was preserving the shutout for Machesney.

GAME NOTES
Before the game it was announced that the Worcester Shuttle was heading back east to drop off goaltender Carter Hutton. While he is expected to arrive prior to the start of Sunday’s matinee he’s not expected to play. The WorSharks also signed former Holy Cross defenseman Jon Landry to a contract for the remainder of the year. Worcester;s injury list remains unchanged, and there’s still no word on what Jamie McGinn’s injury actually is. Joe Loprieno and Jody Pederson were healthy scratches for the WorSharks. Tyson Sexsmith was the backup netminder

Daren Machesney’s second shutout of the season ties him for third all time for Worcester, behind Alex Stalock’s four and Thomas Greiss’ three. Two of Greiss’ came in the playoffs, so Machesney’s two would put him second in regular season shutouts. Four other netminders, Dimitri Patzold, Taylor Dakers, Tyson Sexsmith, and Carter Hutton all have one. Both of Machesney’s victories this season have been by shutout. He is currently 2-2-1 with a 1.96 goals against average and a save percentage of .931 for the WorSharks. With Hutton returning one has to wonder if Machesney will be released or if Sexsmith (1-2-1 3.15 .891%) will be returned to Stockton.

Mark off Sunday’s game against Connecticut in the “must win” column, as the Whale and WorSharks are both tied for the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. The WorSharks got no luck in the playoff department last night as the third team in that mix, Springfield, went to overtime Saturday against the Whale giving both squads a point in the standings. Connecticut went on to win the game on Blake Parlett’s first career AHL goal with 27.5 seconds left in overtime.

Referee Jeff Smith is known for letting the teams play, so it wasn’t a shock when Saturday night each team had two only power plays, and none of them lasted the normal two minutes. When Frazer McLaren was called for interference this writer quipped that it was only a matter of time before Smith would even it up. It took all of 72 seconds for Smith to call a penalty on Charlotte. When Jon Matsumoto was sent to the box for an automatic delay of game minor for flipping the puck into the crowd on a clearing attempt the same question was asked. This time it took 1:40. Neither team generated much offense with the extra attacker.

This season the WorSharks have given up 49 goals while shorthanded. A list of who put Worcester shorthanded when those goals were scored is:

Loprieno 5
Mashinter 5
DaSilva 4
Petrecki 4
Irwin 3
Marcou 3
McLaren 3
Quirk 3
Trevelyan 3
Cheechoo 2
Leach 2
Schaus 2
Sullivan 2
Wingels 2
Bench minor 1
Desjardins 1
Ferriero 1
Henderson 1
McCarthy 1
Pitton 1
Swift 1
Zalewski 1

Twice Worcester has given up goals down two skaters, once with Petrecki and Sullivan in the box, and once with Loprieno and DaSilva in the sin bin. Irwin, Loprieno, Marcou, and Mashinter have all had it happen twice in one game.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 1 Daren Machesney (34 save shutout)
2. WOR – 47 Kevin Henderson (gwg)
3. CHA – 31 Mike Murphy (28 saves)

Machesney was also the AHL’s third star ofthe night.

The Sharkspage player of the game could easily go to Sean Sullivan for his two assists, but we’ll give it to Benn Ferriero instead for his two goal line saves.

Even strength Lines
Mashinter/Ferriero/Trevelyan
Wingels/Quirk/Swift
Henderson/Desjardins/DaSilva
McLaren/Davis/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Landry

Penalty Kill Lines
Ferriero/Davis
Desjardins/Quirk

Moore/Sullivan
Petrecki/Schaus

Power play lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/Mashinter
Wingels/Desjardins/Swift

Moore/Irwin

BOXSCORE
Charlotte 0 0 0 – 0
Worcester 1 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Henderson 6 (Sullivan, Desjardins), 12:15. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-McLaren Wor (interference), 15:32; Boychuk Cha (interference), 16:44.

3rd Period-2, Worcester, Wingels 11 (Sullivan), 18:52 (EN). Penalties-Matsumoto Cha (delay of game), 5:04; Irwin Wor (cross-checking), 6:44.

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 7-13-14-34. Worcester 12-6-12-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 0/2; Worcester 0/2.
Goalies-Charlotte, Murphy 19-11-3 (29 shots-28 saves). Worcester, Machesney 2-2-1 (34 shots-34 saves).
A-4,386
Referee-Jeff Smith (49). Linesmen-Ed Boyle (81), Bob Paquette (18).

WorSharks Choke Away Another Game, Lose to Manchester 3-2 In OT

The Worcester Sharks raced out to another first period two goal lead, but again the WorSharks were unable to finish off a game and were forced into overtime where they were defeated by the Manchester Monarchs 3-2 Friday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,993 fans.

Both squads would get a special teams chance early in the contest, with the WorSharks penalty kill looking great and their power play looking slightly worse than terrible. Worcester’s poor play with the extra skater didn’t extend to even strength in the opening period as the WorSharks would grab the first two goals of the game.

The first came at 10:42 of the stanza when T.J. Trevelyan flipped a loose puck from along the right wing boards out of the Worcester zone to in front of the WorSharks bench. The puck was grabbed by Benn Ferriero, who had to not only fight off the Manchester defense but also piles of snow that had gathered at the bench doors as the forward raced down the right wing side. With the Monarchs defense ready to cut him off Ferriero unleashed a laser of a wrist shot to the far post that beat Manchester goaltender Jeff Zatkoff to the blocker side. Brandon Mashinter had the second assist on the goal.

The WorSharks would make it 2-0 with one minute left in the period when the Crazed Rats executed a textbook odd man rush. With Worcester breaking into the Monarchs zone three on two Dan DaSilva threw a pass from the right wing side to Keven Henderson. With Andrew Desjardins breaking down the left side he and Henderson were able to isolate Manchester defenseman Davis Kolomatis to turn the original three on two to a two on one. All that was left was for Henderson to freeze Zatkoff and then throw an easy pass to Desjardins, who lit the lamp at 19:00.

Tempers would flare at 13:32 of the second period when defenseman Sean Sullivan took Manchester center Corey Elkins hard into the net with the Monarchs on the power play. As the teams scrummed just outside the crease of WorSharks netminder Tyson Sexsmith rookie Matt Irwin and Jordan Nolan would square off behind the goal line in a battle that didn’t amount to much. The main event took place in the slot where Desjardins and Kolomatis went at it. As the two began to throw punches Elkins came in from behind and prevented Desjardins from hitting Kolomatis. That was only temporary though, much to the chagrin of Kolomatis, who once Desjardins broke free of Elkins was pummeled by a series of left hands that drove him to the ice. Desjardins continued to throw bombs as Kolomatis attempted to cover up, and the beating was so one sided that referee Chris Cozzan was forced to jump to stop the pounding. The two bouts resulted in fighting majors for the combatants, and a third man in game misconduct for Elkins.

Manchester would get on the board at 17:21 of the middle period when couple of bad breaks went against Worcester while on the penalty kill. After the Monarchs broke into the Worcester zone and crashed the net the scrum of players bowled over Sexsmith. Unfortunately for Worcester the contact that took the netminder out of the play was caused by Mike Moore so play was allowed to continue, and before Sexsmith could regain his positioning Brandon Kozun was able to just deflect the puck over the goal line when the forward found the puck on his stick after some less than stellar passing by Manchester almsot cost them a scoring opportunity.

The third period has been a huge issue for Worcester this season, and it was again Friday night as the WorSharks all but disappeared for huge stretches of the stanza. One player that tried to keep his team fired up was Tommy Wingels, who threw a huge open ice hit on Bud Holloway just after the midpoint of the period. Holloway took exception to the hit and went after Wingels and landed a couple of good shots early, but Wingels roared back in the bout to land several serious shots to win the bout. The WorSharks lobbied for an instigator minor against Holloway, but one was not forthcoming.

The Monarchs would eventually get the equalizer when Worcester was unable to clear the puck out of their zone and Viatcheslav Voynov was able to blast a booming slapshot from the left point past Sexsmith at 12:09.

Worcester would have several decent chances to get the extra point in the overtime stanza, but missed the net on huge bombing shots on at least four different occasions. That last one proved deadly as Oscar Moller grabbed one of those wide blasts and broke in on an odd man rush, freezing Sexsmith and beating the netminder over the left shoulder at 3:24 to send the WorSharks looking for someone to perform the Heimlich Maneuver to stop their choking.

GAME NOTES
The Worcester Shuttle made a stop in the Bay State this week, dropping off Brandon Mashinter. The WorSharks also have another addition to the injury list as Jamie McGinn is out with an undisclosed injury. Joe Loprieno was the only healthy scratch for Worcester.

The three stars of the game were
1. MCH – 10 Oscar Moller (gwg)
2. WOR – 22 Andrew Desjardins (g)
3. MCH – 76 Viatcheslav Voynov (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Benn Ferriero.

Even strength lines
Mashinter/Ferriero/Trevelyan
Wingels/Quirk/Swift
Henderson/Desjardins/DaSilva
McLaren/Davis/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Pederson

Penalty Kill Lines
Ferriero/Davis(Wingels)
Desjardins/Quirk
Swift/Wingels

Moore(Petrecki)/Schaus
Petrecki(Irwin)/Sullivan

Power play lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/Mashinter
Wingels/Desjardins/Swift

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Pederson

BOXSCORE
Manchester 0 1 1 1 – 3
Worcester 2 0 0 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Ferriero 13 (Trevelyan, Mashinter), 10:42. 2, Worcester, Desjardins 12 (Henderson, DaSilva), 19:00. Penalties-Pederson Wor (hooking), 3:51; Nolan Mch (slashing), 6:11; Moller Mch (tripping), 19:21.

2nd Period-3, Manchester, Kozun 20 (Azevedo, Holloway), 17:21 (PP). Penalties-Azevedo Mch (hooking), 1:17; Hickey Mch (slashing), 6:21; Moore Wor (interference), 12:45; Elkins Mch (game misconduct – third man in), 13:32; Kolomatis Mch (fighting), 13:32; Nolan Mch (fighting), 13:32; Desjardins Wor (fighting), 13:32; Irwin Wor (fighting), 13:32; Quirk Wor (tripping), 16:22; Holloway Mch (roughing), 19:50; Schaus Wor (holding), 19:50.

3rd Period-4, Manchester, Voynov 13 (Zeiler), 12:09. Penalties-Holloway Mch (fighting), 11:04; Wingels Wor (fighting), 11:04; Moore Wor (delay of game), 13:40.

OT Period-5, Manchester, Moller 17   3:24. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Manchester 9-12-8-3-32. Worcester 11-9-10-1-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1/4; Worcester 0/4.
Goalies-Manchester, Zatkoff 15-12-4 (31 shots-29 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 1-2-1 (32 shots-29 saves).
A-3,993
Referees-Chris Cozzan (18), Joe Sullivan (38). Linesmen-Brian MacDonald (72), Joe Ross (92).

DOH Podcast #137: NHL trade deadline, Rostislav Klesla, Dustin Penner, Sharks re-sign goaltender Antti Niemi

[audio:http://dudesonhockey.com/podcast/doh_2011_0302.mp3]

Mike Peattie and Doug Santana discuss winners and losers at the NHL trade deadline, whether Rostislav Klesla to Phoenix or Dustin Penner to Los Angeles will make an impact, the San Jose Sharks recent win streak, Ryane Clowe’s shootout mastery of goaltenders Miikka Kiprusoff and Brian Elliott, whether Sharks GM Doug Wilson re-signed goaltender Antti Niemi at the peak of his market value and more on the 137th episode of the Dudes on Hockey podcast.

