Hockeybird.com: Report Card: SJ 1 @ NYR 2 OT

Report Card: SJ 1 @ NYR 2 OT

Monday - December 16, 2002

12/16/02	1	2	3	OT	F
San Jose Sharks	1	0	0	0	1
New York Rangers	0	1	0	1	2

Player	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Mike Dunham		B+	Gave up a goal on his first shot against, nothing he could've done about it, though. Marleau was left alone RIGHT IN FRONT on the PP and easily slid it in. Dunham made a nice glove save about midway through the period, and looked stronger as the period moved on, which is to be expected after not having played in 15 days. And that's all Dunham gave up all night, that one goal that wasn't his fault. Dunham had a .962 save percentage on the night. He really didn't have to make any spectacular, jump out of your seat kind of saves, but there definitely were a few tough ones. I'm very excited about Dunham's career in New York. He's a good goalie, seems like a good guy and he makes this team quite a bit better!

Joel Bouchard	18:05	B	+1, 1 shot and 2 penalty minutes. This was a pretty smart pick up by Sather in the offseason - a journeyman defenseman who can step in easily for injured starters.
Tom Poti	24:41	B	1st period PK, Poti goes one way, Malakhov the other way, leaving Marleau all alone in front for a goal. Both were at fault. In OT Poti made the play that led to the goal, stepping up in the neutral zone with a great poke check and steal and lead pass to send Nedved into the zone.
Vladimir Malakhov	22:46	B	See Poti's column for Malakhov's bone headed move on the PK. When Marleau had the puck alone in front of the net you couldn't even SEE Malakhov within a 15 foot radius! Did he go get a hot dog? But also like Poti, outside of that one mistake he really played a strong game. Malakhov even sent a Shark almost head over heels in the 3rd with a blue line hip check.
Richard Lintner	15:41	B-	Can't say I really noticed anything good or bad.
Darius Kasparaitis	21:06	B	A few touchy plays, and he also has this weird idea in his head lately that he is somehow wanted in the offensive zone and has been going there a lot lately. Played a decent game, though, much better than late.
Dave Karpa	22:30	B-	I guess he was fine. 1st period I seem to remember one bad play, but otherwise did a solid job.

Bobby Holik	17:50	B	Good game. Hardly highlight reel but good forecheck and cycling and threw a few good hits.
Matthew Barnaby	14:28	B+	Awesome breakaway goal. Skated in, moved right, opened the legs and smoothly slid the puck through. Very strong game all night for Barnaby, fittingly named third star of the game.
Eric Lindros	20:37	B	Beautiful touchpass to Barnaby for his breakaway goal. Lindros actually has a 7 game point streak going and he's played well ever since Holik came back.Him and Lindros just bull their way on the cycle in the offensive zone and seem to have a good thing together.
Petr Nedved	21:31	B+	Played a hard game tonight, kept working right to the final whistle. His OT goal was nice - Nedved gets the puck between the circles, can't get off a forehand shot so does a twirling backhanded shot which went right through Kiprusoff's legs. Led the team with 5 shots.
Ronald Petrovicky	15:14	B	Good game, good fight with Hannan in the 2nd period with a few good shots landed.
Radek Dvorak	16:28	B	Chance of the 1st period, alone on Kiprusoff, unimpressive shot by Dvorak then tried a pass through the middle than came right out of the zone. He did play pretty well tonight, though, at least to the point where I didn't want to kill him, as usual.
Mark Messier	17:10	C+	Some good shifts, some slow and lazy shifts. One cool moment was in the 3rd when a Shark lined up Messier in center ice but it was actually Messier who knocked HIM to the surface.
Gordie Dwyer	8:01	B	Bunch of nice hits in the 1st. And the 2nd. And the 3rd. That's the way to make an impression! Really threw a hit just about EVERY single shift.
Mikael Samuelsson	16:49	C+	Like Messier, some good shifts, some very uneventful ones.
Billy Tibbetts	11:29	B	This line was good. Very good for a 4th line, actually. Got the puck in deep, grinded and hit and had a decent number of scoring chances. Tibbetts played a good game, hit well, went to the net and played with discipline. Was rewarded with some extra shifts with Messier and even one with Lindros and Holik.
Josh Green	7:51	B-	He was a little bit quieter than his linemates Tibbetts and McCarthy. I really have almost no impression of the kid so far.
Sandy McCarthy	7:50	B	Skated harder and faster than I've seen him in a while, if not all season. 2 shots. I like this 4th line.

COACHING STAFF:		B	Don't know who's idea it was to call up Dwyer and Tibbetts - Trottier's or Sather's - but who's ever idea it was made a smart decision. Both of those players provided a lot of energy and hitting and just some new faces. Trottier rolled 4 lines about as well as he ever did, so that's a positive. And this was a physical, tight game where 4 lines were needed, too.

1st PERIOD:		B-	Man, that period was painful. Not what was happening on the ice, what was (not) happening off of it. I'm not sure I've ever heard MSG so quiet before. Everyone tired today? Yeah, I know the Rangers suck, but they were extraordinarily quiet until about 5 minutes left. Rangers threw a lot of hits in the period, particularly Dwyer and all the guys on line 4. San Jose was very tight defensively, holding the Rangers to five shots.
2nd PERIOD:		B	Good period. Much like the 1st - lots of tight defensive play and some big hitting. Besides the one goal margin I'd say the Rangers slightly owned the flow of the period, too.
3rd PERIOD:		B	.
OVERALL:		B+	WELCOME MIKE DUNHAM! I'm ready to throw him a parade already. I know, just one game, but I'm of the opinion that this team hasn't really had good goaltending over a full season since probably Richter's 96-97 season. That's a LONG time to go without a good goalie. Sure, Richter can make saves like few others, but over the course of a full game and full season, he sinks to the bottom among other starting goalies. How's this for a quick turn of fortunes? Last week their 19 year old goalie was sinking, the team was getting blasted with serious injuries and the Rangers were falling out of the race. Now, granted, one game is only one game, but now they know Bure will be back in January, they have a new and talented goalie, brought some needed grit up to the roster and they shockingly WIN a defensively tight, hard hitting, grind it out 2-1 game. Yes, the Rangers did that! Surprising, no? I'm not going to get my hopes up, but with Dunham in net and Leetch and Bure back in the lineup I can see good things for this team.

2002-2003 record:			34GP \| 13-16-4-1 \| 31PTS \| 86GF \| 109GA
2001-2002 record:			34GP \| 17-13-2-2 \| 38PTS \| 97GF \| 98GA

Scratches:			Dan Blackburn (groin) Pavel Bure (knee) Ted Donato (healthy) Rico Fata (healthy) Brian Leetch (bruised foot) Sylvain Lefevbre (broken finger) Dale Purinton (bruised foot)
created by:			Pete Rocha, © 2002. procha@optonline.net
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Posted by pete at December 16, 2002 10:22 PM
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