SAN JOSE SHARKS DEFENSEMAN #10 CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF - FILE PHOTO SJ'S CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF TIED FOR/nhl D-MAN SCORING LEAD - YAHOO SPORTS The San Jose Sharks blitzed the Calgary Flames in the first period en route to a 6-1 blowout win Thursday night at HP Pavilion. Three power play goals by Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton, and an even strength tally by Milan Michalek, provided all the offense San Jose would need in the first period. "Iron" Mike Keenan was forced to pull former Sharks goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff for Curtis McElhinney after 20 minutes, but the move did little to spark a listless Flames squad who limped to the finish without any of the intensity the Sharks saw in the first round of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series last year. San Jose put an end to a brief 2-game losing streak after Nashville and Phoenix, but they extended an 11-game point streak at home (10-0-1). It is a distinct reversal from 2007-08, where the Sharks stumbled out of the gate 4-5-2 at HP Pavilion. They finished 22-13-6 overall at home. One area where the Sharks needed to improve was on the power play. Last season the Sharks finished 70-372 (18.8%) with the man advantage, tied for 8th in the/nhl. This season the Sharks have generated more offense 5-on-5, with a power play 14-87 (16.1%) that has been less effective putting points on the board. The Sharks added Rob Blake and Dan Boyle during the offseason, and along with Christian Ehrhoff and Marc-Edouard Vlasic the Sharks have a quartet of offensive-defenseman who can initiate from the blueline. It all seemed to come together on Thursday night as the Sharks finished 4-9 on the power play. The Sharks defense combined for 15 shots on goal, and Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake combined for 3 assists each. Ehrhoff (2G, 13A) is now tied with Filip Kuba of Ottawa (1G, 14A) and Shea Weber (7G, 8A) for the/nhl scoring lead by defenseman. San Jose's power play was effective using shots and excellent movement from the point to create mismatches and 2-on-1's down low. Joe Pavelski's first power play goal came on a bomb of a shot from Rob Blake on the left point. With Ryane Clowe parked in front of Kiprusoff, the puck deflected off a mass of bodies in front and Pavelski buried the rebound. The second goal came off the rebound of another Rob Blake point shot, this time with Marleau converting a rebound from the right side of the net. The Sharks third and fourth power play goals were initiated by shots from the point, but took a more circuitous route through traffic to find the back of the net. Seconds after writing that the Michalek-Pavelski-Clowe second power play unit was actually playing and getting ice time like a first power play unit, Sharks radio analyst Jamie Baker made the same observation. He also noted that Marleau's power play goal in the first period was his first power play point of the season. Patrick Marleau does have 18 non-power play points (7G, 11A) in addition to 2 short-handed goals and 2 game winning goals this season. Baker was on fire with his analysis of the game. After the fifth San Jose goal in the second period, he said of the Calgary Flames lack of speed "I don't want to say the Flames are running on sand, that would imply they are skating slow. They are running on bare feet while the Sharks are running in brand new track shoes." The Flames did look like they were skating in bare feet, and the Sharks gave considerable ice time to the third and fourth lines in the final 20 minutes which still did not improve how Calgary looked. Sluggish. Also from Baker imagining himself as a Calgary Flame in the second "I don't want to lose by 10-12 goals", and in the third period "utter domination is the story line of this game." Jamie Baker may be one of the best analysts in the game, constantly picking up subtleties and big picture concepts on the ice and relaying them to his listeners. The Sharks outshot the Flames 20-5 after the first period, 46-24 for the game. Calgary outhit the San Jose 32-24, and briefly in the first period it looked like some of the playoff intensity would rub off on this contest. Robyn Regehr leveled Devin Setoguchi behind the net, and Dion Phaneuf chalked up another big hit. The physical play did not phase the Sharks. In addition to the largest lineup in the/nhl, San Jose also ices one of the fastest skating rosters in the league. Milan Michalek's two goals were a direct result of the team speed. His first came off a nice feed by Joe Pavelski. Michalek blew by Aucion and Phaneuf in the neutral zone, faked a shot, and lifted the puck over Kiprusoff's leg pad short side as he went down early. His second goal came on a Christian Ehrhoff rush down the left wing. Ehrhoff slid a centering pass with Pavelski and Michalek outnumbering a lone Calgary backchecking forward. Michalek tipped the puck and converted a rebound for his 5th goal of the season. Michalek