This Sharks podcast is posted here with permission. Visit dudesonhockey.com for more coverage of the team or download the MP3 file directly here.

WorSharks Sleepwalk Into Portland, Lose 6-2

The Worcester Sharks made far too many mistakes for a fresh team to overcome, never mind a squad playing their fifth game in eight days, and dropped a 6-2 contest to the Portland Pirates Tuesday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine in front of a reported crowd of 2,690 fans.

Sharkspage didn’t make the trip to The Pine Tree State, so for those interested in the particulars they can check out the Worcester Telegram & Gazette where Bill Ballou has his usual game story and notes column. Paul Betit of the Portland Press Herald has the Pirates side of things.

And both the WorSharks and Pirates have their own points of view on their respective official sites.

GAME NOTES
There were a few “paper” transactions on Monday with Justin Braun, John McCarthy, and Carter Hutton all being assigned to Worcester and then recalled to ensure the players eligibility for the AHL playoffs. The Worcester Shuttle also made a stop in the Bay State and picked up Brandon Mashinter. With Johnathan Cheechoo being added to the injury list defenseman Jody Pederson was the only healthy scratch for the team. Cheechoo is still a little banged up from a couple of previous injuries and is considered “day-to-day”.

In a scheduling oddity the WorSharks will play a total of five games on Tuesday during the season, and four of them are against the Pirates. Three of those four are in Portland, and Worcester’s last home game of the season is a Tuesday contest against the pirates. The fifth game was home against Albany. The WorSharks are currently 1-2 on Tuesday.

The three stars of the game were
1. POR – 12 Paul Byron (g,2a)
2. POR – 39 Luke Adam (2g,+3)
3. POR – 17 Marc-Andre Gragnani (2a)

The game sheet shows Mike Moore at +2 and everyone else either even or minus, so we’ll give him the Sharkspage player of the game.

BOXSCORE
Worcester 0 2 0 – 2
Portland 3 2 1 – 6

1st Period-1, Portland, Adam 18 (Byron, Mancari), 1:55. 2, Portland, Byron 15 (Mancari), 14:37. 3, Portland, Brennan 11 (Gragnani, Tropp), 17:57. Penalties-Quirk Wor (high-sticking), 2:51; Petrecki Wor (roughing), 18:46; Loprieno Wor (elbowing), 19:54.

2nd Period-4, Worcester, Sullivan 12 (McGinn, DaSilva), 9:19. 5, Portland, Whitmore 22 (Byron, Gragnani), 10:23 (PP). 6, Worcester, DaSilva 12 (Desjardins, Moore), 14:11. 7, Portland, Adam 19 (Stuart), 19:55. Penalties-McLaren Wor (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 10:02; Conboy Por (fighting), 10:02; served by McCauley Por (bench minor – too many men), 12:56; McGinn Wor (hooking), 13:13; Adam Por (cross-checking), 17:47.

3rd Period-8, Portland, Stuart 11 (Crawford, Parrish), 12:50 (PP). Penalties-McLaren Wor (hooking), 4:22; DaSilva Wor (slashing), 12:39.

Shots on Goal-Worcester 9-7-10-26. Portland 15-7-7-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Worcester 0/2; Portland 2/7.
Goalies-Worcester, Sexsmith 1-1-1 (29 shots-23 saves). Portland, Enroth 20-17-2 (26 shots-24 saves).
A-2,690
Referees-Geno Binda (22), Terry Koharski (10). Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Andrews (32).

Joe Thornton ties game late, Ryane Clowe provides shootout game winner in 2-1 win over Colorado Avalanche

SETOGUCHI, THORNTON, FAN CELEBRATE GAME TYING GOAL IN 3RD

BEFORE DEADLINE, AVS TRADED CRAIG ANDERSON FOR #30 BRIAN ELLIOTT

#39 COUTURE COLLIDES WITH #48 HUNWICK, #30 ELLIOTT IN 2ND

Notes from the San Jose Sharks 2-1 OT shootout win over the Colorado Avalanche will be posted soon. A photo gallery from the game is available here.

Finding Nemo: San Jose Sharks ink goaltender Antti Niemi to 4-year, $15.2 million contract extension — also earns NHL 2nd star of the month, Sharks POTM honors

NIEMI SIGNED 4-YR, $15.2M CONTRACT EXTENSION TUESDAY - FILE PHOTO

The San Jose Sharks continued their trend of being ahead of the curve early Tuesday morning. Stanley Cup winning goaltender Antti Niemi was signed to a reported 4-year, $15.2 million contract extension. “We wanted Antti to remain a San Jose Shark and he wanted to be here,” San Jose Sharks EVP/GM Doug Wilson said via a press release. “Once he got through his expected integration period with our club, Antti’s play has been outstanding and, just as important, he has consistently been a great teammate.”

“It is a great team, a great organization,” Antti Niemi said today after practice. Asked when he was considering staying with the San Jose Sharks long term, Niemi noted that he had been considering it for awhile. “It was in my mind already last summer. The first couple of months, seeing the place and meeting the team, it confirmed it.”

The move locks up a bonafide #1 goaltender for the 4-5 year projected playoff window EVP/GM Doug Wilson gave the Sharks after last year’s playoffs. It sidesteps the embarassing situation the Chicago Blackhawks faced last season, where they were forced to walk away from a fairly reasonable arbitration award to Niemi of $2.75 million. It also sidesteps the bidding frenzy that could surround Niemi as an unrestricted free agent. After tweaking the roster in January by bringing in Kyle Wellwood and Ben Eager, and acquiring puck moving defenseman Ian White over a week before the prices went up at the trade deadline, Doug Wilson also got good value for his contract by signing Niemi for an average of $3.8M over four years. With Antero Niittymaki signed for 2-years at $2M per, that gives the Sharks a pair of 1A and 1B starting goaltenders for a cap hit in the ballpark of former franchise goalie Evgeni Nabokov ($5.375M).

The announcement of the contract extension came as Niemi was simultaneously named as the NHL’s second star of the month for February. It is the second straight week he has garnered league honors. After earning a 3-0 record, 0.98GAA, .963SV%, and stopping 78 of 81 shots and being named first star a week earlier, Niemi followed that with a more difficult performance on the road in Detroit and Pittsburgh on back-to-back nights. The three game mini-road trip finished with a visit to one of the NHL’s hottest teams in Calgary. In 3 games, Niemi recorded another 3-0 record, 2.54GAA, .906SV% and stopped 80 of 88 shots against. Niemi is hitting his stride in goal, and later Tuesday he was named as Sharks Player of the Month for the second consecutive time (January, February). In the thirteen seasons the Sharks have recognized a player of the month, Antti Niemi is only the sixth goaltender to individually receive the honor in addition to Antero Niittymaki (1), Evgeni Nabokov (11), Vesa Toskala (4), Steve Shields (2) and Mike Vernon (2).

“It is always fun when you are winning, especially with this group of guys,” Niemi said.

Re-signing Niemi became an increased priority after his recent streak of 18 straight starts. With Antero Niittymaki recovering from an undisclosed lower body injury, and Alex Stalock out for the season after suffering a severed nerve in Worcester, the Sharks struggled to find a consistent replacement using 4 backup goaltenders in 6 games (Jordan White, J.P. Anderson, Alex Stalock and Carter Hutton). Niemi absorbed all of the goaltending duties, and helped carry the Sharks on a blistering 15-2-1 pace. Hardened, more defensively responsible play by the forward corps up front, and a similar effort in the d-zone, contributed to Niemi’s performance.

There were questions last year about Niemi after he won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in his first full NHL season, albeit a season where he did not take over the #1 role completely until there were 10 weeks left. Some hockey insiders questioned whether his performance was repeatable, and gave a lot of the credit for his success to the spectacular Chicago defense in front of him (this blog included). For some, it was a situation of too much too fast. Winning a Stanley Cup with 37 games played, when other iconic Chicago Blackhawks goaltenders could not bring a Cup to the Windy City over much longer tenures, only increased the questions. After the fiasco of an offseason that saw Chicago bring in a much cheaper, and much less effective Marty Turco to replace Niemi, the Finnish netminder struggled to find his footing early in 2010-11 for the San Jose Sharks. At one point the Sharks goaltending was described as “average”, and the thought gained a little traction.

Settling in with a new team is a process, as much for the goaltender as it is for the defenseman and forwards in front of them. At one point in the season, San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said he was learning as he went along with the goaltenders as well. There were positive signs in Niemi’s playoff run last season that bode well for his future in San Jose. As noted in this post, Niemi continued to make adjustments round to round, and he flat stymied two of the best offenses in the Western Conference in best-of-7 playoff rounds. That ability to make adjustments, and that ability to keep learning, make him a valuable asset for the Sharks going forward.

Last year the Blackhawks could not sign Niemi to a long-term, cost effective contract. Sharks GM Doug Wilson was able to accomplish that, and keep it in the cost structure of his team moving forward. “We think he’s been the best goalie in the league since Dec. 1, and our coaches believe that he’s only going to get better,” Wilson told the Mercury News. That is the scary thing, there are minor tweaks that Niemi can make to improve his game even futhur. The key for the young 27-year old is to keep learning.

“He had a choice, but he wanted to be here,” Wilson said. The contract extension takes one more question off the table, and helps focus the team on the stretch run and the playoffs.

– Post updated with Antti Niemi’s comments. Corrected 2nd star of the week to 2nd star of the month error.

[Update] Sharks reward Niemi with surprising 4-year contract extension – Greg Wyshynski for Puck Daddy.

[Update2] More on Niemi’s New Contract and No Boyle Tonight – Mark Emmons for the Mercury News Working the Corners blog.

Sharks could remain quiet, West may have some movement at NHL trade deadline

#30 ANTERO NIITTYMAKI RETURNED TO PRACTICE AFTER MISSING 16 GAMES

The San Jose Sharks could hold fast at today’s 12PM (PT) NHL trade deadline. Waiver acquisition Kyle Wellwood and a January 18th trade with Atlanta for Ben Eager have already solidified the Sharks forward corps. The addition of offensive defenseman Ian White and Justin Braun, and the possible return of backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki could lead for a quiet trade deadline day in San Jose. If anything, the Sharks could be a minor seller.

Kyle Wellwood was the second forward snatched out of the St. Louis Blues waiver grasp this year after Marek Svatos was also picked up by the Nashville Predators. Svatos was placed on waivers again last week and picked up by the Ottawa Senators. In 15 games since returning from the Atlant of the Kontinental Hockey League, Wellwood has registered 3 goals, 1 assist, and has not taken a single penalty. He has added playmaking and creativity to the Sharks second and third lines, but a more rigid arrangement down the stretch could boost his productivity. Coming off a 4-game suspension for a hit on Colby Armstrong, Eager came to San Jose from Atlanta Thrashers GM Rick Dudley for a 5th round draft selection in 2011. Eager was part of the 4-line depth that powered the Chicago Blackhawks to a sweep over San Jose last year in the Conference Finals. Not extraordinarily quick or fluid of stride, Eager utilized a churning, grinding physical style of play to help wear down San Jose. He took smart angles, kept his legs moving to line up hits, and he stayed out of the penalty box. According to the excellent Blueline blog, in Atlanta Eager was not contributing consistently enough on offense, and he was not playing well enough to earn PK time under head coach Craig Ramsay.

