Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Sharks Gameday: Guess Who's Back?

No, it's not Claude Lemieux. That dude's skating in the AHL, not the NHL, and despite some people speculating that this move might be made to intimidate the Detroit Red Wings (uh...I don't think Lemieux's intimidating anyone in the NHL at this point, but interesting theory), we won't be seeing him in San Jose unless he wants to buy Doug Wilson a pizza or something.

Of course, Darren McCarty just got sent to the AHL too, so they can sell some minor-league tickets promoting Avs-Wings circa 1997. That could be fun.

In the meantime, Evgeni Nabokov will return in net today against the Chicago Blackhawks. The crowd gave Nabby a good welcome-back chant on Saturday night when he was shown on the in-house camera. As well as Brian Boucher has played, I don't think anyone's unhappy about having Nabby back between the pipes. That is, except for this guy.

Chicago comes in on a hot streak and they're thinking sweep even though they're only halfway through their six-game road swing. Of course, if the Sharks play like they did last week at the United Center, they'll give the Hawks every opportunity to do so. I'd try and come up with some statistical crunch regarding this but it's a busy pre-holiday work day, so we'll have to save that for another time.

One more thing about tonight: it's the second night of the black jerseys. The victory over Washington pushed aside any bad memories of the old Black Thursday curses, but a second win tonight will put lingering doubts out to pasture.

6 comments:

Earl Sleek said...

Bah, the Blackhawks are thinking sweep? Have they been paying attention to the visiting team record in San Jose this year? Only 1 team in 12 came away with a victory, and it took 53 saves and an overtime.

I'll be at the Ducks game on Friday early afternoon, so they'll have that green shirt mojo to worry about, too. :)

I haven't linked to it yet, but I was a guest on another podcast -- this time a Blackhawks themed discussion courtesy of Hockee Night. I haven't listened to it, but I think I did OK in semi-previewing Chicago's western-swing trip. It was originally going to be me, Rudy, and Mike on the call, but two guys remembered that they have real lives.

One note -- when talking about the Ducks, I said something like "Anaheim has yet to make a team look bad this year." That was said in the early moments of the Colorado game Monday, and by the time that game was over, the Ducks made the Avs look pretty darn bad. So scratch that complaint.

Cheechew said...

It will be interesting to see what kind of reception Campbell gets tonight. Was he really here long enough to garner anything more than a polite golf clap or a small smattering of boos?

Anonymous said...

I think he's gonna get booed. He wasn't around for long, but it seems like a lot of fans are pissed over the way he departed. I dunno, we'll see.

Cheechew said...

Just finished listening to the CHI podcast starring Sleek. Nice job representing Sleek. What is w/ that guy's laugh?

Anonymous said...

Aside from that first goal he let in, I thought Nabby played a solid game.

And what a double-pad stack by Dan Boyle!

Nice to see Campbell getting the Belfour treatment.

Anonymous said...

Earl, thanks again for being on our Puckcast. I thought it went pretty well.

I couldn't figure out what Sassone was thinking with that 6-0 crap.