Power points

1,100 for Jumbo, one big step for Sharks 

If the Sharks can bottle up anything from Saturday's 2-1 win -in regulation!!!!!- over the Nashville Predators,  it would be the above sequence that led to Joe Pavelski's eventual game-winning goal. It was the kind of determined and persistent hustle the struggling Sharks need to duplicate again and again if they're going to clearly break this funk they'd endured throughout the last month. What was an anemic power play that defined a miserable February of hockey epic failure had already scored one goal Saturday when Dan Boyle rifled in a one-timer through a traffic jam driven by Pavelski past screened Preds goalie Pekka Rinne.  Now it was time to grind out another goal. Pavelski and Couture chased Joe Thornton's deflected shot behind the net. Couture managed to flick the puck past former Shark Scott Hannan back in front of the net. Pavelski then epitomized the term "dogged" he can Couture worked for and flipped a shot off Rinne and into the goal (Thornton scored his 1,100th career point). All of a sudden a power play that found the net just three times covering 14 games managed two against one of the elite goalies in the NHL (though Rinne had struggled mightily in the previous three games, so perhaps it's not appropriate to get too excited yet)...


...Still, the Sharks needed something to feel good about after going 33 days without beating anyone in regulation and thus not giving away free points to overtime or shootout losers. Those precious three-point games are going to impact the playoff race in such a tightly-bunched Western Conference. How tough? With two points scored the Sharks jumped from ninth to fifth in the West. And though there was some nervous energy building after the Predators pulled within a goal with just over five minutes left in the third, San Jose held on to prevent Nashville from ensuring yet another overtime period at HP Pavilion. Now the Sharks must regain...

...Some mojo on the road. They head to constantly controversy-free Vancouver Tuesday night, and need to continue firing shots on goal after sending 39 at Rinne. Nine of the next 11 games are on hostile territory, and who knows if the Sharks will be aggressive as the April trade deadline looms? That's a good segue to saying a few words about Pavelski, who quietly continues to perform at a high level. Ross McKeon, the San Francisco's new/old beat writer who's back on board as a free-lancer, called Pavelski the team's midseason "Mr. Consistency"  during his midseason progress report for the Sharks.  This is what McKeon wrote even before Pavelski was arguably the best skater on the ice against Nashville:

Joe Pavelski just keeps chugging along, producing points, playing well in all situations and providing leadership.

Well put. I wondered last summer as Rick Nash-to-San Jose trade rumors bubbled but never came to a boil if Pavelski's solid two-way play throughout his career was worth being the lead piece in a deal to land the explosive scoring and rugged Nash. Obviously neither Columbus nor San Jose agreed on any trade, so it became moot. And Pavelski is one of the few A-list Sharks not bogged down by any no-trade or movement clauses, so if San Jose General Manager Doug Wilson is forced to make a blockbuster move, Pavelski provides one bargaining chip who he wouldn't need permission to trade. But as the Thornton's, Boyle's and Patrick Marleau's get closer and closer to the end of their contracts and their prime, it's probably for the best if Pavelski, still about a year-and-a-half south of 30, can stay a Shark and form the next generation of leaders along with Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns. But the Sharks have to feel like there is still some -but not much- time left to make one last run at a Stanley Cup. However, there is still much to prove as San Jose heads north of the border.