In San Jose, Eager found a home and an expanded role. He has played well enough to take shifts on three of four offensive lines, and dropped the gloves twice to help take some of that role out of the hands of power forward Ryane Clowe. Eager may have recently injured his hand in a fight with Flames Winger Tim Jackman, and he has been held out of practice as a precaution. The Sharks played a part in Eager initially being traded to Atlanta. The Sharks acquired a 7th round draft selection and the expiring contracts of Michael Vernace and Brett Sterling, giving Atlanta the roster space they needed to make a blockbuster 9-player deal with Chicago in June 2010. In the post-Stanley Cup salary cap exodus that also saw the Sharks acquire Antti Niemi, the Blackhawks traded Byfuglien-Sopel-Eager-Aliu to Atlanta for Reasoner-Crabb-Morin and two draft selections.

The rumors circulating around San Jose for much of the season was been the need to bring in a puck moving defenseman. After the departure of Rob Blake, the Sharks experimented with increased roles for second year blueliner Jason Demers and rookie Justin Braun. While Demers has been a relevation on the defensive side of the ice, and Braun has shown the natural ability on the point to be coveted by 29 other NHL teams, game-in and game-out it fell to Dan Boyle to initiate the offense from the backend. As he logged nearly 30 minutes a night, it may have taken its toll. Boyle went 18 games without a goal, and has scored only 2 points in his last 10. Boyle suffered an undisclosed upper body injury after being sandwiched by a pair of Pittsburgh Penguins in a 3-2 overtime win. He sat out his first game of the season Friday in Calgary.

San Jose Sharks EVP/GM Doug Wilson shrewdly bypassed a sellers market at the trade deadline, acquiring Ian White from the Carolina Hurricanes on February 18th for a second round selection in 2012. Defenseman Derek Joslin was also traded to Carolina in a second trade for future considerations. White fills a number of needs. He adds a puck moving element to each defensive pair, bolstering the Sharks transition game. It gives opponents a fraction of a second less to hinder them on the breakout. He also adds another accurate right shot on the point, giving San Jose a left-right combination on all three defensive units. From ice level, a right shot also takes a fraction of a second less pulling the puck off the wall on the power play. Against his former team Calgary on Friday, a pair of heavy shots by White created scoring chances down low. White has an assist, and 7 shots on goal in 4 games played with San Jose. Somewhat aggressive defensively, White has 19 games left in the regular season to gauge how much risk the team wants him to take in his own end. The Sharks are playing a much tighter defensive game than they were at the start of the season, and White has yet to adapt.

The rumor du jour over the last week has been the nebulous injury situation for backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki. Lost in the recent accolades for Antti Niemi, who was Sharks player of the month in January and who could earn back-to-back NHL player of the week honors this week, was the stellar play of Niittyami as San Jose treaded water to start the season. Antero earned a 4-0-1 mark in October, earning him Sharks POTM honors, as well as a 1.88GAA and .929SV%. Niittymaki injured his groin in a pregame skate January 20th in Vancouver, and he suffered a second undisclosed injury as he tried to come back. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound native of Turku, Finland returned to practice Sunday after he sat out 16 games. Asked about how he felt on the ice, “I still have a ways to go,” Niittymaki told SJsharks.com. “It was good to see him out there. From what I’m told, he will be indefinite until we can confirm his health is where it needs to be and he can get back to game shape and game timing,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said of Niittymaki.

In Niittymaki’s absence, and with a season ending injury to Alex Stalock, Niemi has been backed up by first year pro and Umass Lowell alumni Carter Hutton. With 18 straight starts and slight hints of fatigue by the starting goaltender, rumors the Sharks would be in the market for a veteran backup goaltender started to make their way around the league. SF Chronicle and AOL Fanhouse writer Susan Slusser noted the Sharks could be in the market for a goaltender, and possibly defensive depth. San Jose Mercury News beat writer David Pollak believes the Sharks are not poised to make a deadline deal, having reversed themselves after up and down play early and a 6-game losing streak. Pollak noted that Niittymaki is out at least one more game due to his being placed on long term injured reserve, and that the goaltender said his injury has been improving this week.

The Sharks play their next 6 games home at HP Pavilion in San Jose. Their first opponent on Tuesday, the reeling Colorado Avalanche, may be the best opportunity for Carter Hutton to give Niemi a break between the pipes. In their last meeting on February 19th after the blockbuster but disasterous Stewart-Shattenkirk for Johnson-McClement trade, Colorado took several heavy runs at Antti Niemi in the crease. Several times Niemi had to pick himself up off the ice after collisions, shining a light on how much the Sharks do rely on their #1 goaltender. Another long range option for the NHL or AHL could be former Sharks goaltender Thomas Griess. Currently on loan to Brynas of the Swedish Elite League, Greiss could conceivably re-join the team after the playoffs which start this week. He would need to clear waivers, but with backup goaltenders dropping like flies it is an option that should be considered.

Trade deadline options are also limited by the salary cap. The Sharks are one of 8 NHL teams with no cap space, or negative cap space according to Capgeek.com: Washington -$57k (pending LTIR adjustments), San Jose 0, Vancouver 0, Boston 0, Montreal 0, New Jersey 0, Calgary 0 and Pittsburgh 0. The Sharks have a manageable 5 no-trade or no-movement clauses (NMC: Marleau, Thornton, Heatley, NTC: Boyle, Wallin). Compared with Calgary (10), New Jersey (8), Pittsburgh (8) and Vancouver (8), San Jose is more flexible in that regard.

If anything, the Sharks could be sellers at the trade deadline considering the depth they currently have on defense. Defenseman Kent Huskins and Scott Nichol are recovering from recent injuries, but with Huskins in the lineup the Sharks have 8 NHL caliber blueliners: Dan Boyle, Douglas Murray, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jason Demers, Ian White, Niclas Wallin, Kent Huskins and Justin Braun. Prior to his recent injury, Huskins was one of the hottest offensive blueliners on the season long 7 game road trip. Huskins registered 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 games. With several teams in the market for defensive depth, it is something to keep an eye on for today’s NHL trade deadline.

NHL.com is streaming NHL Network coverage of the trade deadline, and will air a 2-hour post-deadline recap show. Links to the programming can be found online at the NHL Videocenter.

[Update] Phoenix Coyotes acquire defenseman Rostislav Klesla for Scottie Upshall, Sami Lepisto – Arizona Republic.

[Update2] Edmonton Oilers trade winger Dustin Penner to Los Angeles Kings for Teubert, 2011 first round pick, conditional second rounder – TSN.

[Update3] No Late Moves at Trade Deadline – Mark Emmons for the San Jose Mercury News Working the Corners blog.

[Update4] Wilson Dealt Early, Listened Until DeadlineSharks GM Was Taking Calls Until Noon, But Did Not Make A ‘Last Minute’ Deal – SJsharks.com.

Wilson isn’t one to worry about reacting to what others do, but would rather just focus on being satisfied internally.

“I think this is the final day you can alter your team, so that plays into it, but you start building your team in July,” Wilson said. “You identify what your needs are and you forecast the growth of some of your younger players. The Western Conference in particular, you have to play very, very well just to get into the playoffs.”

McGinn, WorSharks Chomp Monarchs 5-2

The Worcester Sharks used two goals from Jamie McGinn and a solid goaltending performance from Tyson Sexsmith to defeat the Atlantic division leading Manchester Monarchs 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of a crowd of 5,052.

It didn’t take long for WorSharks head coach Roy Sommer’s decision to add McGinn to the Crazed Rats line to show dividends when just 59 seconds into the contest referee David Banfield awarded the left winger a penalty shot after being tackled by the Manchester defense while on a breakaway. Banfield also had his arm up to call a minor on Manchester well before McGinn broke in, so Worcester should have also gone on the power play after the penalty shot. Monarchs netminder Martin Jones made a right skate save on McGinn’s attempt but no player was sent to the sin bin afterward, denying Worcester a power play chance they deserved.

At 2:59 Nick Petrecki would get the hometown crowd back on its feet with a huge open ice hit against John Zeiler and then by dropping the gloves against Ryan Clune, who had skated over to Petrecki to object to the clean check. Petrecki would earn an extra roughing minor in the bout, which the WorSharks killed with near perfection. Worcester’s next penalty kill, which was the result of a terrible hooking minor called by referee Mark Lemelin against Matt Irwin when it was actually a holding the stick minor against Manchester, wasn’t as good as their first kill and twice required a little help from the posts behind Sexsmith.

After a scoreless first period Sommer again sent out the Crazed Rats line to start the period, and this time McGinn lit the lamp. After Worcester pinned the Monarchs in their zone McGinn picked a clearing chance out of the air at the blue line. The Manchester defense was able to recover the puck, but McGinn stole it away and broke in on Jones, beating the netminder over the glove with a nice backhander for the unassisted goal just 21 seconds into the middle stanza. Oscar Moller had a golden chance to get the Monarch even just moments later, but Sexsmith was able to flash out the left pad to keep Manchester off the board. It would take an unlucky bounce a couple of minutes later for the Monarchs to get even.

Manchester defenseman Colten Teubert threw an easy shot on net that was blocked by Irwin. Unfortunately for the rookie defenseman the puck got hung up in his jersey and when it dropped he was unable to gather the puck. Brandon Kozun took a swipe at the puck and got just enough of it to knock it over to Corey Elkins, who beat Sexsmith with a close in blast at 3:02.

Worcester would take advantage of a bouncing puck to get the lead back while on the power play. While under pressure in the offensive zone Jonathan Cheechoo threw a pass to Benn Ferriero at the blue line. Ferriero had to work had to control the puck, and elected to dump it deep into the Monarchs zone. On its way to the far corner the puck hit Teubert and bounced right to T.J. Trevelyan, who flipped a backhander past Jones at 5:54.

The Monarchs would have a great chance to get even midway though the period with over 90 seconds of two man advantage, but the WorSharks penalty kill was incredible in not allowing a single shot on net and defending two passes across the slot to kill scoring chances. When the dust settled it would be Worcester getting a two goal lead when Nick Schaus took a Petrecki feed and broke into the Manchester zone on the right wing side. Schaus sidestepped a Viatcheslav Voynov open ice check and put the puck on net. The soft shot hit defenseman David Kolomatis and rolled into the net at 14:20 for the 3-1 lead. Brandon Mashinter had the second assist on the play.

As has been well documented the third period has not been kind to the WorSharks, and it looked like Worcester was falling in to the same trap when Elkins deflected a centering feed from David Meckler past Sexsmith at 2:37. Things looked even worse for Worcester when Irwin was called for a high sticking minor with just under six minutes to go in the contest, but again Worcester’s penalty kill was up to the challenge and instead of getting even Manchester would find themselves down two after Mike Moore sent McGinn into the Monarchs zone all alone. After trying to go low on his penalty shot try McGinn used a different tactic and fired a hard wrist shot past the blocker of Jones for the shorthanded tally at 16:05. Ferriero was credited with the secondary assist.

