Sharks Bounce Back, Defeat Oilers 4-1

Drew Remenda, one of the broadcasters for Comcast Sports Net, said that the Sharks had won the lottery.  He was referring to Brad Staubitz's goal, which was his first in his NHL career.  With the goal came Douglas Murray's first point with an assist, and Alexei Semenov's second point with a secondary assist.  Staubitz's goal which beat Dwane Roloson, who in his previous meeting, had 41 saves against the Sharks, was one of three Sharks goals that was scored in the first period, and it proved to be the game winner as well.  Staubitz also added to his resume with 9 PIMs, including a third period fight.

Devin Setoguchi, who had a goal and two assists in the game,  scored the first goal of the game, which came on the first Sharks power play of the game.  However, Denis Grebeshkov tied it three minutes later on the Oilers power play.  Staubitz then scored his goal three minutes later.  Then, with 30 seconds left in the first period, Patrick Marleau got the puck in the high slot and shot it past Roloson, which resulted in his pulling after he had made 7 saves off 10 shots.  Mathieu Garon took over in the second.  Marleau then scored his second goal of the game on the power play from a perfect cross ice pass from Joe Pavelski to make it 4-1.

The Sharks bounced back nicely after taking a heavy beating in Calgary, which resulted in an extra day of practice assigned by the coaching staff on a scheduled off day.  However, Marleau said that the team understood why they were assigned practice, and it seemed to have paid off.  Evgeni Nabokov, after allowing 4 goals on 18 shots on Tuesday, shut the door after the first period, making 25 saves on 26 shots and posted his 21st win of the season.  Rob Blake, who had his 500th career assist taken away on Tuesday from a scoring change, officially recorded his 500th assist on Marleau's late first period goal.  All-Stars Joe Thorton and Dan Boyle also got an assist each in the game, as the Sharks picked up their 30th win in 40 games, and jump 1 point ahead of the seemingly unstoppable Boston Bruins for claim of the title "Best Team in the NHL".   San Jose looks to carry this momentum into Vancouver tomorrow, where they will face the Canucks for their final game of this road trip.