by Larry Leavitt

NEW YORK–Sharks head coach Todd McClellan says he would be happy about a win but he never shows it and much the same after the win in Uniondale on Friday night 4-3 against the Islanders. He’s really simple in his post game answers to the press and he knows there’s plenty of hockey left. He’s not going to say “this is the best game and were done” he’s always aiming to succeed. In the NHL that’s what you have to do continually fix what’s broken.

There’s always something that’s broken and right now it’s the power play, the best part of these wins are getting secondary scoring which is imnportant because you can’t aways count on your big guy up front to do the work and carry the load. Seconardary scoring can come from every line even the third line with Tommy Wingles, Andrew Desjardins, and Marty Havlet.

Havlet was absolutely fantastic with a goal and an assist, on offense they were shooting at their former teammate Evegeni Nabokov and when your in goal and the puck is in the corner you got to cover that corner shot you can’t leave that open and when the puck comes out front so quickly it’s hard to get ready and set up in time.

The Sharks passing has been absolutely pheonomenal in front of the net and that’s why they’ve had four goals in 26 shots on Friday night. They tried to stay open and find that soft spot in front the blue line and go in for it. The other member of the crew who helped make a difference was James Sheppard he’s on that third line.

Sheppard was filling that hole that Joe Pavelski left open and he’s really elevated his game tremendously, Friday night was a well fought game and to win by one goal against the Islanders show how well this team is going. They played an extrememly tight game for while. The zone coverage doesn’t always say everything because the other night the Sharks were losing on Thursday night when they were in Columbus and won in the shootout.

The Sharks had the edge in the zone and had some good offensive zone time, but the key is find your position and not having a lapse there and making sure if they break out you get all five guys there to help out. There was one goal that kind of trickled through and it looked like Niemi stopped it but it happens sometimes.

The Sharks play at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night against the New York Rangers and the last time these two teams met the Sharks Tomas Hertl really opened the game up when the played at SAP Center. This time Hertl is out with a knee injury so that could be good or bad as far as getting revenge against them or someone who had a grudge against Hertl because of the way he scored that goal against the Rangers. Either way expect a showdown at the Garden on Sunday.

Larry Leavitt does Sharks commentary each week for Sportstalk radio