Tommy Wingels would give the WorSharks more breathing room just 65 seconds later when he skated down the left wing side and unleashed a laser that beat Jones to the glove side and banked off the far post and in to light the lamp to make it 5-2. Mashinter and Michael Swift had the assists on the goal. Manchester won’t have to wait long to seek some revenge as the two teams meet again Friday night in Worcester.

GAME NOTES
There were a couple of transactions over the weekend, with goaltender Jeff Jakaitis being released and defenseman Jody Pederson having his contract upgraded from a PTO to an AHL/ECHL deal. Patrick Davis, Kevin Henderson, and Joe Loprieno were all healthy scratches for Worcester.

The win broke several losing streaks. The WorSharks entered the game on a three game losing streak, and Tyson Sexsmith broke a personal two game AHL losing streak that extended back to February 7, 2010. Worcester also had lost four straight to Manchester before Sunday’s win. But there was no person more excited about breaking a losing streak than national anthem singer Josie Lundin (née Brown, as she was introduced by public address announcer George Brown, and is no relation), who was on a personal three game losing streak when singing the anthem for the WorSharks.

The three stars of the game were
1. WOR – 44 Jamie McGinn (2g)
2. MCH – 39 Corey Elkins (2g)
3. WOR – 31 Tyson Sexsmith (25 saves)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Nick Petrecki

Even strength lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/Cheechoo
Wingels/Swift/Mashinter
McGinn/Desjardins/DaSilva
McLaren/Quirk/MacIntyre

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus
Petrecki/Pederson

Penalty kill lines
Quirk/Desjardins
Ferriero/McGinn
Swift/Wingels

Moore/Sullivan
Irwin/Schaus

Power play lines
Trevelyan/Ferriero/McGinn
Swift/Desjardins/Mashinter

Cheechoo/Irwin
Moore/Sullivan

BOXSCORE
Manchester 0 1 1 – 2
Worcester 0 3 2 – 5

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Clune Mch (fighting), 2:59; Petrecki Wor (roughing, fighting), 2:59; Irwin Wor (hooking), 7:37; Azevedo Mch (goaltender interference), 12:59; MacIntyre Wor (interference), 16:16.

2nd Period-1, Worcester, McGinn 6   0:21. 2, Manchester, Elkins 15 (Kozun), 3:02. 3, Worcester, Trevelyan 14 (Ferriero, Cheechoo), 5:54 (PP). 4, Worcester, Schaus 3 (Petrecki, Mashinter), 14:20. Penalties-Hickey Mch (interference), 4:54; Moore Wor (hooking), 9:27; Desjardins Wor (slashing), 9:49; Azevedo Mch (holding the stick), 11:39.

3rd Period-5, Manchester, Elkins 16 (Meckler, Mullen), 2:37. 6, Worcester, McGinn 7 (Moore, Ferriero), 16:05 (SH). 7, Worcester, Wingels 10 (Mashinter, Swift), 17:10. Penalties-Irwin Wor (high-sticking), 14:10.

Missed penalty shot-McGinn (rule 53.7) 0:59 of first period.

Shots on Goal-Manchester 8-10-9-27. Worcester 10-11-14-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 0/6; Worcester 1/3.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 22-8-1 (35 shots-30 saves). Worcester, Sexsmith 1-0-1 (27 shots-25 saves).
A-5,052. Referees-Mark Lemelin (84), David Banfield (44). Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Bernard (42).

Flame On: Season’s worth of ups and downs in one game for Ryane Clowe — fight, double minor, game tying and OT Shootout goals lead to 4-3 win over Calgary Flames

It was not that long ago that alternate captain Ryane Clowe stepped in front of the media and called out his own team. After dropping a late lead and a winnable home game to the Vancouver Canucks on January 3rd, the rugged left winger criticized the Sharks’ third period effort as terrible. “We can’t figure it out. We just want to cheat at times,” he said. “I guarantee you right now there’s guys that don’t feel that tired after that game.” It was a sentiment compounded by a forgettable effort in Los Angeles and a late collapse against Minnesota. Clowe did not back down from his comments a day later, and several of his teammates agreed with his candid assessment. “Do you want to score four goals or do you want to win a game?” Clowe said. “Are you happy losing but with five goals? Losing 6-5, maybe? Or would you rather, like in LA, win 1-0?”

It was a put up or shut up moment for the 2010-11 San Jose Sharks. 40 games into the season, Clowe’s team had put together three or more game winning streaks only twice, and both of those were followed by a string or losses. In the short-term, the Sharks put their heads down and tried to play their way out of problems, but it didn’t happen overnight. A talented and potent offensive team, San Jose ran smack into perennial Vezina goaltending candidate Ryan Miller and 6-foot-5 Nashville phenom Pekka Rinne. San Jose started clicking defensively and as a 20-man unit, but goal scoring evaporated. After a team meeting with GM Doug Wilson, and a back to the basics X’s and O’s session with head coach Todd McLellan, the stunned Conference Finalists still saw themselves staring at a 6-game losing streak heading into mid-January. It was the longest losing streak for the franchise in almost 14 years.

Clowe’s criticism, and the team’s response, identified the problem but it also identified the solution. Players were trying to do too much individually. A strong effort by 14 or 15 players could be undermined by a few players having a weak shift, period or game. On the outside of the playoff window looking in at the ASG break, the solution for the San Jose Sharks sounds like a string of motivational hockey cliches. Put forth a more complete 60 minute effort, roll 4 lines, harden play in their own defensive zone. Sound, fundamental hockey. It was a simple plan, but it worked. Bolstered with new additions up front in Kyle Wellwood and Ben Eager, the Sharks reeled off 5 wins in their next 6 games, earning 11 of a possible 12 points. The season long 7-game “tennis” road trip provided a readymade excuse for another setback, but they didn’t bite. With wins over Anaheim, Boston, Washington and Nashville, the Sharks won 5 of 7 and were mad at themselves for a pair of late leads that did not hold up.

“We have gone through a lot of adversity not only tonight, but throughout the year. Maybe we have learned some lessons along the way,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said Friday night. “It doesn’t mean it is going to get any easier. It doesn’t mean we won’t have bumps, it doesn’t mean we won’t have off nights. Now the guys seem to be pulling together. It is not about goals and assists and who is leading the team in scoring, it is about winning. It is working for us.”

A byproduct of the Sharks turnaround, more than confidence or team cohesion, was the ability to overcome any manner of obstacle. That would come into play Friday night at the Saddledome in a 4-3 OT shootout win over the Calgary Flames. Once again, Ryane Clowe was front and center with a game that could encapsulate the entire Sharks season. After a second period 2-1 lead collapsed with goals by David Moss and Niklas Hagman, Clowe took a marginal holding penalty with 43 seconds left. It was similar to the hand on shoulder holding call Devin Setoguchi took in the third period against Pittsburgh, but in Calgary there was a defensive hand on the shoulder for almost every play in the d-zone on both sides. Frustrated, Clowe yelled at the official and drew an extra unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Now in addition to overcoming the prevent offense trap of Calgary, San Jose would be forced to kill off a 4 minute double minor.

“I was frustrated,” Clowe told Comcast Sportsnet California. “Obviously I play the game on the edge. I was playing hard. Sometimes when you get in that rythmn, it’s a man’s game… My wires were crossed and I lost it. It was a selfish penalty, a penalty that can’t happen. You are down 3-2, it is just a selfish penalty.” Clowe did not hold back, calling himself out on the play. “It was a selfish penalty, I would have been upset if someone else had taken it. That can’t happen again, it won’t happen again.” The Sharks penalty kill bailed him out, but they could not put up the equalizer on the other side of the ledger. On a pair of third period power plays, the Sharks had trouble through the neutral zone and barely tested goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

It was an unusual night in Calgary. Expecting an aggressive Calgary Flames squad battling for their playoff life, there were stretches of off play in all 3 periods. The Sharks were not on their game for 60 minutes either, looking somewhat weary after back-to-back games against Detroit and Pittsburgh earlier in the week. For what it is worth, Calgary looked less off for more of the game, and they found themselves with a 3-2 lead in the third period as a result. Instead of getting the puck deep, forcing the Sharks defense to turn, and hammering bodies on the forecheck, Calgary played it differently. They chose to push the puck up ice, win smaller positional battles and hold on for a one goal lead. Against a Sharks side that is firing on all cylinders, that is a recipe for destruction.

On this night, it almost worked. With Calgary slow footed and chasing the play in their own zone, newly acquired defenseman and former Flame and Hurricane Ian White fired a pair of shots from the point. One deflected off the end boards in front of the net, and the other deflected off traffic and into the corner. Multiple Sharks won each race to the loose puck. After winning another outmanned opportunity along the halfboards, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley combined to get the puck to Clowe in the slot. Clowe buried the game tying goal at 17:26.

The game would be decided by an overtime shootout. The Sharks have the slimmest of playoff cushions with 19 games remaining, but despite winning 11 of their last 16, the Flames were still treading water in the playoff race. Prior to Friday night, Calgary was tied with 4 other teams for the final 3 playoff spots in the West. A new tiebreaker for the 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs will come down to regulation and overtime wins, nullifying those obtained in the OT shootout. Unfortunately for Calgary, they are on pace for a Western Conference high of 9. The Sharks can be happy with 2 points, but from here on out Calgary needs to win in regulation or OT.

After Kyle Wellwood and Joe Pavelski missed shootout attempts for San Jose, and Rene Bourque and Alex Tangauy missed for Calgary, the game would be on Clowe’s stick. The left shooting Clowe has been going to the well with his forehand to backhand up high move, but he would mix it up against former teammate Kiprusoff. Clowe deked, then broke his wrists forehand. The 225-pound Newfoundlander quickly deked again backhand before tapping in a goal forehand. Kiprusoff did not bite on any of the early dekes, but he pushed hard to his left as Clowe deposited an easy shot on the other side. Olli Jokinen missed on the other end of the ice for Calgary.

Discussing his signature backhand up high move, Clowe told CSNCA that he wanted to mix it up. “Sometimes I like to use that more back East, and try to switch it up a little more in the West. I am sure guys like to watch highlights a little bit,” Clowe said. “I really wanted to sell the backhand. That is usually my goto move. I have been working on this in practice, sometimes you don’t get the courage to try it in a game. I’ve done it before, and it worked out.”

Clowe’s answer to a question about his game winning shootout goal says a lot about where the team is at now, after a season high tying 6th straight win. “You play to win, but it doesn’t matter how that game finished. We played really hard tonight. We were positive on the bench, the coaches were positive between periods. We knew we were coming.” It is a message that could be directed towards the Sharks final 19 game stretch run of the season.

The Sharks are coming.