also created another scoring chance on a breakaway in the second period. While Patrick Marleau accelerates smoothly with powerful strides, Michalek is a physics exercise in wasted energy. Marleau glides on the ice, Michalek churns, both use their speed to put defenseman on their heels and force forwards to waive sticks at them in the neutral zone. The Sharks team speed generated several more breakways with Pavelski, Plihal and Marleau creating more scoring chances as the Calgary defense could not adjust. It raises a question of how do you play the San Jose Sharks? Last year early in the preseason teams rolled out the hack-a-Shaq strategy on Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. It worked sporadically, but with the trade deadline addition of Brian Campbell the Sharks were able to skate their way out of any problems to finish with an 11-game winning streak and a 20-game point streak. The hack-a-Marleau strategy was employed by Calgary in the first round, with Dion Phaneuf and Cory Sarich taking shots at Marleau's head in game 3. This Sharkspage post on game 3 earned over 40,000 page views, the most viewed post not involving Danica Patrick or Sumo wrestling in this blog's 10-year history. General Manager Doug Wilson added Dan Boyle and Rob Blake this offseason. Boyle is argueably a better stick handler than Campbell, and is light years ahead of Campbell with his anticipation and ability to pressure opposing teams into making mistakes. Rob Blake adds a much needed power play howitzer on the point, but it has really been the development of Christian Ehrhoff that deserves mention. Ehrhoff is hands down the Sharks best defenseman at this point in the season. He has always had the physical tools to be an elite offensive defenseman, but under Ron Wilson at times Ehrhoff appeared as if he was hesitant to make a mistake. Under Todd McLellan, mistakes are going to happen but they are not going to limit his puck moving potential. In addition to tweaking the backswing on his slapshot for a quicker release (a half cock instead of a full windup), Ehrhoff's speed is as explosive as anyone on the team. He uses that speed to transition the puck up ice as well as chasing down opposing breakaways. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is a young intelligent defenseman who can glean the finer points of the offensive-defenseman game from Boyle and Blake this year, but it is Ehrhoff who is leading the blueline attack on the best offensive team in the/nhl. With the mobility and speed on the blueline, and finally the addition of killer instinct from Blake and Boyle, how do you play the San Jose Sharks? Do opposing teams try to trade scoring chances with a team that has 7 legitimate top-6 forwards and several players who can put up points on the third and fourth line? Do teams try to play the body and wear down the largest lineup in the/nhl a la any Anaheim-Sharks game over the last 3 years? The answer is no, and no. Moving forward, look for more teams to tighten up in the defensive zone, and flood the neutral zone trying to mitigate the Sharks team speed. Given the number of chances the Sharks generate, eventually the power play is going to click consistently. Teams will need to cut down on penalties and rely on solid goaltending. The Detroit Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but many opponents are circling San Jose as well as Detroit on the calender this year as teams they want to knock off of the pedestal. San Jose goaltender Brian Boucher stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn his 4th win of the season (4-1-1, .940SV%, 1.49GAA, 2SO). The win also gives Boucher enough starts to qualify for several goaltending statisical rankings. Boucher leads the/nhl in GAA at 1.49 and is third in save percentage at .940. Evgeni Nabokov is tied New York's Henrik Lundqvist for the/nhl lead in wins with 10. Miikka Kiprusoff made 16 saves on 20 shots in the first period, and backup Curtis McElhinney stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced in the final 2 periods. The Sharks have registered 40 shots or more 9 times this season, and have limited shots against to 20 or less 4 times. Evgeni Nabokov, Jonathan Cheechoo and Alexei Semenov were scratches for San Jose. Patrick Marleau's first period power play goal ties him with Owen Nolan for the franchise lead with 75. Jonathan Cheechoo is third with 59. Right wing Mike Grier left the game in the first period with a lower body injury. [Update] Sharks defense earns record nine assists in drubbing of Flames - Ehrhoff.com. [Update2] Calgary Herald reporter Scott Cruickshank notes on the Flames Insider blog that there was a gunshot outside of the Sharks practice facility on Thursday. Nothing furthur was reported by the local media. In a post-game report Cruickshank relayed several comments from a defeated Flames locker room describing San Jose as "top of the class", as a "measuring stick", and as a team always looking to shoot the puck "everything goes to the net, funnels to the net" similar