Sigh, two more goals to match Cy

If you didn't get to see these two goals live or on television as they happened, enjoy. San Jose's Saturday afternoon  4-0 shutout of the Colorado Avalanche featured a lot of subplots: defenseman Brad Stuart's crushing (not to mention controversial) hit of Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog that for multiple reasons completely changed the momentum; the San Jose debut of veteran addition Scott Gomez and the first NHL goal by rookie d-man Matt Irwin; backup goalie Thomas Greiss' first career shutout. But for the fourth time in four games, Patrick Marleau was the headliner, and why not considering he...

...Is now on a scoring binge that hasn't been witnessed in almost a century? Marleau has scored eight goals, two in each of San Jose's four victories. The last time time a player did this to begin a season  was the great Cy Denneny, who as a member of the 1917-18 original Ottawa Senators (possibly the year before ageless Daniel Alfredsson broke in with the Sens 1.0?),  also posted four multi-goal games over the first four.  Denneny, not quite the most famous athlete named Cy in the early 20th Century,  accomplished the feat in what was his rookie season as a 26-year-old (per hockey-reference.com, Denneny went onto play 12 Hockey Hall of Fame seasons). Marleau is now considered a salty 15-year veteran at 33, but he is looking like a carefree youth player on the ice. Hockey is fun right now, and it's been easy so far. His two goals on two two-minute penalties charged to Colorado's Ryan O'Byrne (hold that thought) have followed the pattern of his first three. Marleau has been in the right place at the right time; he's been opportunistic and accurate; he's the beneficiary of being on a sizzling top line and first power-play unit with Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Dan Boyle and Logan Couture. Such a frenzy can't last, but it's a great time to be Patrick Marleau. And while Stuart won't be credited for an assist on either of Marleau's goals Saturday. ...


...Go ahead and award an unofficial couple of helpers to the Sharks' blueliner who now is in his second San Jose stint. Here is the video of  Stuart's open-ice hit  of Landeskog that occurred in the first period a couple minutes before Marleau's two goals. I try to be objective when I'm writing these posts, and after seeing the collision a couple times since it first happened, I think it was a vicious and brutal hit of Landeskog, who fortunately came back into the game in the second period and appears like he'll be fine. Still, despite Stuart clearly and legally leading with his shoulder, he knocked Landeskog in the noggin, and the league's disciplinary czar Brendan Shanahan will have no choice but to have a chat with Stuart. Was it a suspendable offense? Maybe. But like in the NFL, I've always had problems with players being suspended for an excessive hit even when they were not being penalized in the game; the official is looking right at the point when Stuart decks Landeskog and allows play to continue. When Thornton was dinged for two games for his infamous KO of the Blues' David Perron two seasons ago, the Sharks' captain was at least handed down a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct. Still, I won't be outraged nor shocked if Stuart earns a one or two-game slap on the wrist. It's just the nature of the safety issue. All I would ask of Shanahan and the NHL is they're consistent with future incidents going forward. Whatever happens to Stuart -and I don't think it will be a long if any form of action- he changed the game for the better from the San Jose perspective...

...Because O'Byrne totally lost it. Rather than take a mental note of what happened to his captain -and I can understand the reaction to want and retaliate- he simply went all goon on Stuart and jumped him immediately. If you're a Sharks' fan knowing how devastating the power play's been, you had to love O'Byrne first drawing the instigator penalty, and ringing up another deuce for throwing down at Stuart while wearing a face shield. The Sharks' power play from hell made those 17 minutes worth of penalties unforgivable for the Avalanche to dig themselves out of. That two-goal lead was never in doubt. ...

...Because the Sharks mostly controlled play thereafter following Colorado's surge at the outset of the game. The Avs don't boast the same firepower as say Vancouver will throw at the Sharks in Sunday's game. But Greiss was sharp in his first start of the season. A couple Colorado shots banged off posts, and he wasn't really tested much except for the beginning and the end of the game on a few shifts but some difficult saves sprinkled in. But a shutout is a shutout, and Greiss will take it, thank you. He wasn't the only Shark with a milestone Saturday. ...

...Irwin scored his team's fourth and final goal when Martin Havlat flicked the puck toward Irwin near the left circle. He teed it up and blasted the puck top shelf past goalie Semyon Varlamov. Irwin was supposed to be keeping the seat warm for the injured Brent Burns and Jason Demers, but with a goal and assist thus far, plus being a nice complement to the veteran Boyle on the Sharks' second pairing, he could keep himself in the lineup or at least make for some tricky choices when the defense has more flexibility. ...

...The Sharks will now see how weary they'll be when they turn around to host Vancouver on Sunday. Gomez, who thanks to over five minutes of power play time was on the ice for a little more than 15 minutes in an effective if unspectacular debut as a the Sharks' fourth-line center. Coach Todd McLellan has praised the play of center Michal Handzus centering the third line thus far, so it makes sense to stick with those two in the same roles against the Canucks while the team is performing well.