Game Notes:

GAME NOTES: Devin Setoguchi scored his 18th goal of the season with a diving play through traffic in front of the crease. Setoguchi now has 11 goals and 5 assists in his last 15 games. Kyle Wellwood scored his third goal as a San Jose Shark. Wellwood and Mayers hounded the crease after a turnover in the offensive zone created by linemate Joe Pavelski. Niemi earned his 6th straight win stopping 21 of 24 shots. The Sharks earned their 6th straight win, tying a season high, but also tied a franchise high of 8 road wins in a single month. Ben Eager and Ryane Clowe each dropped the gloves with Calgary Flames right wing Tim Jackson in the first and second period respectively. Clowe dominated Jackson to the point where he had to hold himself back and let the referees step in. Defenseman Dan Boyle missed his first game of the season after suffering an undisclosed injury late in the game against Pittsburgh. Scott Nichol and Kent Huskins were also scratched for San Jose. Rookie offensive defenseman Justin Braun played in only his 16th game of the year, registering 18:47 of ice time. After starting in his 18th straight game, Comcast guest analyst and Yahoo Sports editor Ross McKeon noted that Niemi’s performance on Anton Babchuk’s first period goal may be a sign of fatigue. The Sharks have 3 days off before playing the first of 6 straight games at home in San Jose. The Sharks had a goal by Niklas Wallin disallowed with 3.3 seconds remaining in the first period. The February 28th NHL trade deadline will fall on Monday at 9AM.

[Update] Ryane Clowe makes up for miscue as San Jose Sharks stay hot – San Jose Mercury News.

[Update2] Flames fall in shootout – Calgary Sun.

Redemption didn’t last long for Niklas Hagman.

Although one of the best moments of the night in an entertaining but ultimately upsetting 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks came when the beleaguered Calgary Flames winger snapped a 16-game scoring slump to give the home side a lead that would last until the dying minutes of regulation, one of the most disappointing also took place with Hagman on the ice.

The only thing that overshadowed Hagman’s tremendous highlight-reel goal that gave the Flames their first lead late in the second period was the clutch performance from Ryane Clowe. With just 2:30 left in the third period, Clowe found a way to evade Hagman and the rest of the Flames to get at the net and force extra time with his 18th goal of the season.

[Update3] Flames let Sharks wriggle off the hook, Ryane Clowe clobbers Calgary with late tying goal, shootout winner – Calgary Herald.

Western Conference Playoff Push – 94 points or bust?

Current Western Conference standings:

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
(before games played Feb 25th, 2011)

1 – Vancouver Canucks* 62GP, 39-14-9, 87 points
2 – Detroit Red Wings* 61GP, 37-18-6, 80 points
3 – San Jose Sharks* 62GP, 35-21-6, 76 points
4 – Phoenix Coyotes 62GP, 33-20-9, 75 points
5 – Los Angeles Kings 61GP, 34-23-4, 72 points
6 – Minnesota Wild 61GP, 32-23-6, 70 points
7 – Chicago Blackhawks 61GP, 32-23-6, 70 points
8 – Dallas Stars 61GP, 32-23-6, 70 points
9 – Nashville Predators 61GP, 31-22-8, 70 points
10 – Calgary Flames 62GP, 31-23-8, 70 points
11 – Anaheim Ducks 61GP, 32-25-4 68 points
12 – Columbus Blue Jackets 59GP, 30-23-6, 66 points
13 – St. Louis Blues 60GP, 27-24-9, 63 points
14 – Colorado Avalanche 61GP, 26-28-7, 59 points
15 – Edmonton Oilers 61GP, 20-33-8, 48 points

* division leader

Projected Western Conference standings:

PROJECTED WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS:
(after 82 games played)

1 – Vancouver Canucks* 82GP, 52-18-12, 116 points (3 PSOW)
2 – Detroit Red Wings* 82GP, 50-24-8, 108 points (4 PSOW)
3 – San Jose Sharks* 82GP, 46-28-8, 100 points (4 PSOW)
4 – Phoenix Coyotes 82GP, 44-26-12, 100 points (4 PSOW)
5 – Los Angeles Kings 82GP, 47-29-6, 100 points (9 PSOW)
6 – Minnesota Wild 82GP, 43-31-8, 94 points (3 PSOW)
7 – Dallas Stars 82GP, 43-31-8, 94 points (7 PSOW)
8 – Chicago Blackhawks 82GP, 43-31-8, 94 points (5 PSOW)
9 – Nashville Predators 82GP, 41-30-11, 93 points (8 PSOW)
10 – Calgary Flames 82GP, 41-30-11, 93 points (9 PSOW)
11 – Columbus Blue Jackets 82GP, 42-32-8, 92 points (5 PSOW)
12 – Anaheim Ducks 82GP, 43-33-6, 92 points (9 PSOW)
13 – St. Louis Blues 82GP, 37-33-12, 86 points (4 PSOW)
14 – Colorado Avalanche 82GP, 35-38-9, 79 points (4 PSOW)
15 – Edmonton Oilers 82GP, 27-44-11, 65 points (1 PSOW)

* projected division winner
PSOW – projected shootout wins

The Western Conference playoff picture has tightened considerably since the 2011 Allstar Game break. Back on February 1st the Sharks were projected to finish in a 4-team tie for the final two playoff spots in the West. The Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks were expected to edge the Sharks and Avalanche based on winning percentage and the new post-season tiebreaker (regulation and overtime wins only). Since that time the Sharks have performed a remarkable turnaround. They have gone on a blistering 10-2 run behind the stellar goaltending of Antti Niemi, put themselves on pace for a 5th straight 100-point season, and moved into first place in the Pacific Division for the first time since the opening week of the season.

The tight playoff race in the West is changing week to week. Last Thursday there was a 4-team tie for the last 4 playoff spots in the West, but San Jose, Phoenix and Los Angeles have earned the smallest margin of seperation with approximately 20 games remaining in the season. “It is what it is. I hate that cliche, but it is tight,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said of the Western Conference standings after a 4-3 win against his former team in Detroit. “For some teams that is a great thing. I hope it is for our team, that we can maintain a high level of play, carry it on, and we don’t burn ourselves out. We put ourselves in this situation where we have to compete hard every night. We don’t get an opportunity for a stinker. Maybe that is a good thing for us.”

The heightened tensions have forced several Western Conference general managers to make key moves a week before the February 28th NHL trade deadline. Since Thursday, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray acquired F Jarkko Ruutu from Ottawa, and traded backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney to Tampa for Dan Ellis. Ellis provides a solid veteran backup while #1 Jonas Hiller recovers from possible vertigo, and with Ray Emery returning from offseason hip surgery. St. Louis traded defenseman Eric Brewer to Tampa Bay, and acquired a pair of Avs. Secretive Colorado GM Greg Sherman traded last year’s franchise goaltender Craig Anderson to Ottawa for the serviceable Brian Elliot, and traded power forward Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk to St Louis for Erik Johnson and Jay MacClement. According to CBC’s Elliotte Friedman on Yahoo Puck Daddy radio, there may have been some tension in the Avs locker room between players and the coaching staff. San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson traded 7th defenseman Derek Joslin to Carolina and picked up offensive defenseman Ian White in a seperate trade. The Dallas Stars made their own blockbuster deal, sending LW James Neal and D Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for offensive defenseman Alex Goligoski.

Post-lockout, 90-95 points was the target for teams to make the playoffs. Last season was the first time a team qualified for the postseason with less than 91 points since the introduction of the shootout. The Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers both qualified with 88 points, and both advanced to the Conference Finals in the East. In the five seasons since the lockout, Western Conference teams that qualified for the 8th playoff spot needed to earn an average of 93.6 points (05-06 Edmonton – 95 points, 06-07 Calgary – 96 points, 07-08 Nashville – 91 points, 08-09 Anaheim – 91 points, 09-10 Colorado – 95 points).

[Update] Current Western Conference playoff race – LAkings.com.

[Update2] A look back at the NHL press release that announced the new tiebreak change in September: Board of Governors approve new tiebreaker system.

While 20 of the League’s best players were in New York for a preseason promotional tour, the NHL’s Board of Governors gathered at a nearby hotel to approve a new tiebreaker system for the standings. Starting with the 2010-11 season, the tiebreaker among teams with the same total of points in the standings will go to the club with the most regulation and overtime wins — no longer including shootout wins in the decision.

“All of our research indicates overwhelmingly that the fans do like the shootouts,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “There has been an increase [in shootouts] in the last year, after consistent numbers in the four prior years, but one year does not an issue make.” Statistics prove out the Commissioner’s point: From the 2005-06 season through 2008-09, games resulting in overtime ranged from 272 to 282 and shootouts ranged from 145 to 164. Last season, total overtime games totaled 301 and there were 184 shootouts.

[Update3] Current NHL Playoff Matchups – ESPN.com.

2011 Dakar Rally truck classification highlights

2011 DAKAR RALLY: ARGENTINA TO CHILE AND BACK - DAKAR.COM

The new year traditionally signals the start of the marathon Paris-Dakar offroad rally in Europe and North Africa. Security concerns and the murder of four French tourists forced the cancellation of the 2008 edition, but for the last three years the race has been held in the rugged South American terrain of Argentina and Chile. The 2011 Rally, traversing tropical jungles, the Andes mountains and the bone dry Atacama Desert, was held January 1-16th in thirteen sections totaling 5,976 miles. 407 teams started the race, 200 motorcycles/ATV’s and 67 trucks, but only 203 finished the grueling event in Buenos Aires. In the general classification for trucks, heavy duty Russian manufacturer Kamaz finished with 7 of the top 10 entrants. The team of 7-time Dakar winner Vladimir Chagin (RUS), Sergey Savostin (RUS) and Ildar Shaysultanov (RUS) finished with seven stage wins and first place overall in the truck classification with a final time of 2h 44′ 22. Four people were killed in Dakar-related incidents, one spectator, two mechanics and one driver.

[Update] “King of the Desert” leaves to stay – Voice of Russia.

“The King of the Desert” is abdicating his throne after the 2011 Dakar rally. One of the best racing drivers in the world, a seven-time winner of the legendary rally, a pilot of the Kamaz-Master team Vladimir Chagin has announced the end of his sporting career…

Vladimir Chagin and the Dakar have been together for 20 years and a lot has happened during this time. In 1994 the Russian pilot saw in his birthday, the 5th of January, in a mine-field or, rather, a narrow passage across a mine-field marked out by stones. Morocco and Mauritania opened that passage for the rally for one day and then the truce between those conflicting countries expired. And Chagin’s truck broke down, water was running out and they had to stay in the desert for two days. At dawn the crew decided to walk across the mine-field but luckily a technical support car managed to get through to them at 5 a.m.

Lights go out in Pittsburgh, Patrick Marleau provides red light goal illumination in 3-2 OT victory over HBO Penguins

#12 PATRICK MARLEAU OT GAME WINNING GOAL VS PITTSBURGH - CSNCA

Oversaturation is an unfamiliar word to the National Hockey League. After a quartet of inside looks on HBO, multiple nationally televised games on broadcast television and on cable, and the hype surrounding the Winter Classic extravaganza, one south bay area fan was frustrated upon seeing the Capitals against the Penguins featured again earlier this week on Versus. “I don’t care about the Eastern Conference,” he exclaimed at a local watering hole to no one in particular. That fan may get more than he asked for. After the Sharks 3-2 win over a limping Pittsburgh Penguins squad at the Consol Energy Center on Wednesday night, they will face a grand total of one Eastern Conference team in their final 20 games. The New York Rangers visit HP Pavilion on March 12th. Given the heightened tensions, and the heightened play in the West, that is a daunting prospect.

