Do Call It a Comeback...

...Because For a While We Really Weren't Here.

Toronto 1 1 0 - 2
San Jose 0 0 3 - 3

I don't know how many recaps of Sharks games I've read this year in which one San Jose player or another (or their coach) has been quoted as saying "We just didn't come out ready tonight," or words to that effect. And it doesn't matter that I haven't kept track of the number, because the only acceptable number is zero.

The Sharks came out with very little spirit or energy tonight (again) and were outworked by the Toronto Maple Leafs for the entire first period and most of the second of a game that was broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada, falling behind 2-0. On the first goal, by Nik Antropov, San Jose was casual with the puck in their own zone and paid for it immediately. The second Toronto marker was as soft a goal as I've seen Evgeni Nabokov give up this season--a Pavel Kubina shot that went five hole. Goalies are always particularly bothered by goals that go through them, and this one went through Nabby. (A short time before, a scary moment as he went down to the ice for the better part of a minute after taking an inadvertent knee to the head from Antropov, and one wonders if that had anything to do with it).

After a period and three quarters of obliging playing Dr. Feelgood for a reeling team, the Sharks finally started to play with some spark towards the end of the second, putting the Leafs back on their heels and drawing a penalty just before the intermission. Then, at the start of the third, on the carry-over time of the ensuing power play, something finally went right for Patrick Marleau. After missing on the doorstep, he scored on a long shot that was deflected by Hal Gill and snuck through Toskala. That's hockey.

To the Sharks' credit, once they got rolling they kept their foot on the gas and pressed for the kill against a fragile, dispirited team. Another goal for Craig Rivet from the blueline is very encouraging--let's hope this trend continues. And it was great to see Joe Pavelski put one in the back of the net after a couple of good performances.

But the Sharks were very fortunate to play badly for more than half of the game and still thieve a come-from-behind 3-2 win tonight. What precisely will it take to get this team to come out with intensity and hard work every single night? With games against Anaheim, Dallas, and Detroit in the near future, an answer had better be forthcoming, and soon.

Friday Fragments (January 11, 2008)

Cujo

News services are reporting that "sources" claim goaltender Curtis Joseph (presently out of work) is interested in signing with either the Sharks or the Calgary Flames, and that these teams are in turn interested in him. TSN's article has characterized the process of Joseph narrowing the number of teams he would like to play for from five to two as a "sweepstakes".

All reports are he played well in leading a team of Canadians to victory in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland, making 38 saves in the final against Russian squad Salavat Yulaev of Ufa. Even at age 40, then, he probably still has something in the tank...but if he winds up in a Sharks uniform I'm pretty sure I'm unlikely to feel as though Ed McMahon just showed up at my door with a giant novelty check. I'm uncertain where the notion that Curtis Joseph is the best free-agent goalie in the world comes from.

Look, are the other goalies in the Sharks' system ready or not? Thomas Greiss has never played an NHL minute, but there was a time when Evgeni Nabokov had never played an NHL minute, either. Then he showed up and won the Calder. If Greiss is worth having in the system he needs to play sometime, and there's no such thing as an unimportant game, so now is as good a time as any.

If Cujo wants to have a job in the NHL I'm sure he can find one, and I wish him well. Maybe he'll be unbeatable...stranger things have happened. But given the choice between Joseph and a young goalie scouted and developed by an organization with a league-wide reputation as one of the best when it comes to scouting and developing goalies, I think I'd rather have the kid.


Crumbling Leafs

Tomorrow night the Sharks host the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are absolutely on the verge of disintegrating. On a swing through SoCal the last few nights, the Leafs lost to the Ducks 5-0 then fell behind the Kings 5-0 before pulling two back to make the margin a little more respectable. Vesa Toskala, returning from an injury, stopped only 19 of 24 shots in Anaheim, but did better in relief of the torched Andrew Raycroft against L.A. Will the late signs of life against the Kings stir Toronto to make a stand against the Sharks? Or will the collapse continue? We'll see tomorrow...


Almost a Caps Fan?

In an earlier post I expressed some fondness for the Washington Capitals. (And no, I have nothing to say about the Ovechkin deal). I used to live in the D.C. suburbs when I was a little kid, and on a recent visit to my parents' house my mother confirmed for me that she and my father did indeed take me to a Caps game when I was little--I couldn't have been any more than five or six. (I've had a dim memory of this, but I wasn't entirely positive the event had actually occurred).

At some point in the future I'll relate the story of how I became a Sharks fan, but for the moment it's sufficient to say that the tale involves the theft of the team I grew up rooting for (the Minnesota North Stars). Sometimes I wonder what team I would've wound up supporting if particular events in my life hadn't led me to the Sharks. I'll bet I would've been a Caps fan...