sharks 2, coyotes 3

okay, that sucked. well, the sharks did, for about two periods. Phoned in — completely phoned it in — in the first, which more or less made it a fair fight, and got stupid and scrambly in the third, allowing a goal with 40 seconds less to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and to allow the dreaded Red Wings to take 4th in the league.

the sharks fully deserved the loss. cheechoo was a disaster tonight. After one particularly painful shift in the 2nd, even Coach Wilson noticed, and the kid sat for the next nine minutes, finishing up the 2nd with 2 short shifts. he didn’t play the first 7 minutes of the 3rd, skated one very short shift (and changed early compared to his linemates) and then played sparingly the rest of the night.

What woke the team up was when Grier got moved into Cheechoo’s spot on the Thornton line and banged some guys. Curtis Brown took that spot the next time, and it led to a goal. After that, the legs were better and the energy level went positive, and the Coyotes simply tried to hang on. Unfortunately, the Sharks didn’t play well enough to put the game away, and handed it back late for the Coyote win (give the Coyotes full credit for not giving up and TRYING. But teh sharks sleepwalking merely made it more or less an even game….)

A few things crystalized tonight, watching them play.

First: Cheechoo just isn’t skating well. He’s slow, he’s not moving his feet, he’s peripheral, he’s static. I’m not sure if he’s hurt, or simply in a nasty funk, but either way, get him off the Thornton line. What seemed to get Cheech going a bit a few weeks ago was living on the third line. Make it so, and whenever he takes a shift and doesn’t move his feet, sit him. It worked tonight, he had some good shifts with hard work — but nothing sustained. He’s not a top-6 forward right now, others deserve time with Big and Little Joe more. give it to them.

Second, whatever you do, skate thornton with either Grier, Curtis Brown, or Mark Smith. Brown seems the best match, but the energy/mucking guy makes a huge difference. Thornton was effective with either MIchalek or Pavelich on wing tonight — when one of those three was the other wing. Just do it.

Third, there’s a chemistry thing going on. Seems silly to say with a team 5th best record in the league — but it keeps playing down to the level of the opponent, and guys sleepwalk and phone in shifts. It used to be Scott Parker’s job in the locker room to “talk” to guys who do that, but with him not in the lineup, the “you will NOT do that to your teammates” in your face guy seems missing, and team goes soft and inconsistent. Don’t think this is an indictment of Marleau as captain, that’s not the role I’m thinking about. This is more of a seargent-at-arms role. I’m wondering if McLaren has been doing some of that — but he’s been out, too.

the talk down in 127 tonight was about trades — and a growing thought one might be useful here. One focus was on lack of scoring from the blueline (not long before Vlasic scored his second. Hard to score with just forwards causing pressure, and the offensive-potential blueliners (Errhoff, Vlasic, Carle) have been pretty quiet. Good defense, no offense. I think it may be a true thing.

the deal that got floated in the section was with Tampa: Mark Denis and Dan Boyle for Nabokov, Errhoff and someone like Rissmiller. It’s actually the kind of trade that serves both teams pretty well, IMHO. I’d seriously consider it….

Anyway, Saturday a rerun, only in Phoenix. We’ll see if the team shows up, or sleeps in again… gah.

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