Two painful losses. A 3-2 Overtime loss to the rival Blackhawks followed up by a 4-3 loss in a shootout to the division foes Colorado Avalanche. Including those two contests, San Jose had gone 2-5-2 in their last 9 games and had been under some scrutiny.  HP Pavillion, otherwise known as the Shark Tank, was just what San Jose needed to heal their wounds, and a six game homestand couldn’t have come at a better time.

San Jose hit the ice again against Colorado, looking to get some revenge on the team that sent San Jose home with a sick feeling to their stomaches. Except through two periods of play, San Jose couldn’t seem to find their rhythem, and they had a 4-2 deficit to overcome heading into the third period of play. Brett Burns, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture scored within a span of 4:29 to seal a dramatic come-from-behind-victory against the Avalanche. ” It finally paid off. Things have not been going our way but it was only a matter of time before it shifted our way,” expressed by captain Joe Thornton. This may have been what San Jose needed to get going.

But they couldn’t relax for long, as the young and energetic Edmonton Oilers came into the San Jose, looking to knock down one of the top teams in the west. De ja Vu, the Sharks fell behind once again. After getting off to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Martin Havlat, San Jose gave up two quick goals to Edmonton. Then the top line came through, Joe Thornton knotted up the score for San Jose at 2 a piece, and then the vet, Patrick Marleau, who has seemed to break every Sharks record possible, quite possibly the greatest San Jose Shark ever, scored the game winner for San Jose 6:11 into the third period of play. “Now we got to get a little streak going,” expressed Thornton.

San Jose didn’t blink in their next matchup against Tampa Bay, scoring 5 unanswered goals in the first period of play, as Todd Mclellans boys were dominant, winning by an impressive score of 7-2.

Call it “Duckitaitis” or whatever you want, but the San Jose Sharks can not figure out a way to defeat the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks, among the worst in the NHL, points wise, found a way to beat San Jose (for the third time this season) 3-2 in SO. They had to shake that performance off as they welcomed their arch-rival Vancouver Canucks to town. The Canucks had their number, beating San Jose 3-2 in SO. San Jose once again fell behind 2-0, but found a way to come back, but couldn’t finish. There were many hot tempers flaring, including Joe Thornton trying to pick a fight with Henrik Sedin during the commercial break.

The tough loss will be fresh in their minds as the once again take on the Canucks, Jan 2nd, on NBC sports network at 7:30 ET.

NHL STANDINGS

Earlier tonight, the NHL board of aprovals has approved a four conference alignment format that will be implemented by NHL commisioner Gary Bettman.

 It won’t be long before San Jose says goodbye to the Dallas Stars as division rivals and hello to their new enemies, such as Calgary and Vancouver.

There will be four conferences, as shown below:

They had taken care of the LA Kings. They barely hung on against the Detroit Red Wings. All they had to do to reach the first Stanley Cup Finals in SJ Sharks history was to win a best-of-seven series against the best of canada- The Vancouver Canucks.

San Jose was simply out played. The Canucks, led by the play of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, were dominant, not giving San Jose any hope of winning, easily taking care of the Sharks in 5 games. For another year, the Sharks had to watch the Stanley Cup Finals on the couch, shaking their heads, wondering what they did wrong, and listen to another off-season of media and fans questioning if they will ever raise the cup.

San Jose has seemed to put the Western Conference Finals in the rear view mirror, starting the season with the NHL’s highest winning percentage, with a 13-5-1 record. While Vancouver, hasn’t got off to the start that they have wanted to (12-9-1), they are riding a 3 game winning streak. The Sharks, who have a four game winning streak of their own, know that they have to play just as well as they did in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over the team that knocked them out in the 2010 WCF, the Chicago Blackhawks.

Vancouver is led by the most dominant pair of siblings in Sports, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who are the top two point scorers for their team. San Jose also has to keep it’s eyes on Chris Higgins and Alexandre Burrows, who are tied for the lead in goals with 7. The Sharks can’t lose sight of Sami Solo who has three game winning goals this season.

San Jose is led by their top line of Joe Thornton (20 pts), Patrick Marleau (19) and Joe Pavelski (19). Pavs is leading San Jose with 11 goals while Thornton leads with 15 assists. Marc Eduarod Vlasic is playing excellent hockey, scoring 4 points in a recent battle with the LA Kings.

This isn’t any friendly rivalry. “Its no secret we don’t like them as a team,” said Sharks foward Ryan Clowe. “Obviously they’ve got a few guys that stir things up,” said hard hitting Douglass Murray.

The NHL had their eyes drawn to the return of the face of the league, Sidney Crosby, but should be looking foward to a matchup between two of the best teams in the NHL in one of the most hostile stadiums, HP Pavillion.

Watch Antii Niemi try to lead his Sharks to a hard fought victory against the Sedin twins and Vancouver, tonight, 730 PT

After coming back home after a very long, yet successful road trip, the San Jose Sharks haven’t lacked exciting hockey on their current homestand.

