@ 7:00 PST
13-13-7, 35 points		19-8-7, 45 points
15th in Western Conference		4th in Western Conference

As was mentioned in "Banging The Drums, The Doldrums", this current five game slide San Jose has gone through really isn't a direct reflection of the defense-- the most goals they've given up in one game during regulation has been four. You have Jay Leach's miscommunication against Dallas, the mental meltdown at the end of the game against St. Louis, and an all around porous effort against Los Angeles, but other than that the mistakes have been limited in number, or at least limited in the number of times they have ended up in the back of the net.

What has been an issue, however, is secondary scoring. During last year's postseason series against the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose's output was severely lacking-- three goals combined from the bottom nine forwards. Half a goal per game from 3/4th of your forward group is going to bury you, especially if your goaltender is turning in a sub-.900 save percentage.

At any rate, what we have here is the boxcar stats for the forwards during this five game skid. Pretty basic stuff-- goals, assists, and points. The players are paired by lines and listed by jersey numbers; the totals to the right signify how many points they've scored between them.

Out of that bottom six group, Manny Malhotra is the only one to notch a point-- not surprisingly, he's also the only one who has seen top six minutes during that time span (before being bumped down by the promotion of Devin Setoguchi).

The question, of course, is whether or not there is some help on the horizon in this area. Jamie McGinn (bonjour mon ami!) has looked respectable in the last five games, but hasn't been able to cash in on his limited opportunities. Malhotra got the job done with a big goal against Los Angeles and has looked fine. Torrey Mitchell has been getting bodied off the puck a lot down low, and seemingly lost a good chunk of his skating ability-- we mentioned before that patience is going to be the name of the game with him, but it's getting to the point where things need to be improving.

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"For now I smell the rain, and with it pain."

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With a porous 1-2-3 start to December, the Sharks have had a whale of trouble finding the win column. Sure they've been picking up singles like David Duchovny before a big night on the town, but blown leads and uninspired play don't lead one to assume that those loser points can be seen as an efficacious remedy while this stretch eventually works itself out.

We'll have a quantitative look at some relevant statistics later this week. On the docket for today is just, well, whatever you want to call this. I call it the son of Jameson, and if that makes sense to you, then I consider you a dear friend.

• In general I think it's good practice to avoid falling back on the venerable criticism of "lacking effort" when examining a losing streak as it may not always apply, but if it's good enough for the Captain then I guess it's good enough for me. Whether or not we're dealing with the kickback of a heavy road schedule to start the year or a case of subconsciously resting on the laurels of that early season success, it's hard to assert and defend the notion that San Jose has come out to play for sixty minutes a night. There's been waves of good, and waves of opposing teams imposing themselves on the Sharks for extended chunks of time-- if we consider this team one of the theoretical top-dogs in the Western Conference (which we obviously do), that's not a bright spot.
• Joe Thornton is a world-class player, but his decision making with a minute remaining against Phoenix stuck out as a microcosm of the Sharks current ailments. Carrying the puck into the offensive zone he pulls up at the blueline, only to have the Phoenix defenseman do what any player worth a grain of salt would do-- pressure the puck carrier. Vulcanized rubber gets coughed up, cleared, and the Sharks don't have another chance the rest of the game. As much as the desire to hedge bets and state it's the product of a "puck-possesion" style, the fact of the matter is Thornton has to get that puck deep so the Sharks can use the extra man (Greiss was pulled around the 1:15 mark) to load up on bodies down low and win a puck battle. San Jose will never be able to emulate Detroit, at least with their current makeup of North American players. There's not nearly enough individual creativity on the roster to pull that style of play off. When the wins aren't coming you have to go back to the basics of a North-South game by chipping it in and engaging physically.
• I'm not saying San Jose is without talent-- that would be the worst idea since Stephenie Meyer began her literary career. What I am saying is that the Sharks, over an extended period of time, can't get away with making the cute play, especially when they're struggling to win hockey games. The way this team is constructed puts a heavy emphasis on the system, and they're going to live and die by that system. Cutting backdoor in the offensive zone, far-side wingers generating speed in the neutral zone, making sure the forwards are working hard to open a passing lane between the circles to receive a breakout pass in the defensive zone. With the exception of Joe Thornton (who is a non-shooting threat; keep that in mind when reading on), there's a lack of dynamic puck handling in close quarters. The only Sharks you're going to see make opposing skaters look like grocery sticks are Marleau and Boyle, and even then it's more a product of speed down the wing where the defenseman gets caught with a bad pivot. When's the last time you saw someone attempt to toe drag?
• In summation, get the fucking puck in deep.

