How to Win a Hockey Game

The Sharks got a badly needed win tonight in Philadelphia, 3-1 over the reeling Flyers. This ends a five-game San Jose losing streak.

This is as happy as I've been with a Sharks effort for a very long time. They did (almost) everything a hockey team needs to do to win tonight. Let's break it down...

How to Win a Hockey Game

#1: Get great goaltending. Check. Evgeni Nabokov played an outstanding game tonight. He made not one or two but several tough, crucial saves. Without him, the Sharks play most of this game from behind, rather than with the lead.

#2: Get goals from your go-to guys. Check. Sure, you want to have a balanced attack, but every hockey team has a handful of guys you look to for the core of your scoring. When these guys are finding the net, things generally tend to go pretty well. When these guys aren't finding the net, there's much anxiety (see: earlier this season, subjects Marleau and Cheechoo). Tonight, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek, two of the Sharks biggest guns, both scored goals.

#3: Get a big play or two from an unexpected source. Check. In the 1994 playoffs, the Sharks got critical goals from Shawn Cronin and Vlastimil Kroupa in the course of winning their first playoff game ever. That victory came at the expense of the mighty (then as now) Detroit Red Wings. The Sharks, of course, went on to take that series in an upset the likes of which may never again be seen in the NHL. As you can see here and here, neither of these guys lit the lamp much--Cronin had not scored that season, had only three goals in his NHL career up to that point, and never scored again--but it was the sort of thing that made you believe that anything was possible.

Tonight, Douglas Murray scored the Sharks' third and final goal of the game--his first goal in 115 NHL games. (Congrats, Douglas!) Coming as it did so quickly after Michalek's goal, it was a real kick in the teeth for the Flyers, who never really looked like much of a threat for the rest of the game.

#4: Show mental toughness. Check. Craig Rivet took a gamble on a San Jose power play very late in the second period, and things went badly awry when a misplay at the blue line, combined with Rivet pinching, sprung the Flyers on a three-on-one. A properly executed three-on-one should end with someone shooting at an empty net, and the Flyers properly executed their three-on-one--goal, Mike Knuble, with only 5.8 seconds left in the second period. The immediately preceding San Jose power play had looked promising, but instead of going into the second intermission up 2-0, the Sharks went into the locker room tied at a goal apiece.

It's always bad to give up a goal late in a period, and the later in the period you give it up the worse it is, but for a team on the skids, playing their fourth road game in five nights, that could've been a genuine back-breaker. It wasn't. The Sharks came out at the beginning of the third and picked up right where they left off, continuing to control the play, and before long they were ahead 3-1 and it was the Flyers who were collapsing.

#5: Stay out of the box. Check. The Flyers had nary a power play tonight. The only San Jose penalty minutes were assessed to Jody Shelley for a tough, gutsy fight against Flyer PIM leader Riley Cote.

And, finally, the complement to #5...

#6: Make the other guy pay when he's in the box. Ch--er, wait. No check. The Sharks' power play looked dangerous at times tonight, but they still couldn't put one away. Against a team that takes a lot of penalties, like the Flyers (or the Ducks) you really have to take advantage of your power plays.

So, it wasn't a perfect night, but still a very good one. I've been rough on the Sharks when they haven't played well, but tonight they played well. I'd be happy to not be rough on them for the rest of the season...of course, this would require them to play well for the rest of the season.

We'll see which Sharks team shows up on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Cheechoo Hat Trick. 'Nuff Said.

I spent this evening hanging with my fantasy football buddies (yes, for those who may be wondering, I am in a fantasy hockey league...but I do play fantasy football as well, because, you know, it's the law) and getting my posterior handed to me at poker, so I missed tonight's 4-3 victory over Nashville. When I checked the score on my cell phone after going all in and getting stomped, I didn't have to look far for the exciting news of the night, which of course is Jonathan Cheechoo's hat trick. He's been playing noticeably better hockey for several games now (as I've noted in this blog), and the feeling that he's finally back on track is growing continually stronger.

If the Sharks continue to get the strong defense and goaltending that they have had all year, and continue to get brilliant work from Big Joe (three helpers tonight) as they have all year, and add to that regular goal production from Cheechoo, they become a team that even the best teams in the West will have trouble with. Catching the Red Wings at this point is too much to ask, but winning the Pacific and getting the #2 seed in the playoffs seem like very legitimate and achievable goals.


Congrats to Coach Wilson...

...on becoming just the eleventh coach in NHL history to reach the 500-win mark. When you read that he's now tied with the legendary Toe Blake, that really makes you sit up and take notice. I'll admit I've done a bit of grumbling about Coach Wilson now and again over the years of his tenure in San Jose, but tying someone like Toe Blake in career coaching wins is one hell of an accomplishment. Well done, Coach.

Thirty-Three More, Just Like That

The Sharks head into the All-Star break on a good note after last night's convincing 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. They didn't play a perfect game, but it was certainly one of their best performances of the season--they did what they needed to do to beat a tired and less-talented (though much-improved) team.

Last night's contest had one detail in common with Tuesday night's game against Chicago--in both, San Jose failed to register a shot on goal until more than half of the first period had gone by. However, unlike the Blackhawks game, in which the Sharks came onto the ice looking dispirited and tentative, Team Teal worked hard, with guts and heart, right from the drop of the puck last night. So did the Blues, for that matter. Neither team managed many shots on goal in the first period last night, because both San Jose and St. Louis were playing solid, physical, defensive hockey. The effort was certainly there.

Jonathan Cheechoo's performance last night was extremely heartening--he was one of the best Sharks over the course of what was, on balance, a mediocre homestand. One of the few bright spots from the rout at the hands of the Wings was Cheechoo's tricky goal, which totally fooled Dominik Hasek. And last night he was by far the best player on the ice, working his way into the tough real estate in front of the goal and scoring two from in close. Perhaps his early struggles really can be attributed to the off-season surgery he had to deal with. I like what I see from him lately, and I'm hopeful he's about to embark upon a huge second half.

Another good sign from the Sharks last night was a bit of killer instinct. As I mentioned in my post about the Detroit game, much success in ice hockey comes from making the other guy pay for his mistakes. The Sharks made the Blues pay for their mistakes last night. The first goal occurred when St. Louis somehow lost track of Joe Thornton and let him get in behind the defense--about as big a mistake as you can make against San Jose. Thornton made another of his how-does-he-make-it-look-so-easy passes to Milan Michalek, who had some trouble with the puck initially but hung with the play and eventually tapped it past Manny Legace.

Then, in the third period, with the Blues on the power play after having scored to make it 3-1 and showing some signs of life, Keith Tkachuk did something very Keith-Tkachuk-like, initiating a pointless scrap with Torrey Mitchell and getting himself sent off for roughing, not only negating the man advantage but taking one of St. Louis's best goal scorers (himself) off the ice. When Patrick Rissmiller came out of the box to end the four-on-four and put San Jose on the power play, Cheech scored his second of the night to make it 4-1 and kill St. Louis's budding rally.

All in all, it was the kind of effort from the Sharks that I had expected to see much more of this season. Perhaps we'll see many more performances like this in the second half.