Game 3 Recap: Shark Infested Waters.

The good news is we are almost finished opening up buildings. To tell you the truth, when I saw this one on the calendar, I chalked up an automatic loss. A home opener to maybe the WC's best team, doesn't make for a great result and ..... it didn't

Even in defeat I took some positives out of tonight.

Nasher got on the scoreboard. A typical Nash goal.

To the new guy, Anton Stralman. I was impressed, he will help us. I still can't believe how quickly he could get off his slapper. He got it through too. Exactly what we needed. An A+ for Howson on this guy.

When my wife woke up for her first bathroom break of the night, Chimera was blazing down the left wing. She asked the score. When the puck left his stick, I called it 2-2. How many times have we seen Chimmer score that goal?

The fourth line was much better. I'm not much a fan of Boller or Murray. Blunden and Dorsett gave us a legit fourth line. I'd stick with these two.

I haven't mentioned him much, but Raffi Torres has played some pretty good hockey. His unbeaten streak comes to an end tonight, but 2 straight with a PP could be a sign of good things to come.

For a lot of the play, I thought we were right there with the Sharks most of the game. It was the home opener and they have been struggling so you knew they'd play a strong game. I didn't feel like they outclassed us.

On the other end...

Mason was shaky tonight. He looked very awkward on the 4th goal from Heatley. It should have been a routine save. Mase gave up 4, 2nd period goals. I won't check, but I'd bet that was his first four goal against period. He probably deserved to get yanked in this one. I was hoping it would fire up the squard.

When I saw the lines this morning with Brassard, Voracek and Filatov... I knew Filatov wasn't going to get much ice. Why wouldn't the Sharks match their top line against that line? Hitch had to really scramble with matchups to protect this line. Their ice time was greatly reduced which I thought hurt our offensive play, especially in the second period. I have no issue rolling that line out at home when we pick the matchups, but it didn't make sense against the Sharks. Filatov had two minutes off ice time through two periods.

We had no answer for their big line.

Mancrush of the Game: Anton Strahlman, this guy plays the type of game that we need.

Whipping Boy of the Game: Klesla and Tyutin. These guys were on the ice for a lot of the goals against. They weren't able to shut down that top line. It is an absolute must on the road. We need better out of these guys.

What did you think? Hit the comments.