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This is your official gameday thread. Get it done.

Go Sharks.

	@ 7:00 PST
13-8-9, 35 points		19-7-6, 44 points
8th in Western Conference		1st in Western Conference

You can feel it brewing can't you? The coming storm of superlatives and dire proclamations, questions about the team's character and ability to win in May.

Back to back losses to potential postseason teams tend to do that to a fanbase, especially one as mercurial as San Jose's. For as much as we hear forms of, "It doesn't matter until the playoffs" from various sources, both within the Sharks organization and outside of it, there's still an open wound here. It breeds insecurity. And that insecurity breeds hand-wringing.

This isn't to say the effort on Wednesday deserves commendment-- catching it on Tivo late Thursday night probably wasn't the most effective use of my time during finals week, and I'm sure many of you can identify with that. Folding laundry or playing gin rummy at grandma's house may have higher exchange values in the grand scheme of things.

And yet, in examining the broader picture of the Sharks current slide, I can't find myself to crank out one of these bad boys yet. In fact, even their current record against potential playoff teams doesn't come off as especially pertinent on a macro level. There's still plenty of time until then to iron out wrinkles and formulate game plans. A single loss in December to the Kings, Flames, or Blackhawks, while hurting spectacularly on the emotional level, comes off as more Joseph McCarthy than Nostradamus when we attempt to extrapolate outside of the current run. At the end the of the day, what you have is an opportunity for standings points, not a prophecy of how things will eventually shake out. Yes, those points haven't been coming, and yes, these types of games are a good litmus test of how the team is currently playing, but let's not lose our view of the broader picture when going through an inevitable rough patch. The post-Olympic break is really the moment where you dig in your heels and ask yourself the hard questions.

Eighty two games require that. It doesn't mean we bow our heads and let Pavelski off the hook for letting Kopitar walk in unmolested to the slot on the third goal, or question the long term validity of the defense as we have since the start of this season-- it's just that we have to be careful not to cry wolf until the wolves are actually at the door.

That being said, they're definitely creeping up the hill. We're one porous weekend away from bringing in the heavy artillery, as this upcoming back to back against Pacific Division opponents should be an early indicator of how San Jose will be able to handle adversity. Do they fold the cards, or come out and make a statement at home? They're one of four teams (TOR, PHI, NYR) who have yet to win a game when heading into the third period down at least a goal, and while the league-wide winning percentage in that area is admittedly very low, it's not a positive sign for one of the top teams in the league.

*****

I really don't have as much time for this as I would like, but here's something that put a bur in my britches yesterday:

"Absolutely," he said. "You want to have the third goal, you want to have the first goal, you want to have the fourth goal. But do you consider this a bad goal? I don’t know. I would argue that. But absolutely I would love to have it back [emphasis added]."

-Evgeni Nabokov via Working The Corners

Full disclosure-- I'm of the school of thought that talk is cheap. Quotes from players are beneficial to a point, but ultimately, what occurs on the ice is the only thing I pay attention to. Whether or not the Captain rips his team in the media or expresses displeasure with a poor performance following a loss holds little weight. Accountability only goes as far as the dressing room walls. The only thing they're accountable for to the public is winning hockey games.

At any rate, last week Nabokov pointed the finger at Vlasic for a late goal that eventually resulted in a Sharks loss to the St. Louis Blues. The above quote, saddled alongside further comments in the linked article, come off as poor form. Shades of last postseason where Nabokov passed the buck.

The issue here isn't whether or not Nabokov should speak to the media about these matters, nor is it the fact that he is attempting to relieve some cognitive dissonance for a shot that should have been stopped. That's a necessity in the delicate emotional balance between an effective goaltender and one who is playing without confidence.

The issue here is that he opened Pandora's Box by calling out Vlasic a week ago, and failed to take responsibility for Brown's goal. These things go both ways.

*****

Jay Leach in tonight, and the bottom lines get a little shaken up. Frankly I don't think Mitchell has earned his third line minutes up to this point and would prefer to see McLaren or Ortmeyer in that role.

Should be interesting to see how Leach fares. I think you probably slide Vlasic up with Boyle and have the young Derek Joslin skate with veteran Rob Blake, leaving Huskins to play on the bottom pair alongside Leach.

