The Fifth Liners

The Dallas Stars produced a great performance last night to edge the San Jose Sharks 4-3 at the American Airlines Arena and in doing so they bring an end to the Sharks 100% start to the season! But at the start most of the home fans thought it would be business as usual for visiting San Jose as Tyler Kennedy put them in front after only 9 seconds of the first period! Dallas goalie Dan Ellis helped stem the flow of goals with a couple of smart stops before Tyler Seguin tied the scores at 1-1 after 16.44 played. But then Matthew Nieto siezed on a breakaway chance and slotted home to push the Sharks 2-1 ahead after 17.52 of the period! Stars didnt have to wait long for the tying goal though as after only 1.53 of the second period, Trevor Daley scored past Niemi to make it 2-2! But then Mr Consistent Patrick Marleau again put San Jose in front after scoring a wrap around chance on 12.32, though he was made to wait until after a video replay confirmed the puck crossed the line! But Dal...

The Vancouver Canucks once again fell victim to the San Jose Sharks as the lost 4-1 at the newly named SAP Center in John Tortorella's first game in charge. After being elimated here last season the playoffs- defeat here is officially making the California team the Canucks bogey side! Jason Garrison gave the Canucks the lead on a powerplay mid way through the first and for once it seemed that things might go Vancouver's way in this arena. But any hopes of victory were dashed when Brent Burns levelled the scores 5 minutes into the second period before Justin Braun edged them in front with only minutes left in the period. Late in the third period the Sharks took control when Patrick Marleau scored off an assist from 1st star Logan Couture and Tommy Wingels made sure of the result with 5 minutes left to play. In net Roberto Luongo had a busier night with 35 saves compared to Sharks goalie Anitti Niemi with 22, but the defence and offense were sorely lacking both department...

The news about Raffi Torres' suspension has almost eclipsed the fact that there was a thriller of a game last night. The Sharks made their second trip to LA in the series and although a game down, gave a damn good account of themselves. Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty put the Kings 2-0 up, only for Patrick Marleau and Brad Stuart to cancel out the Kings' lead.  Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Sharks the edge halfway through the third period but struggled with penalties. Dustin Brown scored with less than two minutes left to draw equal and 22 seconds later, Trevor Lewis netted the winner for LA.

Well my eyes have finally dried after the Canucks 4-3 overtime defeat against San Jose last night which ensured the Sharks took a deserved clean sweep of the series. Sadly it seems that Mike's decision to back them was the correct one! Brent Burns put San Jose on their way early in the first period but the Canucks quickly leveled through Dan Hamhuis. But Logan Couture's powerplay goal restored the Sharks' one goal lead towards the end of the period. After a scoreless second period, Vancouver made a brighter start to the third period of action with Alex Burrows' powerplay goal  and Alex Edler scoring midway through and their fans were hopeful of us putting a win on the board- but as is tradition, Joe Pavelski scored on a powerplay four minutes before the end to once again send this tie to overtime! After 13 minutes OT Patrick Marleau knocked a rebound past Cory Schneider to send the Sharks through and leave the Canucks to the chants of "Sweep Sweep Sweep...

San Jose Sharks took another giant step towards advancing to the Western Conference semi-final as they beat the Vancouver Canucks in overtime at the Rogers Arena! This win seems to give further evidence to the fact that they cannot be ruled out for a run to the final! Joe Thornton got San Jose started with a goal in the first period, but the Canucks swooped into the lead early in the third period thanks to an impressive double salvo by Ryan Kesler. But just as the home fans were beginning to celebrate a well deserved win, Patrick Marleau levelled the scores with 55.1 second left to push the game to overtime! Five minutes into overtime, the Sharks made a bold call to pull their goalie Antti Niemi in favour of the extra skater and it was a move that paid off as former Canuck Rafi Torres roofed a shot past Luongo to give San Jose the win! With the series now moving to the HP Pavilion for the next two games, it will be no easy task to get a result away from home for Van...