It all started Thursday night against the beasts of the east, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh, who came into what some called a possible Stanley Cup Finals preview, the team who Sports Illustrated picked to win the Stanley Cup, were missing arguably the most talented player in the NHL, Sidney Crosby. Crosby, who suffered a season ending concussion in the middle of last season, has been making a slower then expected recovery, but reports say he may be back on the ice this friday.

It didn’t take long for the puck to find the back of the net. It only took 24 seconds for Pittsburgh to take a 1-0 lead. This seemed not to tighten up San Jose’s defense, as Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh’s other star, made it 2-0 just over 2 minutes into the contest. If there was any positive for San Jose to look at, it was that they had 58 minutes to at least tie it up and send it to overtime. That’s just what they did. Antii Niemi was pulled, Ryan Clowe and Jamie McGinn scored 2 late goals, Thomas Greiss stopped all 3 shots in the shootout, and San Jose pulled off what seemed like an impossible victory.

San Jose then played the role of Pittsburgh when they faced the St Louis Blues. After two second period goals by Joe Pavelski and Martin Havlat (his first as a Shark) and a third period goal by Logan Couture, San Jose had a comfortable 3-1 lead with roughly 20 minutes left in the contest. Except this time it was San Jose that blew the lead, and gave up the winning goal in OT, handing Todd Mclellan and his Sharks a very tough 4-3 loss.

San Jose had to forget about that game, as they welcomed their rival LA Kings into town for a heated Monday contest. Just the previous season, the Sharks defeated the Kings in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. San Jose played dominant, handling their Pacific Division enemie 4-2.

Tonight, San Jose is playing in one of the games that most players and fans circled on their schedule; an encounter with the Minnesota Wild. San Jose will be facing off against two of their former players, from just last season, fowards Devon Setoguchi, who was part of the deal that sent Brett Burns to San Jose and Dany Heatley, who was traded straight up for Martin Havlat, who is playing great hockey with San Jose.

San Jose is sure to have it hands full tonight with two players who want to show that they shouldn’t have left.

Please follow! Comment on what you think!

After the San Jose Sharks fell short of the Stanley Cup by losing to the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Finals, they knew that they lacked two main ingredients needed to call themselves Stanley Cup Champions at seasons end. Consistent Defense and Speed. Doug Wilson was trying to find the answer, he wasn’t going to sit around and hope that the team that didn’t get the job done in 2010-2011 would do it the next year – he needed to get some difference makers. Then he got on the phone with the Minnesota Wild.

A big area that San Jose lacked and knew they needed a drastic improvement was their defensive depth. Behind the top line of Dan Boyle and Douglass Murray, there was not enough difference makers. Doug Wilson got the type of player they were looking for, but it came at a hefty price; Devon Setoguchi, a future 1st round pick, and top prospect Charlie Coyle for All Star Defensemen Brett Burns. Burns, only in his mid 20′s, was the ideal player that San Jose was looking for: a defensemen that is big, strong, make those around him better and be an offensive threat.    “A guy like this doesn’t come around often and we had to be aggressive to get him. We’ve been back-to-back years in the final four and we’re not satisfied. We felt this makes us a better team.”, said GM Doug Wilson shortly after San Jose aquired Burns.

Paired with Marc Eduarod Vlasic, Burns has made already a big impact on San Jose’s blue line and on the offensive end, with 5 points through the first 10 games of the season. Burns has been on San Jose’s top power play unit during the season and hasn’t given anybody any reason to take him out; he has scored two goals with the man advantage including a game winner in San Jose’s 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Islanders. He seems to be meshing well with his role in San Jose (prior to the season, he signed a 5 year extension worth close to 30 million dollars) and seems that as time goes on, he will only get stronger.

Your ordinary NHL fan might have called it one of the greatest series in NHL history. San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings Fans might have called it the most stressful series ever. It was only last season in the Western Conference Semifinals where the Sharks and Red Wings faced off in a best-of-7 to get into the Western Conference Finals. The year before the Sharks dominated Detroit in 5 games. San Jose took the first two of the series at HP Pavillion and then game 3 at The Joe. Detroit was down 3-0 having to win 4 games in a row, two in San Jose, including a possible Game 7, to stay alive. It seemed as if they have gotten too old; they have run out of gas; they were done. Detroit shocked the NHL by defeating San Jose in games 4-6. They seemed to have all the momentum going into San Jose for a Game 7.

Except San Jose had something that their opponent did not. Home Ice Advantage.  In a recent Sports Illustrated poll prior to the playoffs, HP Pavillion, home to the Sharks, was voted the most intimidating arena in the NHL. When San Jose comes out of the Sharkhead to take the ice, they have traditionaly played Metallica to pump up the croud and and players. ” I didn’t think that they were playing the music”, said a fan that was in attendance for Game 7. It was recorded as the loudest HP Pavilion has ever been. The fans were behind their players, and they didn’t disappoint; after an early goal by Devon Setoguchi, the Sharks never lost hold of the lead, and pulled out the victory, sending their rivals home for a second consecutive season.