Wednesday night still afforded Sharks fans a unique opportunity to compare the Capitals and the Penguins up close, albeit two watered down lineups due to a number of significant injuries. The new-look, defensively responsible Washington Capitals dropped a 3-2 game at San Jose last Thursday. The game was not as close as the scoreboard suggests, and in the third period Alexander Ovechkin was chasing the play defensively and making erratic and exaggerated runs at puck carriers. From ice level, comparing the defensive games of a Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau to that of an Ovechkin, Semin or Backstrom is a mismatch. Among other statistics, Thornton is the NHL leader in takeaways and his defensive dedication has been shades of Pavel Datsyuk. When he is on Marleau is one of the top unheralded defensive players and penalty killers in the NHL. When he lines up alongside Joe Pavelski, they alter the amount of risk opposing teams will take with the man advantage. Combined, both have registered 19 goals and 7 assists shorthanded over the last three seasons.

Even without a Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz, young center Mark Letestu, Paul Martin and Eric Tangradi among the other walking wounded, the Pittsburgh Penguins play a decidedly different on-ice style than Washington. Comcast Sportsnet California analyst Drew Remenda noted that the Pens like to play a more structured game, and body up opponents to seperate them from the puck more than Detroit and Washington did. It was a gameplan that nullified the Sharks forecheck early. Then San Francisco born defenseman Brooks Orpik left in the first period after being hit by a Patrick Marleau slap shot, and the complexion of the game changed. “Early in the game we tried to pick our way through the neutral zone. It wasn’t working,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan told reporters. “Once we got pucks in behind them, made their 5 play a full 200 foot game versus maybe a 100 foot game, it made a big difference.”

Pittsburgh center Tyler Kennedy made the Sharks pay for a mistake early. The back end is still adapting to new defensive acquistion Ian White. White played the puck too hard around the end boards to partner Niclas Wallin, and a pair of Pittsburgh shots on goal off traffic left a juicy rebound for Kennedy. Kennedy punched it home from the right side of Antti Neimi. After an awkward 19 minute delay due to a power outage, Logan Couture added his 25th goal of the season on a behind the net feed from Devin Setoguchi.

The Sharks were playing the second night of back-to-backs, after earning a difficult 4-3 win at Detroit on Tuesday. A pair of games in 24 hours against teams that had won 3 Stanley Cup Championships and lost in the Finals twice over the last 10 years. Thank the NHL schedule makers. As with the success against Washington, San Jose would build on its 6-0-1 streak against the Penguins. Repeatedly getting the puck deep, it finally paid off early in the third period when Patrick Marleau pressured defenseman Kris Letang along the end boards. Letang made a pass around the wall directly to Dany Heatley. Marleau then beat Letang off the wall, and tucked a pass from Heatley around goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

It looked like the Sharks would close out yet another tight 2-1 win. Letang’s stick snapped as he moved to dump the puck into the zone, and Logan Couture pounced on the loose puck. He dribbled a long shot just wide of the net, and the Penguins would make him pay for the miss. After Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle was hammered at the side of the net as he tried to clear the puck, Pittsburgh center Tyler Kennedy buried the game tying goal with 50 seconds left from the same position as his first tally.

The Sharks had a quality opportunity to end the game in overtime when Thornton stepped up to newly acquired defenseman Matt Niskanen in the neutral zone, forcing a turnover. Thornton hit Marleau with a quick up pass, and the former Sharks captain quickly had 3-4 strides on the next closest Penguin. The left shooting Marleau went for a backhand to forehand move up high, with an exaggerated break of the wrists in between. Fleury gobbled up the move with a spectacular glove save. “I probably should have finished it on the first one, he did make a good save. It probably wasn’t one of my strongest moves,” a humble Marleau noted after the game.

With 5.3 seconds left in overtime and fans preparing for an OT shootout, defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic fired a shot on goal from the point. Logan Couture banged at the rebound in front as the Pittsburgh defense collapsed on him. The puck trickled to the Tyler Kennedy area in front of the net (the right side), and Marleau lifted a shot over the leg pad of Fleury. The 2 points in the standings helped the Sharks attain the top spot in the Pacific Division for the first time since the opening week of the season. They leapfrogged a hot Phoenix Coyotes team, who had their 8 game winning streak snapped with a disasterous start by backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera. In the Sharks last 17 contests, they have earned a blistering 14-2-7 record.

“Right now the way the standings are, we have to be up for every game,” Patrick Marleau told reporters. “That is our mindset, we have to keep winning. Every other team seems to keep winning, so we have to get our points and worry about our game. Tonight it was a big game.” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan agreed, and noted that after a cool first half of the season a few players are starting to heat up. “We understand where we are, and what we continue to need to do,” McLellan said. “I think a lot of players were disappointed in their first half. I don’t know if you can make ammends for it, but they are doing everything in their power to make up for it, play the right way, and play for each other.”

Game Notes:

GAME NOTES: Patrick Marleau lead both teams with a game high 7 shots on goal. Devin Setoguchi, Ryane Clowe, Matt Cooke and Michael Rupp each recorded a game high 4 hits. Antti Niemi (22-15-3, .919SV%, 2.43GAA, 5SO) stopped 24 of 26 shots against for his 22nd win of the season. In 2011, Niemi has registered a 14-6-1 record with a 1.99GAA, .935SV% and 4SO. Center Scott Nichol, defenseman Kent Huskins and Justin Braun were scratches for the game. The Sharks maintained more consistent line combinations than the mixed and matched elements utilized on Tuesday night in Detroit. “It goes game by game. It really does,” Todd McLellan said. “Depending on what the other team does, depending on matches, depending even on faceoff situations. Different needs to move people around. Tonight was pretty solid. Jumbo and Seto are obviously finding a way to connect. I liked Logan on that line. I thought Patty’s line did a good job. Everybody found a way to contribute. When they are doing that, you don’t have to shuffle it as much.”

In their Pittsburgh debut, newly acquired winger James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen provided a much need influx of healthy bodies. Neal registered 20:48 of ice time in 24 shifts, and played 2:12 on the first power play unit. After scoring 20 goals in each of his first 3 seasons, the 6-foot-2, 208-pound left wing is still in the developing stage of his career, but he could provide good size and goal scoring in tight for the Penguins for a number of years. Other than his turnover to Thornton, 4th year defenseman Matt Niskanen provided a workmanlike effort and stepped up in the abscence of Orpik with 19:33 TOI. The moves by Colorado, Dallas and San Jose to acquire puck moving defenseman Erik Johnson, Alex Goligoski and Ian White could be considered a trend for the Western Conference, and for the Pacific Division in particular. With games getting tighter in the offensive and neutral zones, the first pass out of the defensive zone to start the transition gains more importance. After losing Carle, Ehrhoff and Blake in successive seasons, the Sharks may have lost too much of that puck moving ability during the first half of the season. The trade for Ian White addresses that short term, but the development of blue chip defenseman Jason Demers and Justin Braun could have the Sharks well positioned for several years down the line.

This is the second time in as many games the lights have dimmed inside the Consol Energy Center after the first period. The lights dimmed again two days earlier while the Washington Capitals were visiting. In the home opener of the 2007-08 season against the Boston Bruins, the HP Pavilion sounded as if it collectively blew a fuse during the pre-game warmups. Without a national anthem, and with in-house services being restored one or two at a time, the Sharks dropped a 2-1 contest in what is known as the Power Outage game. As noted by the excellent Empty Netters blog, Northern California born Brooks Orpik recently became the all-time games played leader for California-born players. Two games in front of Oakland’s Lee Norwood and 197 in front of former Shark and Hanford native Scott Parker, Orpik left the first period Wednesday night with an injury and could miss a month. Empty Netters also provided on-ice and off-ice looks at the Sharks visit to Pittsburgh yesterday. The Pensblog offers additional insight but no free candy here. On Thursday the Penguins traded a conditional draft pick for veteran forward, part time pilot and Sharkspage favorite Alexei Kovalev. To be honest, I thought he was still on Montreal despite playing his last 131 games for the Ottawa Senators. Not a good sign for the venerable one.

[Update] Penguins fall in overtime to Sharks, 3-2, Orpik injures hand in first period – Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

[Update2] Sharks win thriller in Pittsburgh, beat Penguins 3-2 in OT – Fear the Fin.

[Update3] NHL Hit of the Night: Matt Cooke on Jason Demers – ESPN.

San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson interviewed by NHL Live on Tuesday

San Jose Sharks EVP/GM Doug Wilson was interviewed by NHL on the Fly’s Ken Reid on Tuesday. Wilson discussed the recent play of Antti Niemi, whether the Sharks would need to make additional moves at the 2011 NHL trade deadline, whether he feels the need to react to big trades in the Western Conference, and how he feels the tight standings will affect the number deals made by next Monday.

(On Antti Niemi) He has been really important. He has come in and integrated with out group. He had a short, and a very distracted summer, but he has come in and played the way we thought he would. We are very fortunate (Antero) Niittymaki played very well for us too, he went 12-6-3. Antti has certainly carried the workload lately. He is playing as well as any goalie in the league we think.

(What are Sharks needs at trade deadline?) We have made some moves. We have really added four players in the last little while. Ben Eager, Kyle Wellwood, we picked up Ian White the other day, and in an internal fix we brought up (defenseman) Justin Braun, who has played very well for us. White and Braun are both right shooting defenseman that seem to be few and far between. We think they will be a good addition to our squad.

(Any tempation to react to other big trades?) We always take a look at what our specific needs are. Sometimes that gets dictated to you by injuries, or by maybe a suspension. We have made big trades in the past, whether it be the Thornton trade, Heatley or Boyle. If they come along, make sense, and make your hockey team better, you do them. Sometimes you have to take a look specifically at what you need, and take a look at how your team has been performing individually and collectively. Then what you need to do to improve your squad.

(On the tight West impacting the deadline) I think you have seen a lot of trades made earlier than in the past. That is because there will only be 19 games left after the trade deadline. You do have to factor in integration time, whether a player is coming from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference system of play. Whether he has familiarity with other players on the team, or the coaching staff. You factor that in. I think you will see trades, I think the parity will stand in the way of a lot more trades happening, but I think you will be surprised every year.

Also featured recently on the NHL Network was analyst Darren Dreger breaking down the San Jose Sharks trade for offensive defenseman Ian White. Dreger noted the wait for a White trade to be finalized, a period where he was held out of the lineup but practiced with the team the next day. There was a similar brief holding period a year earlier when defenseman Niclas Wallin was traded from Carolina to San Jose. Dreger mentioned the holdup on the Sharks deal for a defenseman was the insistence by many teams on the inclusion of 24-year old power forward Devin Setoguchi. A Setoguchi who has scored 10 goals in his last 14 games. “Doug Wilson is no dummy, he is not going to give up on a good young talent in Devin Setoguchi. Who knows, as early as next year he could be a 40 goal scorer,” Dreger said. 40 goals by next season would be the extreme edge of Setoguchi’s development curve, but he has all the tools to be an elite power forward. The only thing he lacks is experience.

WorSharks Give Away Another Game; Goaltending Not Good Enough For Playoff Run

The Worcester Sharks raced out to a two goal lead but again couldn’t hold that advantage, and suffered another third period collapse in a 4-2 loss to the Springfield Falcons Wednesday night at the DCU center in Worcester, Massachusetts in front of 3,306 fans.