to the Red Wings style. The Calgary Herald posted a photo gallery from the game by renowned Calgary photographer Robert Galbraith. Scott Cruickshank's post-game article quoted Joe Thornton on San Jose's 46-shot effort against Calgary, after the Sharks registered a team record 57-shots Tuesday against Nashville. "We're going for 60, that's what we're hoping for." Thornton said. [Update3] One complete Tanking, Flames fall flat in first visit to San Jose since playoff loss to Sharks last season - Randy Sportak for the Calgary Sun. If that was a game to use as a measuring stick, the Calgary Flames had best find a bigger ruler. Actually, after facing the San Jose Sharks and being thumped 6-1 last night, you'd need a depth finder to find them. "You play a team like this and wonder where you are in terms of your own development," said Flames head coach Mike Keenan. "You got a good sense of reality when you end up quite not on the same level." It was the first return to the Shark Tank since the disappointing Game 7 loss that snuffed their Stanley Cup hopes a few months ago. It was also the Flames' first chance at a Sharks team that's clearly the class of the/nhl right now. It ended up a debacle. [Update4] Flames’ hopes hinge on Kiprusoff - Ross McKeon for Yahoo Sports. “They pushed us out of it in the first period,” Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said. “We all know the importance of how much more we have to bring in our game. Our game is competing and we’re not bringing enough right now. We’ll get it back.” Thursday night’s meltdown came almost without warning. Kiprusoff was quick as a cat on a flurry of early Sharks chances. He slid on his knees to his right, anticipating a Ryane Clowe shot. He denied Devin Setoguchi twice in close, too. Maybe asking him to make three solid saves in the opening two minutes was foreboding evidence of what was to come. [Update5] David Pollak notes on his excellent Working the Corners blog that a scoring change took away an Ehrhoff assist on Pavelski's first goal and gave it to Ryane Clowe. This gives Ehrhoff two assists on the night instead of three, tying him with Dan Boyle, Chris Pronger, Andre Markov and Daniel Giradi for 3rd overall in scoring by a defenseman. The scoring change also gave the Sharks 8 assists by defenseman on the night, tying an earlier franchise record 8-point performance by the blueline.Source
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Christian Ehrhoff tied for scoring lead by defenseman, Sharks blueline combines for 9 points and 15 shots on goal in 6-1 blowout of Calgary Flames
SAN JOSE SHARKS DEFENSEMAN #10 CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF - FILE PHOTO SJ'S CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF TIED FOR/nhl D-MAN SCORING LEAD - YAHOO SPORTS The San Jose Sharks blitzed the Calgary Flames in the first period en route to a 6-1 blowout win Thursday night at HP Pavilion. Three power play goals by Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton, and an even strength tally by Milan Michalek, provided all the offense San Jose would need in the first period. "Iron" Mike Keenan was forced to pull former Sharks goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff for Curtis McElhinney after 20 minutes, but the move did little to spark a listless Flames squad who limped to the finish without any of the intensity the Sharks saw in the first round of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series last year. San Jose put an end to a brief 2-game losing streak after Nashville and Phoenix, but they extended an 11-game point streak at home (10-0-1). It is a distinct reversal from 2007-08, where the Sharks stumbled out of the gate 4-5-2 at HP Pavilion. They finished 22-13-6 overall at home. One area where the Sharks needed to improve was on the power play. Last season the Sharks finished 70-372 (18.8%) with the man advantage, tied for 8th in the/nhl. This season the Sharks have generated more offense 5-on-5, with a power play 14-87 (16.1%) that has been less effective putting points on the board. The Sharks added Rob Blake and Dan Boyle during the offseason, and along with Christian Ehrhoff and Marc-Edouard Vlasic the Sharks have a quartet of offensive-defenseman who can initiate from the blueline. It all seemed to come together on Thursday night as the Sharks finished 4-9 on the power play. The Sharks defense combined for 15 shots on goal, and Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake combined for 3 assists each. Ehrhoff (2G, 13A) is now tied with Filip Kuba of Ottawa (1G, 14A) and Shea Weber (7G, 8A) for the/nhl scoring lead by defenseman. San Jose's power play was effective using shots and excellent movement from the point to create mismatches and 2-on-1's down low. Joe Pavelski's first power play goal came on a bomb of a shot from Rob Blake on the left point. With Ryane Clowe parked in front of Kiprusoff, the puck deflected off a mass of bodies in front and Pavelski buried the rebound. The second goal came off the rebound of