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It’s All Or Nothing For the San Jose Sharks

“Most of the home teams have really struggled,”-- Coach Ron Wilson

By Barbara Mason
Raiderdrive.com/BASD
Story posted by Al Reyes-BASD

The San Jose Sharks are on a mission this season and there is only one acceptable conclusion in the final chapter of this journey. Hoisting the Stanley Cup upon their capable young shoulders is their goal, and they will be satisfied with little else. They are a feisty, confident and talented group, a blend that could very well take them to the top of the heap when it is all said and done. The evidence is compelling. They have fought through incredible adversity refusing to throw in the towel season after season coming so very close so many times. They have a young team defensively speaking which is not necessarily a bad thing. Their offense has more than proven themselves and they are poised and ready to go out and shatter more records. The slow starts that have weighed heavily the past few seasons were overcome despite the threat that they presented. Coming out of the gate at a winning clip, however, would be a welcome relief, a nice change of pace.

It all began last night at HP Pavilion, as the San Jose Sharks took on the St. Louis Blues in the 2006-07-season opener. It was less than a minute into the first period that the first goal of the season at HP Pavilion was scored. It didn’t find the net that the sell-out crowd had hoped for and the Blues took the early lead 1-0. San Jose’s #18 Matt Carle tied up the game 1-1 minutes later assisted by #16 Mark Smith and #11 Marcel Goc. Although San Jose controlled the puck for most of the quarter, it was St. Louis that took the lead as the first period ended 2-1. San Jose also had two power plays that they were unable to take advantage of, something that had plagued them much of last season.

6:11 into the second period San Jose scored on the power play, a 5 on 3 when #9Milan Michalek scored assisted by #14 Jonathan Cheechoo and #19 Joe Thornton. St. Louis did nothing for their cause when immediately after the goal they committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and gave the Sharks another 5 on 3 and another score for their first lead in the game 3-2. Again, it was Milan Michalek for his second goal of the game assisted by Joe Thornton and #26 Steve Bernier. The crowd that had quieted towards the end of the first period roared to life and the old Pavilion began to rock. St. Louis refused to back off however when San Jose began to soften a bit and allow the Blues to control play. St. Louis tied the game up when they scored at 13:48. The period ended when San Jose was able to stave off a 3 on 5 when #16 Mark Smith was called for hooking and 13 seconds later #4 Kyle McLaren was called for cross checking. A brilliant defensive effort kept St. Louis out of the net.

The final period was a fight to break the tie for both teams. For the second time that evening officials went into a review on a goal that was scored this time by San Jose, the tie-breaking goal. After what seemed an eternity, it was determined that it was not a goal and San Jose remained tied with St. Louis. At 14:18 the Sharks scored on a textbook perfect goal by #7 Mark Bell, his first as a Shark set up by Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton, and a 4-3 lead. With 6 seconds left in the game, the Sharks could not hold off the Blues and the game ended in a 4-4 tie and the game went into overtime.

The overtime was short-lived when 2:12 into the extra period, #37 Curtis Brown assisted by Mark Carle and Steve Bernier gave the Sharks their first win of the season, 4-3.

It wasn’t pretty, being a very up and down game, but the good news is that San Jose had the where with all to hang in there and pull this one out. With all the distractions that persisted throughout the game, both teams had to try to keep their concentration on the task at hand. Despite two lengthy reviews, one of the officials being escorted off the ice with an ugly gash above his left eye and the repair of a gaping hole along the side of the barrier surrounding the rink, it was San Jose that came away with the two points.

Joe Thornton was surprised at what the St. Louis Blues brought into this game. “They played tough, their D played great tonight I thought. We didn’t get enough fore check on defense. We didn’t get any pressure down low and they played solid.” He alluded to the length of the game, being one of the longest he had seen. “It was long,” he said laughing. “I haven’t played too many games past twelve o’clock and this might be the first one. I’m just glad we got to finish the game.”

The evening started off tough for goalie Vesa Toskala with St. Louis putting in two early goals in the first period. “It’s always tough when other teams score a couple of goals early in the game so it’s kind of hard to get into it. It was quite a weird game I think,” he said. “The puck was bouncing around and it will go a better way when we get to more games. It was kind of hard to get into it today,” he reiterated.

Curtis Brown who scored the game-winning goal felt that the team played sloppy at times. “We’ve got to give St Louis credit. They played their game very well and got in behind their defense. It was two points and that’s how we’ve got to look at it.” He gave so much of the credit to the San Jose fans for their continued support. “For the hockey people around the country that don’t know, San Jose has got the greatest fans. Stereotypes around different areas in the country go out the window here. It’s great to be back.”

The shaky play that persisted last night was something that had been seen around the league in many of the openers. “Most of the home teams have really struggled,” said Shark Coach Ron Wilson. “At least the team that is clearly the favorite struggled a little bit. I think tonight we were guilty of trying to do too much at times, making longer passes. We don’t even practice some of the passes we were making tonight but we managed to find a way to win. I’m happy for the newer guys who contributed a lot tonight. With Mark Bell and Curtis Brown scoring goals, that kind of welcomes them into the Shark family.”

San Jose will have one day to clean it up before they take the ice again at HP Pavilion against the Islanders Saturday night. The puck will drop at 7:30