The loss overshadowed what was a decent performance by the WorSharks on offense, who despite only getting two goals really controlled most of the game forcing Falcons netminder David LeNeveu to make several great saves. LeNeveu also got a little lucky in the contest, with T.J. Trevelyan finding the post to the right of the netminder early in the first, Frazer McLaren’s wrap around bid just missing the far post as it slid along the goal line, and Jamie McGinn having a sure goal taken away when his shot hit LeNeveu who wasn’t even aware the winger had the puck.

Worcester did have two nice goals in the opening period, the first by Johnathan Cheechoo on what looked like a lost scoring opportunity. After a turnover in the WorSharks end McGinn grabbed the loose puck on the left wing halfboards and hit Michael Swift, who had been banging his stick on the ice and yelling loudly for the puck as he streaked down the right wing side. McGinn’s pass was perfect, hitting Swift in stride as he broke into the zone. Swift left a nifty drop pass for Cheechoo, but the former Rocket Richard trophy winner bobbled the puck and couldn’t get a good shot off. But as the play continued no Falcons defender marked Cheechoo, who calmly got control of the puck and uncorked a laser toward the far post that beat LeNeveu at 4:13.

On a team where the scrappy goals tend to come from the Crazed Rats line, it was nice to see Worcester’s second line get a blue collar type goal. After a Matt Irwin clear in, Patrick Davis out muscled the Falcons defense and flipped a pass to the front of the net, where Brandon Mashinter tipped the puck high over LeNeveu for the 2-0 lead at 9:07.

But on a team that was built around All Star goaltender Alex Stalock, not having him–nor his backup Cater Hutton–available has started to cause problems for Worcester. And for the first time since Stalock’s injury, WorSharks fans saw first hand what those problems are when Worcester outshot Springfield 18-7 in the second period, but gave up two goals on odd man rushes. The first came at 13:52 of the second period when Trevor Smith and Nikita Filatov broke into the Worcester zone against Nick Schaus. The rookie defenseman played it well enough if there was an AHL calibre netminder behind him, but WorSharks goaltender Jeff Jakaitis is not by any stretch of the imagination an AHL level goaltender, and Filatov was able to light the lamp at 13:52.

There was one power play in the contest, and it went to Springfield. And the penalty kill for Worcester was a perfect microcosm of the WorSharks season. Worcester’s penalty kill looked incredible, keeping the puck mostly on the perimeter and away from Jakaitis. But in the span of three second Worcester turned that nearly perfect penalty kill into a tie game when the Falcons made on last rush up ice where Smith hit Tom Sestito with a pass on the right wing side. As Smith rushed to the net Sestito intentionally threw a wide shot to the far side that Jakaitis made the save on but couldn’t cover the puck. Smith swooped in to poke the lose puck home at 16:59.

The roof would finally cave in for Worcester on another odd man rush, this time against WorSharks captain Mike Moore. Again, Moore played it well enough had there been a decent goaltender behind him, but Jakaitis couldn’t handle Kyle Wilson’s wrist shot at 17:15 of the third. Dane Byers added an empty net goal–although several WorSharks fans might argue all of Springfield’s goals were empty net goals–at 18:58 for the 4-2 final.

GAME NOTES
The Worcester Shuttle made a stop on the east coast earlier this week and picked up John McCarthy. Cory Quirk was listed as the team’s only healthy scratch. Tony Lucia, James Marcou, Tommy Wingels, and Alex Stalock are all listed as injured. Curiously, goaltender Daren Machesney didn’t play but was not mentioned on either list. Tyson Sexsmith was Jakaitis’ back up. With Sexsmith on the bench wearing his jersey #31 Jakaitis switched to #1, making him the first goaltender in Worcester hockey history to play in consecutive games wearing a different number. One has to wonder how bad Sexsmith’s left hand, broken in a early season ECHL fight with Josh Tordjman, really is if he’s sitting on the bench while these two lesser goaltenders play and lose games.

In a humorous note, Jakaitis is generously listed at 5’10”. The presumption is he must have been measured wearing his skates while standing on a milk crate. He’s easily three or four inches shorter than what he is listed at.

This writer will be taking his usual late February long weekend, so there will likely not be any WorSharks updates from me until early next week.

The three stars of the game were
1. SPR – 29 Kyle Wilson (gwg)
2. SPR – 36 Trevor Smith (g,a)
3. WOR – 14 Jonathan Cheechoo (g)

The Sharkspage player of the game was Patrick Davis.

Even strength lines
McGinn/Swift/Cheechoo
Mashinter/Ferriero/Davis
Trevelyan/Desjardins/DaSilva
MacIntyre/Henderson/McLaren

Moore/Sullivan
Petrecki/Loprieno
Irwin/Schaus

Penalty Kill lines
Desjardins/Davis(DaSilva)
Ferriero/McGinn

Moore/Schaus
Petrecki/Sullivan

BOXSCORE
Springfield 0 2 2 – 4
Worcester 2 0 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Worcester, Cheechoo 18 (Swift, McGinn), 4:13. 2, Worcester, Mashinter 11 (Davis, Irwin), 9:07. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-3, Springfield, Filatov 5 (Smith, Sestito), 13:52. 4, Springfield, Smith 18 (Sestito, Goloubef), 16:59 (PP). Penalties-Loprieno Wor (holding), 14:59.

3rd Period-5, Springfield, Wilson 11 (Kubalik), 17:15. 6, Springfield, Byers 12 (Guite, Frischmon), 18:58 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Springfield 10-8-9-27. Worcester 10-17-7-34.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 1/1; Worcester 0/0.
Goalies-Springfield, LeNeveu 14-13-2 (34 shots-32 saves). Worcester, Jakaitis 1-2-0 (26 shots-23 saves).
A-3,306
Referees-Chris Brown (86), Geno Binda (22). Linesmen-Jack Millea (23), Todd Whittemore (70).10000

DOH Podcast #136: Ian White acquisition, Western Conference trades, San Jose Sharks winning streak

[audio:http://dudesonhockey.com/podcast/doh_2011_0223.mp3]

Mike Peattie and Doug Santana evaluate the acquisition of offensive defenseman Ian White from the Carolina Hurricanes, discuss his first two games as a San Jose Shark against the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings, the second trade of defenseman Derek Joslin to Carolina for future considerations, the recent play of goaltender Antti Niemi, and take a look at the massive Colorado and Dallas Stars trades this week on the 136th episode of the Dudes on Hockey podcast.

This Sharks podcast is posted here with permission. Visit dudesonhockey.com for more coverage of the team or download the MP3 file directly here.

Bullet Points – San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings

– A few bullet point notes from the San Jose Sharks 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday night:

– The Sharks won their third straight game at Joe Louis Arena, a building where they had built up a 5-26-1-3 record prior to Tuesday night, and swept the regular season series at Detroit for the first time in franchise history. While the Colorado Avalanche shutout afforded San Jose the opportunity to briefly look ahead in the schedule, Detroit allowed the Sharks a specific look at a potential playoff obstacle should they qualify for the postseason. The Red Wings are on pace for their 11th straight 100 point season, their 15th 100 point season over the last 18 years. The Sharks were on pace for 96 points as of last week, but they could be edging their way towards their 5th straight 100 points season, their 6th in 7 years. FSN Detroit noted the Detroit Red Wings break down their schedule into 10-game segments. Ken Holland wanted his team to earn 12-13 points in each segment, allowing for 100+ point season and an easier qualification for the playoffs. This year the team has obliged him: (1-10: 7-2-1, 11-20: 7-2-1, 21-30: 6-3-1, 31-40: 5-3-2, 41-50: 6-3-1, 51-60: 6-4-0). Former San Jose Sharks head coach Darryl Sutter used to break the schedule down into 5-game segments to closely examine trends. Using Holland’s 10 game analysis, the Sharks have been improving as the season progressed: (1-10: 5-4-1, 11-20: 5-2-3, 21-30: 5-4-1, 31-40: 6-4-0, 41-50: 4-5-1, 51-60: 8-2-0, 61: 1-0)

– Coming off his NHL first star of the week performance, Antti Niemi made the save of the game late in the third period on Johan Franzen (video above). Down 4-2, Henrik Zetterberg scored a one-timer on the power play to bring the game within a goal at 18:09. Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock pulled Jimmy Howard for an extra attacker with 38.5 seconds left. Nicklas Lidstrom fired a point shot that deflected off of traffic in front of Niemi. As a pair of Sharks defenseman collapsed around Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen cut in from the side to gather the loose puck. Franzen swept the puck around Dan Boyle and on goal. With fans already cheering in the stands, Niemi used a desperation pad extension to smother the low shot. Niemi stopped 35 of 38 shots against to earn his 21st win of the season, and was particularly strong in the first and third periods. Niemi locked down the crease on early scoring opportunities by Draper, Datsyuk and Helm, as the Wings outshot the Sharks 9-1 in the first half of the opening period.

– Joe Thornton scored the 300th goal of his career 19:52 into the first period. “(In front of the net) is where we are going to score goals,” Thornton told Comcast Sportsnet California. “Danny did a good job getting it past the first four guys. I happened to beat Stuart out of the corner, then it went off my stick into the back of the net.” Detroit had killed off a 4-minute high sticking double minor on Jonathan Ericsson, who got his stick up to the face of Logan Couture, as well as an extended 5-on-3 when Nicklas Lidstrom took another high sticking penalty at the side of the net. A third holding call on Hudler set up the Sharks power play. Dany Heatley won a puck battle in the corner before moving the puck to Boyle on the point. A point shot deflected off traffic, off of Pavelski’s stick and sat to the right of Jimmy Howard. Thornton beat Stuart to lift a backhand into the net for his 300th. “(Thornton’s goal) was just one of those ones where it’s like playing ‘Plinko’ on ‘The Price is Right.’ It bounced off everyone and just happened to land right on Joe’s stick,” Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard said. Thornton registered a game high 6 shots on goal, with one missed shot and one blocked shot. 130 of Thornton’s 300 goals have come as a San Jose Shark, 5th best in franchise history.

– San Jose Mercury News beat writer David Pollak noted that each of the Jonathan Ericsson and Nicklas Lidstrom high sticks on Logan Couture in the first period caused seperate cuts on his chin. Each cut was an inch long, requiring 4 stitches. While Ericcsson was given a 4 minute double minor, Lidstrom received only 2. “The ref didn’t take time to look at it carefully. He thought it was the same cut,” Couture told Pollak. “He still thought it was the same cut. After it got stitched up. I don’t know how you can’t see that.” Couture posted a rather grisly photo of his chin on twitter after the game, two souvenirs from the toughest building the Sharks have ever played in. For some reason Couture did not get the memo on Detroit. In 3 career games at Joe Louis Arena dating back to November 5th last season, Couture has scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 3 games. In that span the Sharks registered a 2-0-1 record. Couture also added a goal at the Joe in the third game of the 2010 WCSF series.

