Live by the sword, die by the sword

[angryjay93]

Today the San Jose Sharks came out offensive minded and never left that mindset no matter what the outcome was. In 7 games today 78 goals were scored, 45 of them came off sharks sticks.

In the first game the Sharks faced off with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers took advantage of their few chances and had a few breaks go their way to allow them to skate off with the 6-4 vicotry. All three Ranger forwards put a pair past the shake Tommy Soderstrom.

In game 2 the Sharks went up agasint the struggling Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers fought hard but were unable to keep up with the Sharks offense has they slammed home 7 goals in a 7-2 win to complete the season sweep over the Oilers.

In game three the Sharks faced the top dogs in the west, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks asserted themselves after a a slow start and managed to take advnatage of some porous defense and weak goaltending in a 6-3 win. The Sharks had countless chances against the Hawks, but Belfour played big and came up with big save after big save.

Looking to get back on their feet, the Sharks went up against the Ottawa Senators in the Civic Center. The Sharks scored 5 unansuwerd goals to turn a 4-2 defecit into a 7-4 lead and were able to hold on for an 8-6 victory over the Sens.

In the final three games the Sharks went up agasint their conference rival, the Vancouver Canucks. In the first game the Sharks recieved two goals each from Mark Recchi, Pierre Turgeon and Jimmy Carson en route to a 6-4 victroy.

In game 2 the Vancouver Canucks, although outplayed most of the game, took advantage of horrendus face off defense by the Sharks. In the first play of the game the Canucks scored off the face off to take a 1-0 lead very early in the game. The Sharks answered with 3 goals to take a 3-1 lead, but it would evaporate in a flash as Steve Yzerman answered with a goal and then proceeded to win 3 straight face offs and beat the entire San jose team for three straight goals to give the Canucks a 5-3 lead. In response the Sharks scored 4 straight goals to give them a 7-5 lead with 100 seconds left in the game. Steve yzerman proceeded to win 3 straight face offs again and provide the goal or a helping hand in the next 3 canucks goals which were scored in a span of 19 seconds. Glenn Healy then shut the door on the Sharks in the last 70 seconds to persrve an 8-7 Canucks win.

In game 3 the Sharks shaped up their face offs and their face off defense by winning 15 out of 20 faceoffs and scoring the first 8 goals in a 9-2 white wash of the Canucks. Mark Recchi and Jimmy Carson each had hattricks while Pierre turgeon pitched ina goal and 4 assists. the win gave the sharks a 3-1 edge in head-head battles with the Canucks and provided them a much needed buffer between them and the 6th spot in the playoffs.

"we played pretty shaky tonight on defense, it was atrocious at times, but we picked up the wins we needed against the teams we needed to beat most and put ourselves in a good position to get a playoff berth," said Mark Recchi.

At 30-11-1, the top two seeds are out of the question for the sharks, what they are trying to get is just into the playoffs, with 4 other teams nipping on their heels the Sharks will have to win a few more games to achieve their goal.

On the individual front the San Jose sharks are the only team in the league to have three players with atleast 60 goals, 50 assists and 115 points.