by Larry Leavitt

SAN JOSE–Taking a quick review of the Sharks this past week last Thursday in their 5-3 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Penguins they didn’t look bad they were playing even with the Penguins and they were trying to control the puck. When they were even with the Pens the way they caught up was they played more physical and they played much faster. Everybody was on board and everybody was back checking and forechecking.

They all carried the load easily and the Sharks played that NHL style the way they wanted to play,the Pens after the game in San Jose traveled cross country and beat the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night and the Pens came in against the Sharks on the rear end of their road trip. As far as the Sharks are concerned they faced the Pens and the Montreal Canadiens and they had a very successful homestand.

The Sharks who concluded the homestand against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday start a three game road trip in Columbus (Thursday), NY Islanders (Friday) and New York Rangers (Sunday). The Sharks have had 12 games against east coast teams either at home or away. The Sharks really made their last homestand count with great play against the Penguins and Canadiens. The loss to Carolina was a close one to start the stand in a 3-2 overtime loss.

The Sharks have been doing a great job playing their game, the only down side would be their getting more short handed goals than their power play goals in the last 16 games, it’s not a great stat to have but their having a winning record and they’ll take it as the Sharks are hot winning five of their last seven games.

The thing is the Sharks have to realize they have to get the power play going that’s something that could come back and bite them when they need a power play goal. They did catch the Canadiens at SAP Center when the Habs were tired and at the end of the trip as well. The Candiens are struggling losing three of their last four games and ending the trip with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Sharks on Saturday.

On the trip they were able to beat a first place Anaheim Ducks team by a goal on Wednesday March 5th 4-3 at the Honda Center but their previous game with the Kings at Staples the Canadiens ran into a tough defensive battle and lost a low scoring game 2-1. They also got beat bad in a three goal loss to the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3 the game before they came to San Jose. All in all the Canadiens are glad to get out of San Jose with their sweaters on and get ready to host the Boston Bruins on the 12th.

The Sharks really got tested on Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a first period that saw two Sharks goals get called back by the on ice official, the second goal that got called back was later ruled a goal and not a second too soon as that one gave San Jose the lead 2-1. The Maple Leafs brought some of their top stars into the rink for the contest as the Leafs are no slouch being second in the Atlantic and with Triple Crown offensive team leader Phil Kessel at the helm Kessel who leads the Leafs in points (73), goals (34), and assists (39).

Larry Leavitt does commentary on the Sharks and the NHL each week for Sportstalk radio