Sharks Gameday: Just a Few Things

I think I got most of the vital stuff out of my system yesterday, but here are just a few more nuggets as we prepare for tonight's game:

-I'm guessing that Patrick Marleau will have a hell of a game. The old Patty used to shrink in the face of criticism, but the one we've seen since about mid-January seems to have learned that the best way to respond is with strong play. Unless we switcheroo back to the bad doppleganger, Marleau should look markedly improved over Friday night -- and stay in shooting lanes.

-A few weeks ago, one of my friends commented about how he hated watching Stars games on Center Ice because they were also lulling him to sleep. That's the same thing Ron Wilson said in his post-game on Friday, and it's one thing that he will probably be hammering home before they take the ice tonight.

-As we've seen in pretty much every series, the officiating is wildly inconsistent. Mike Keenan played the "call them out in the press" routine and it seemingly worked for a few games. Now Ron Wilson is calling Marty Turco a diver in hopes of avoiding any similar Craig Rivet-goalie interference calls. We'll see what happens, but there has been precedent about the refs responding to media criticism. Personally, I hate that, and I wish the damn refs would just adhere to the Regular Season Game 1 standard that they've been preaching.

-I don't see the need to dress Jody Shelley, but I'd scratch Marcel Goc for Curtis Brown, just so he can get that veteran savvy in there against a squad that's not as direct to guard against as Calgary. I'm sure Goc would have an interesting blog entry about it, something along the lines of, "Coach wants Brownie in today. I will support my team. The end."

Go Sharks.

Update 12:02 PM: I forgot to mention that Sergei Zubov is a gameday decision tonight. Take that for what you will.