Friday, October 05, 2007

Opening Night Thoughts

I didn't finish watching the game until 1am, so my impressions may be as worthless as tits on a hog. I never understood that expression, which makes it all the more appropriate.

  • D-Gate! We need some pressure defense. I think there were a couple of Edmonton power plays where the Sharks literally did not touch the puck. We'd just let 'em skate around the outside, cycle for a while, then they'd give to Souray and he'd blast a shot at about a thousand miles per hour. It'd ricochet around at a couple of hundred miles per hour, and eventually get kicked to the point or a corner again, where they'd repeat. I guess it was effective, since Edmonton didn't score a power play goal, but the Sharks are playing with fire if it continues.
  • Torrey Mitchell looked awesome. A post, and a couple of good scoring chances. The question that will be answered soon enough is 'can he put out that kind of effort every night, even on a Wednesday night away game in Columbus'?
  • Bummer about Setoguchi's ankle- he really should have made his debut last night, he earned it.
  • If Joe keeps shooting like he did last night, he'll both open up more passing lanes and score 35 goals. He was like a Shark with a friggin laser beam on his head with that goal (see what I did there?)
  • The Sharks are worthless in the shootout. WORTHLESS.
And I want to apologize to Scott Thornton for my crack (and the Kings, although that part hurts a little). After this epic beatdown of George Parros, I'll never doubt again:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree... I wasn't too concerned about the first 3 periods, as we were a couple of posts away from blowing them out. We were clearly the better team. Two things concerned me: 1) Edmonton's speed guys kept getting behind our defense and were connecting on long passes, and 2) we completely, horribly and miserably failed in the shootout. The three shots that missed could be compared to Joe's Teal & White shootout effort. Our SO lineup should be as follows: Mitchell, Seto, Michalek, Goc, Marleau... all speed. The SO is about getting the Goaltender out of position, and a slow skate in with a double move almost never works. Speed and hands...

I'm glad we got the point, though, and Joe is the man. Worth every penny the Sharks pay him, if not more.

Let's bounce back in Vancouver tonite.