– Devin Setoguchi built on his first career hat trick on Saturday night with a pair of goals on the road against Detroit. Joe Thornton earned a primary assist on each. Sharks head coach Todd McLellan pointed to Setoguchi’s complete game, not just his goal scoring, as one of the reasons for his recent hot streak, “It’s everything that leads up to the goal,” McLellan told the media in Detroit. “It’s the fact that he’s involved physically, that he’s in on the forecheck, that he stays in battles, that his shift length’s right, that he’s working back defensively, I can go on and on. Then it ends with a goal.” He compared that to Setoguchi’s performance earlier. “Sometimes in his case, earlier in the year you want it to start with a goal and then do everything else after. Credit to him for turning it around.” The 24-year old has scored 10 goals in his last 13 games, after registering 7 in his previous 39. He is clicking after being re-united with linemate Joe Thornton. “Jumbo has the ability to find them. They have clicked before and they have some chemistry,” McLellan said. Setoguchi’s first goal came with 17 seconds left in the second period. Thornton carried the puck into the zone, then carried the rebound of Couture’s shot/pass behind the net. Thornton hit a driving Setoguchi with a hard pass out in front, and #16 got enough of his blade on the puck to send it into the back of the net before his body followed him in. A hard shove by Bertuzzi helped Setoguchi into the back of the net. Setoguchi’s second goal came on a simlar play to one he scored against Colorado. Backing out in the slot to be the third man high on the forecheck, Setoguchi ripped a hard one-timer past Howard on a nice feed by Thornton. “We know how much we like to come in here and get a win, they are such a good team,” Setoguchi said of the rare victory at Joe Louis Arena. On his recent success after struggling earlier in the year, Setoguchi replied, “hockey is a weird game, sometimes you don’t deserve to score, and sometimes you do and don’t.”

– The Sharks mixed and matched lines trying to look for chemistry throughout the game against Detroit. In the first period, Clowe-Wellwood-Couture and Mitchell-McCarthy-Mayers were put on the ice, while Pavelski was used on the power play and with Eager-Wellwood and Heatley-Clowe. In the second period, Clowe-Pavelski-Heatley and Wellwood-Couture-Eager lines were used early, and Heatley-Marleau-Clowe and Mitchell-Pavelski-Eager lines were used late. In the Third Couture-Thornton-Setoguchi and Mitchell-Pavelski-Eager were prominent. The forward and defensive combinations allowed head coach Todd McLellan to experiment in order to find players who were gelling, but the ice time was also more evenly spread across the board than it was earlier in the season. “It was a very intense game both ways, a lot of battles in the crease area, a lot of board battles as well,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. “I think when you play against that team, you at least need to win 50% of them. We found a way later on to do it, certainly not earlier.”

– Both teams combined for 81 total shots on goal. After Detroit started the first outshooting San Jose 9-1, the Sharks finished with an 18-10 first period lead based on a pair of minor penalties, and a double minor that lead to an extended 5-on-3. San Jose scored its lone PP goal in the first, and registered 13 shots on the power play in the period. “The bottom line is they made more plays in the end, so you got to give them credit,” Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told the media. “I don’t think either team planned on giving up (43 and 38) shots, that’s not how you probably want to play. But there were lots of plays made, there was good speed.” End-to-end action in the third period caused many fans to rise out of their seats. Breakaways by Setoguchi and Bertuzzi were followed by a near miss by Heatley and Marleau on a 2-on-1. Playoff intensity is somewhat of an overused term, but Tuesday night was a notch or two higher than playoff intensity, reaching near elimination game levels. The type of play where one mistake on the ice could end it all.

– Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned from a one game absence. Kent Huskins (bumps and bruises), Scott Nichol (upper body) and Justin Braun were scratches. Detroit forward Patrick Eaves was injured checking Joe Pavelski behind the net in the second period. Eaves immediately left the ice, and he will reportedly be out at least a week according to Mlive’s Ansar Khan. In addition in a pair of cuts to the face suffered by Logan Couture, defenseman Dan Boyle also scarily took a skate blade to the nose. Hudler fell akwardly, and as he lost his balance his skate caught Boyle up high. Boyle went to the bench for repairs, but did not leave the game.

[Update] Red Wings-Sharks wrap-up: Sharp like a spork – The Malik Report.

The Hockey News/XM Home Ice 204 Podcast: Tomas Kaberle trade, Chris Anderson for Brian Elliot deal, February 28th NHL trade deadline, Calgary Flames interim GM Jay Feaster

[audio:http://www.thehockeynews.com/upload/audio/TheHockeyNewsRadioShowFebruary182011.mp3]

Last Friday on The Hockey News Radio Show with Adam Proteau and Jim ‘Boomer’ Gordon on XM Satellite Radio Home Ice Channel 204: Adam and Boomer are joined in the first segment by THN assignment editor and writer John Grigg to talk about the Tomas Kaberle trade, the Craig Anderson/Brian Elliott deal and potential trades at the Feb. 28 trade deadline. In the second block, Calgary Flames interim GM Jay Feaster calls in to talk about his team’s stunning turnaround in the standings, the Heritage Classic and the trade deadline. In the final segment, the Ask Adam mailbag answers questions on Michael Grabner, the Sens’ rebuilding process, Peter Forsberg and Claude Giroux.

This podcast is posted here with permission. Visit thehockeynews.com and XM Radio NHL Home Ice 204 for more NHL coverage. Download the podcast via Itunes, or directly via the MP3 file here.

Born to Fight XIV showcased 11 amateur MMA fights Sunday afternoon in Fremont

FSA'S ANDRE SALAS (3-0) GROUND AND POUNDS DOYLE CHILDS (1-1)

A SUPERMAN PUNCH LANDED IN THE CENTER OF THE CAGE

BTF RING GIRLS FROM HOOTERS DUBLIN AND ANAHEIM

On August 24th, 2009 The California State Athletic Commission officially designated CAMO (California Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Organization, Inc.) as the official regulator for amateur mixed martial arts and Pankration in the State of California. It was a boon for amateur fightsports in the state, and it added a valuable developmental step for fighters and gyms to prepare MMA athletes for professional competition. There has been a subsequent explosion of CAMO regulated events in the 8 designated in-state regions (Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange County, San Diego, Central Valley, Central Coast, Sacramento, Bay Area), culminating in the first ever California State Amateur MMA Championship tournament that finished late last year.

One of the most consistent amateur MMA events, in terms of both competitors and production, has been the south bay’s Born-to-Fight series. Developed by former kickboxing champion and American Kickboxing Academy founder Javier Mendez and former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le, Born to Fight regularly draws over capacity crowds and a who’s-who of professional MMA athletes that turn up to watch the action. Sunday night at the Saddlerack in Fremont, 11 amateur fights and an enormous 24+ foot cage provided a solid showcase for amateur MMA.

The main event featured FSA’s Andre Salas (3-0) vs. Team Battle Control’s Doyle Childs (1-1). After being dropped with a punch, Childs attempted a knee bar then an ankle lock before he succumbed to Salas’ withering groud and pound. The referee stepped in to stop the fight. In the co-main event, Undisputed/Gladiator Academy’s Nikko Jackson showed a clear advantage on the feet. Able to move in and out, he knocked down Team Sickness’ Alex Katrib but preferred to remain on his feet. In the second round, Jackson pinned Katrib up against the cage and landed more than a dozen heavy uppercuts. After continued punishment, the ref stepped in to stop the fight to a loud roar from the crowd. In a display of sportsmanship, Jackson raised Katrib’s hand as well as his own after the fight.

One of Sunday’s closest affairs came with young Brian Bothwell (AKA) against Fairtex SF’s Jay O’Conner. One week after his 18th birthday, Bothwell had several top professional MMA competitors yelling instructions at him ringside. O’Conner earned a takedown early in the first, but Bothwell was able to fight off a deep armbar attempt. The Fairtex fighter stuffed Bothwell’s weak single leg attempt at the end of the round. It would be the first of three critical mistakes the talented but inexperienced fighter would make.

After shaking off a low blow in the second, Bothwell tried another unsucessful takedown. Stuck in a neutral position, he tried to spin out and instead ended up on his back. Moments after touching gloves in the third, Bothwell popped a long punch off the face of O’Conner, but another unsuccessful takedown attempt ground his attack to a halt. The young AKA fighter tried to roll out of the position, but instead ended up on his back. After fighting off a RNC attempt by wall walking off the cage, Bothwell lost a unanimous decision loss to O’Connor.

Team Alphamale fighter Teshawn Walls (1-0) came into the cage with loud support from one section of the crowd. In the same stable as former Sacramento champion Urijah Faber, Walls quickly overpowered World Team USA’s Frank Waindle. After pushing him up against the cage and then getting him quickly to the ground, a Waindle did not tap out but was choked out by a RNC at 1:24. Walls is a talented fighter to keep an eye on.

Jose Perez earned a unanimous decision against Paul Copada, and earned one of the highlights of the night by sprawling his legs midair to prevent a takedown against. AKA’s Shamir Erfanian defeated Dustin “Baby Cung” Moore in a back-and-forth affair. “Baby Cung” tired considerably in the second round, and Erfanian gained full mount and pulled off a quality takedown in the third. Crispim BJJ’s Joe Neal earned a solid decision win over Casey Jackson. Instead of taking the fight to the ground with several opportunities, Neal controlled the fight on his feet and picked up his third amateur MMA win.

In early action, Pacific Ring’s Ricky Cheung earned a RNC submission, and Steve Tomayo earned a decision win over John T. Donaldson. Team AKA’s Aaron “the misfit” Singh earned slam of the night against Jeremiah Labiano. Singh also earned a split decision win (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) after three rounds. In Sunday’s opening bout, Felix Joseph Lopez was hit by a big right hand at the end of the first round by USH fight team’s Radames Garcia. Garcia was able to get top control in the second, but Lopez earned a verbal tap 56 seconds into the round.

The large cage with red mat was imported from Cung Le’s gym. With new lights up top, and a few extra monitors and large screens provided by the Saddlerack, it was one of the most well produced smaller shows this blog has visited. In attendance ringside or in the VIP section were UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez, former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thompson, Strikeforce competitors James Terry, Luke Rockhold, Nate Moore and several others. James Terry and Noad Lahat were in the corner for a pair of AKA fighters. Word ringside was to keep an eye out for the 5-0 Lahat, a beast on the ground reportedly unsubmittable by the talented crew at AKA.

There was also an announcement that Cung Le’s new gym would have a grand opening April 3rd in Santa Teresa. Born to Fight 15 will feature amateur kickboxing March 19th at AKA Milpitas. A photo gallery from the event is available here.

[Update] Official results:

BORN TO FIGHT XIV – CAMO AMATEUR MMA
Sunday, February 20th, 2010
Saddlerack Bar, Fremont, CA

Andre Salas d. Doyle Childs
Referee Stoppage – Round 1, 3:00.

Nikko Jackson d. Alex Katrib
TKO – Round 2, 1:18.

Jay O’Connor d. Brian Bothwell
Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) – Round 3.

Teshawn Walls sub. Frank Waindle
Submission (Rear Naked Choke) – Round 1, 1:24.

Jose Perez d. Paul Copada
Unanimous Decision – Round 3.

Shamir Erfanian d. Dustin Moore
Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3.

Joe Neal d. Casey Jackson
Majority Decision – Round 3.

Ricky Cheung sub. Rizaldy Celi
Submission (Rear Naked Choke) – Round 1, 1:38.

Steve Tomayo d. John T. Donaldson
Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3.

Aaron Singh d. Jeremiah Labiano
Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Round 3.

Radames Garcia sub. Felix Joseph Lopez
Submission (Verbal tap) – Round 2, 0:56.