San Jose arrived at Detroit on Friday, with momentum on their side, riding a 3 game road winning streak. They had been playing good hockey, and they knew to keep their foot on the gas pedal, especially against a team like Detroit.

The Sharks had many good chances early in the game on the PP, obliterating goalie Tim Howard with many shots, but none going by him. With 7: 40 left in the first, Detroit took an early lead on a goal by one of the games best, Henrik Zetterburg. The Sharks came out firing in the second period of play. With a man advantage, defensemen Marc Eduoard Vlasic took the puck down the ice, found Martin Havlat on a beautiful entry in to the zone, who then had a crisp pass to Ryan Clowe, who scored his 3rd of the season on a wrister past Tim Howard.

San Jose continued their dominant second period of play with two break-away goals by Sharks veterans Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. With a solid performance by Antti Niemi in goal, stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced, San Jose once again sqeaked by the tough Red Wings 4-2 (empty netter by Thornton).

San Jose is so far 4-0 on their long road trip and look to keep winning tonight against the NY Islanders (4 PT/7 ET)

Goalies	EV	PP	SH	Total	Sv%	TOI
SJS	31   A. Niemi (W)	27 – 28	3 – 4	0 – 0	30 – 32	0.938	59:54
DET	35   J. Howard (L)	16 – 18	9 – 10	1 – 1	26 – 29	0.897	59:07

He is not your ordinary Joe. “Little Joe” Pavelski is playing extroadinary hockey throughout the first 7 games of the season, and is feeling good after leading the Sharks (4-3) to a 3-2 win with San Jose’s final two goals to increase his season total to six.

The Sharks got out to an early 1-0 lead after a short-handed goal by Logan Couture set up by San Jose’s new aqusition Martin Havlat. After missing the entire preseason and first 4 games of the season because of offseason shoulder surgery, Havlat has made the transition to playing with Ryan Clowe and last season Calder Trophy runner up Logan Couture look simple. Havlat has had 3 assists in as many games with the Sharks, and it’s not going unnoticed from SJ Sharks coach Todd McLellan, “He’s a gifted player and that’s why we got him here.”

Nashville would go on to tie the game up at 1 at 13:12 into the third period on a power play goal by rookie Craig Smith. But then here came Pavs. Many questions aroused before the start of the season on how well Pavelski would handle the transition to San Jose’s top line alongside Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Only 57 seconds after Nashville tied it up, Pavelski quickly took the croud out of the game, scoring a mere 57 seconds after Smith’s goal. Antii Niemi was solid in the goal stopping 19 of the 20 shots on goal.  Pavelski scored an empty netter to secure the win, scoring his sixth of the season, and improving the Sharks to 3-0 on their extensive 13 day road trip.

Ryan Clowe, who took the penalty that led to the power play goal the Predators scored, was enthusiastic about San Jose’s performance,  ”We were the better team. We played real solid tonight. It was tough that they tied it there.”

After a shaky 1-3 start, the Sharks have strung together a three game winning streak and face their rival Detroit Red Wings Friday.

Stay tuned for how new Sharks Brett Burns and Martin Havlat are adjusting with the Sharks.

Comment on how you think the Sharks performed last night and make sure to subscribe!

The San Jose Sharks started their quest for the Stanley Cup a little more than three weeks ago with a matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes. HP Pavilion was rocking as they were ready to see their hometown team hit the ice again. Fans were buzzing about the debut of All Star Defensemen Brett Burns, whom the Sharks gave up a hefty price for. Among other topics were to see how Logan Couture would perform in his sophomore season and how Joe Pavelski would fit in with the top line alongside Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

They came out with a lot of energy, getting the 2011-2012 campaign off to a fast start with a dominant 6-3 victory against the Coyotes, led by two goals from none other than “Little Joe” Pavelski. While there were still some things they could fix, San Jose had a lot of momentum, felt fresh, and wanted to get back on the ice.

What happened during the next six days didn’t sit well with Todd McLellan and his players. They did not play a single game. The Sharks, who had a grasp of momentum and feeling good about their play, could not think of anything worse. It showed their next tow games as they had two sloppy losses to the Anaheim Ducks (1-0) and St Louis Blues (4-2) and again to the Ducks (3-2). Was this mainly in large part due to the extensive break between their first and second games of the season? That’s your opinion. San Jose knew that they had a LONG season ahead of them and not to hit the panic button, as their strange schedule continued as they began to embark on a 13 day road trip.

The Sharks flew east to New Jersey anxious to end thier poor play and get off to a fast start on their long road trip. They did just that, coming back from an early deficit to beat the Devils 4-3 on a shootout winner by Ryan Clowe. They could use all the momentum they could get going into their next game against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. San Jose didn’t look intimidated, as they powered their way to a 4-2 victory.

Yes, six games in two and a half weeks is strange, but the Sharks aren’t going to make any excuses, and are more than ready to go after the ever so elusive Stanley Cup.

Up Next: Player Reviews: Brett Burns, Antii Niemi, Martin Havlat and More

Subscribe and comment below on what you think of the SJ Sharks Start