Two points? Take what you can get

I was trying to multi-task Tuesday night: Helping my niece put together an essay outline on Afghanistan for her high school history class, and keeping an eye on the Avalanche-Sharks game. As it turns out, both exercises were rather painful to be a part of! She trudged through and finished her assignment around the time the Sharks were barely fending off Colorado 3-2 in a shootout win at HP Pavilion. It was just the second time the Sharks had earned two points in a whopping 26 days, so there's little room to complain. Still....

...The Sharks should have won this game far more comfortably than they did. But that's what San Jose is right now, struggling to finish off victories even when controlling play for most of 65 minutes, yet still needing a couple of shootout goals from Michal Handzus and Patrick Marleau (in a rare SO appearance by the latter) to ensure the win. Somehow the Sharks were tied through regulation and overtime despite scoring a goal just 25 seconds thanks to Marty Havlat's forechecking, a brilliant Joe Thornton pass and Logan Couture blistering one-timer. They were tied despite outshooting Colorado 41-27 and getting five power plays to just two for the Avs (the Sharks dunked another donut again with the man advantage). And they were tied despite getting a rare goal from a forward not named Thornton, Marleau, Couture or Joe Pavelski when the embattled TJ Galiardi got his first of the season, fittingly against the man he was traded for Jamie McGinn from Galiardi's former team. That was a baby step for a team that still needs to address a weak spot of getting far too little secondary scoring...

...So let's look at it this way: San Jose needs to get on a bit of a roll starting about a week ago, and perhaps dominating play against an inferior opponent but still needing to grind out overtime and a shootout will actually keep this team grounded with two difficult games left on this short homestand. The respected but still abhorred Detroit Red Wings' arrival Thursday provides any Sharks' team with further incentive to take the ice focused on stringing together strong games. The Red Wings have  suffered from some perhaps a little post-Lidstrom-shock-syndrome, recently endured a five-game losing streak before winning two in a row, and like the Sharks are hovering around the playoff cutoff line.  So both teams should be expected to demanded that they play with some urgency. Detroit appearances in San Jose are always fun and filled with tension, so bring on the Winged Wheel.