(Jeez man... I started writing this post in the other thread and just spent 20 minutes to sit there, remember, and write it all down.. press send and get the message the thread is closed... so pissed thinking i lost it... then i hit the back button and all was good again)..
Lots of things to like about how this game went down...
San Jose came out Man vs Boys in the 1st... Miller was Amazing..
- The biggest mistake the Canucks were making in the first period was over-committing to our puck possession style of play.. WAAAY too many wrong/dangerous decisions with puck in our own zone when they could of made the safe play to whip it off the glass and out... and not just Vey... everyone was trying to make a 3 foot pass back that kept getting disrupted, or held on to it for a second or 2 too long and getting stripped etc..
It helped perpetuate the Sharks possession and pressure and our turnovers/gifts made em look a lot more dangerous than they should of been.
With about 9 minutes left in the first was my first real glimmer of hope and optimism outside of Miller's play.. the Sedins started to win the zone time battle their shifts. Obviously very little directed at the net, but they were no longer getting pinned by Couture-Marleau and... (damn it, forget the other guy on their line that matched the Sedins all night).. Daniel eventually had that great chance where went forehand backhand from the back of the net and put it wide.
- 2 Massive high quality snipes by Vrbata and Bonino... 2 perfect placement shots that Niemi had no chance on..
- PP cashed in.
- Saw the full spectrum of Bieksa tonight in the order of The Ugly, the Bad the Good... Bieksa-Stanton were a gong show in the first.. Bieksa was mediocre in the 2nd... and i thought he was our best Dman in the 3rd (or last half of the game).
- Sbisa with his quietest game of the season... i.e. His Best game of the season...
Shocked to see the ice time numbers.. The ultimate compliment to a dman's defensive play is that you aren't noticing him.. One of our best Dmen at skating the puck out of our zone, and he helped relieve a lot of pressure situations in this one.
Overall, Miller and the Canucks weathered the first 40 minutes...
But in the 3rd.. We played outstanding. Our defensive system looked fantastic, the Sharks couldn't get anything going through the neutral zone, and the amount of disruption they were generating took me back to the Montreal game.
Then they got that 3rd period PP on us... and man were we lucky the puck was dancing on them..
- Horvat looked like he belonged. Loved the one board play where he outmuscled the guy, took the puck and turned it up ice.... that was an NHL caliber play right there.
- the forward who stood out as being frustrating to watch was Higgens for me.
- On D obviously was 1st period Bieksa... but at least he settled and looked solid later.
- Tanev - i was pissed at on the PP goal against... he had no business being that high chasing. Other than that, he had a sloppy game, not his best effort.. but a lot of that was the Sharks fault..
But man... i loved how we looked in that 3rd period outside the PK and the last 30 secs... Great once again to see that we have that style of play in us.
That's my Fresh Take.
but I just woke up and still want to talk about the Sharks game. 
I blame Mahoney for misleading me!