Prediction: Sharks win 3-2. Goals by Pavelski, Vlasic, and McGinn.

Go Sharks.

This is your official gameday thread. Get it done.

Go Sharks.

	@ 7:30 PST
18-10-3, 39 points		19-7-5, 43 points
5th in Western Conference		1st in Western Conference

Quick one from me today as I'm nurturing a relationship with some books. Yummy.

• Great game to watch against the Flames on Saturday, even if the Sharks walked out of the building with nothing to show for it in the standings. The intensity was there, the opportunities were there, it was just a matter of failing to cash in. Also, one thing that's interesting-- a lot of talk after the game about how San Jose "needed to get more people to the front of the net." While I agree with that statement to a degree (there were times when Kipper had a clear sight line to the puck at the blueline), my question is this-- did anything really change from previous outings (specifically wins), or was it just a convenient talking point after a loss? I feel like the equation hasn't differed very much on a game-to-game basis this season, and just because one goal is on the scoreboard at the end of the tilt doesn't mean they did an exceptionally poor job of jamming bodies in the crease, or more specifically, did an exceptionally poor job compared to previous outings. Sure there's room for some improvement there, but let's not kid ourselves and say that this was an atrocious effort compared to we saw in the 30 games before. In fact, I would postulate that the effort in this area was better than the majority of games I have seen this season. Say two shots that hit the post go in-- are we complaining about the lack of traffic in front of the net? I'm not sure we are. At the end of the day you have a team that is second in the NHL with 104 goals scored. You just ran into a hot goaltender.
• The Kings big guns have cooled off considerably since the last time these two teams met, and yet they continue to win games, going 6-3-1 in their last ten, including a 2-1 win to the Calgary Flames on Monday. While there may not be a battle for the Pacific Division lead tonight, it's still an important one for both teams-- Los Angeles is winless at HP Pavilion in their last five games, and San Jose is currently in the midst of a bit of a slide at home, going 1-1-1 in the month of December. These next two months were labeled a good place to pick up standings points both before this season as well as five days ago, so anytime they plan on starting to capitalize on this would be quite alright with me.
  
• Two bullet points seemed a little light, so an executive decision was made to add three.
• ...wait, there's more! Not a big fan of ice girls (sort of seems like a cheap gimmick honestly, nothing against the profession), but if they managed to pull off some Space Age suits like those that premiered in Staples Center the other night, well, then you might have me sold.
  

Prediction: Sharks win 3-1. Goals by Boyle, Heatley, and McGinn. Denis Gauthier purchases a ticket to the game and elbows Patrick Marleau in the head on his walk to the dressing room during the second intermission. Whatabum.

Go Sharks.

This is your official gameday thread.

Go Sharks.

	@ 7:30 PST
17-7-3, 37 points		19-6-5, 43 points
3rd in Western Conference		1st in Western Conference

I would be remiss not to touch upon the travesty that was St. Louis-- the fact that a shorthanded goal was given up with six seconds remaining has probably been beaten to death in the game thread, but the truth is I didn't even bother to browse being in a pretty foul mood and all. My biggest issue during the last two minutes wasn't even the shorty, but the fact that the Sharks gave up a two on one roughly forty seconds beforehand. It was a great outlet pass sure, and you have to give credit to the Blues for busting their ass all game, but San Jose has to be aware the forwards are going to be creeping into the neutral zone well before they would usually. After that gets defused with an excellent save by Nabokov, the play heads the other way. And who gets off for a line change as the puck gets dumped into the offensive zone? Two players, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake. Joe Thornton gets a pass here as he was the requisite forechecker on the play (along with beating out the icing call), but Heatley and Marleau need to make a quick change so they don't get caught with tired legs in the defensive zone. Whether it was an honest mistake, competitive instinct, or a case of seeing that empty net opportunity to pad the stats a bit doesn't matter. That shift change needs to get done.

And now we move on.

Games against Calgary might be my favorite on the docket to watch. There's a good playoff rivalry, both teams have ties with the Sutter's, the personnel (in Calgary primarily) usually has it's fair share of common blood, and they've both been consistent regular season performers since the lockout with nothing to show for it when all the cards are on the table. San Jose hasn't made it out of the second round since these two teams squared up in 03-04-- the Flames haven't managed to break past the first.

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This is your official gameday thread. Get it done.

Go Sharks.