another Rob Blake point shot, this time with Marleau converting a rebound from the right side of the net. The Sharks third and fourth power play goals were initiated by shots from the point, but took a more circuitous route through traffic to find the back of the net. Seconds after writing that the Michalek-Pavelski-Clowe second power play unit was actually playing and getting ice time like a first power play unit, Sharks radio analyst Jamie Baker made the same observation. He also noted that Marleau's power play goal in the first period was his first power play point of the season. Patrick Marleau does have 18 non-power play points (7G, 11A) in addition to 2 short-handed goals and 2 game winning goals this season. Baker was on fire with his analysis of the game. After the fifth San Jose goal in the second period, he said of the Calgary Flames lack of speed "I don't want to say the Flames are running on sand, that would imply they are skating slow. They are running on bare feet while the Sharks are running in brand new track shoes." The Flames did look like they were skating in bare feet, and the Sharks gave considerable ice time to the third and fourth lines in the final 20 minutes which still did not improve how Calgary looked. Sluggish. Also from Baker imagining himself as a Calgary Flame in the second "I don't want to lose by 10-12 goals", and in the third period "utter domination is the story line of this game." Jamie Baker may be one of the best analysts in the game, constantly picking up subtleties and big picture concepts on the ice and relaying them to his listeners. The Sharks outshot the Flames 20-5 after the first period, 46-24 for the game. Calgary outhit the San Jose 32-24, and briefly in the first period it looked like some of the playoff intensity would rub off on this contest. Robyn Regehr leveled Devin Setoguchi behind the net, and Dion Phaneuf chalked up another big hit. The physical play did not phase the Sharks. In addition to the largest lineup in the/nhl, San Jose also ices one of the fastest skating rosters in the league. Milan Michalek's two goals were a direct result of the team speed. His first came off a nice feed by Joe Pavelski. Michalek blew by Aucion and Phaneuf in the neutral zone, faked a shot, and lifted the puck over Kiprusoff's leg pad short side as he went down early. His second goal came on a Christian Ehrhoff rush down the left wing. Ehrhoff slid a centering pass with Pavelski and Michalek outnumbering a lone Calgary backchecking forward. Michalek tipped the puck and converted a rebound for his 5th goal of the season. Michalek also created another scoring chance on a breakaway in the second period. While Patrick Marleau accelerates smoothly with powerful strides, Michalek is a physics exercise in wasted energy. Marleau glides on the ice, Michalek churns, both use their speed to put defenseman on their heels and force forwards to waive sticks at them in the neutral zone. The Sharks team speed generated several more breakways with Pavelski, Plihal and Marleau creating more scoring chances as the Calgary defense could not adjust. It raises a question of how do you play the San Jose Sharks? Last year early in the preseason teams rolled out the hack-a-Shaq strategy on Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. It worked sporadically, but with the trade deadline addition of Brian Campbell the Sharks were able to skate their way out of any problems to finish with an 11-game winning streak and a 20-game point streak. The hack-a-Marleau strategy was employed by Calgary in the first round, with Dion Phaneuf and Cory Sarich taking shots at Marleau's head in game 3. This Sharkspage post on game 3 earned over 40,000 page views, the most viewed post not involving Danica Patrick or Sumo wrestling in this blog's 10-year history. General Manager Doug Wilson added Dan Boyle and Rob Blake this offseason. Boyle is argueably a better stick handler than Campbell, and is light years ahead of Campbell with his anticipation and ability to pressure opposing teams into making mistakes. Rob Blake adds a much needed power play howitzer on the point, but it has really been the development of Christian Ehrhoff that deserves mention. Ehrhoff is hands down the Sharks best defenseman at this point in the season. He has always had the physical tools to be an elite offensive defenseman, but under Ron Wilson at times Ehrhoff appeared as if he was hesitant to make a mistake. Under Todd McLellan, mistakes are going to happen but they are not going to limit his puck moving potential. In addition to tweaking the backswing on his slapshot for a quicker release (a half cock instead of a full windup), Ehrhoff's speed is as explosive as anyone on the team. He uses that speed to transition the puck up ice as well as chasing down opposing breakaways. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is a young intelligent defenseman who can glean the finer points of the offensive-defenseman game from Boyle and Blake this year, but it is Ehrhoff who is leading the blueline attack on the best offensive team in the/nhl. With the mobility and speed on the blueline, and finally the addition of killer instinct from Blake and Boyle, how do you play the San Jose Sharks? Do opposing teams try to trade scoring chances with a team that has 7 legitimate top-6 forwards and several players who can put up points on the third and fourth line? Do teams try to play the body and wear down the largest lineup in the/nhl a la any Anaheim-Sharks game over the last 3 years? The answer is no, and no. Moving forward, look for more teams to tighten up in the defensive zone, and flood the neutral zone trying to mitigate the Sharks team speed. Given the number of chances the Sharks generate, eventually the power play is going to click consistently. Teams will need to cut down on penalties and rely on solid goaltending. The Detroit Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but many opponents are circling San Jose as well as Detroit on the calender this year as teams they want to knock off of the pedestal. San Jose goaltender Brian Boucher stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn his 4th win of the season (4-1-1, .940SV%, 1.49GAA, 2SO). The win also gives Boucher enough starts to qualify for several goaltending statisical rankings. Boucher leads the/nhl in GAA at 1.49 and is third in save percentage at .940. Evgeni Nabokov is tied New York's Henrik Lundqvist for the/nhl lead in wins with 10. Miikka Kiprusoff made 16 saves on 20 shots in the first period, and backup Curtis McElhinney stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced in the final 2 periods. The Sharks have registered 40 shots or more 9 times this season, and have limited shots against to 20 or less 4 times. Evgeni Nabokov, Jonathan Cheechoo and Alexei Semenov were scratches for San Jose. Patrick Marleau's first period power play goal ties him with Owen Nolan for the franchise lead with 75. Jonathan Cheechoo is third with 59. Right wing Mike Grier left the game in the first period with a lower body injury. [Update] Sharks defense earns record nine assists in drubbing of Flames - Ehrhoff.com. [Update2] Calgary Herald reporter Scott Cruickshank notes on the Flames Insider blog that there was a gunshot outside of the Sharks practice facility on Thursday. Nothing furthur was reported by the local media. In a post-game report Cruickshank relayed several comments from a defeated Flames locker room describing San Jose as "top of the class", as a "measuring stick", and as a team always looking to shoot the puck "everything goes to the net, funnels to the net" similar to the Red Wings style. The Calgary Herald posted a photo gallery from the game by renowned Calgary photographer Robert Galbraith. Scott Cruickshank's post-game article quoted Joe Thornton on San Jose's 46-shot effort against Calgary, after the Sharks registered a team record 57-shots Tuesday against Nashville. "We're going for 60, that's what we're hoping for." Thornton said. [Update3] One complete Tanking, Flames fall flat in first visit to San Jose since playoff loss to Sharks last season - Randy Sportak for the Calgary Sun. If that was a game to use as a measuring stick, the Calgary Flames had best find a bigger ruler. Actually, after facing the San Jose Sharks and being thumped 6-1 last night, you'd need a depth finder to find them. "You play a team like this and wonder where you are in terms of your own development," said Flames head coach Mike Keenan. "You got a good sense of reality when you end up quite not on the same level." It was the first return to the Shark Tank since the disappointing Game 7 loss that snuffed their Stanley Cup hopes a few months ago. It was also the Flames' first chance at a Sharks team that's clearly the class of the/nhl right now. It ended up a debacle. [Update4] Flames’ hopes hinge on Kiprusoff - Ross McKeon for Yahoo Sports. “They pushed us out of it in the first period,” Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said. “We all know the importance of how much more we have to bring in our game. Our game is competing and we’re not bringing enough right now. We’ll get it back.” Thursday night’s meltdown came almost without warning. Kiprusoff was quick as a cat on a flurry of early Sharks chances. He slid on his knees to his right, anticipating a Ryane Clowe shot. He denied Devin Setoguchi twice in close, too. Maybe asking him to make three solid saves in the opening two minutes was foreboding evidence of what was to come. [Update5] David Pollak notes on his excellent Working the Corners blog that a scoring change took away an Ehrhoff assist on Pavelski's first goal and gave it to Ryane Clowe. This gives Ehrhoff two assists on the night instead of three, tying him with Dan Boyle, Chris Pronger, Andre Markov and Daniel Giradi for 3rd overall in scoring by a defenseman. The scoring change also gave the Sharks 8 assists by defenseman on the night, tying an earlier franchise record 8-point performance by the blueline.Source
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