Patrick Marleau's Historic Start

San Jose Sharks' forward Patrick Marleau is off to a historic start.

Marleau has scored two goals in each of the Shark's first four games. In doing so he has accomplished something no player has since the inaugural season of the NHL.

Marleau is the first player to start the season with back-to-back-to-back-to-back multi-goal games since Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators in 1917-18, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

ESB also reports that the last player to have a scoring streak like this, regardless of when in the season it occurred, was Alexander Mogilny. The Buffalo forward had five consecutive multi-goal games in the 1992-93 season.

Big Game Players?

Long time readers know that prior to the 2009-10 season I was vehemently opposed to Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau making the 2010 Canadian Olympic team. For all their impressive point totals, time and time again they have failed to come through in big games and under pressure.

My thought process began swaying when the San Jose Sharks acquired Dany Heatley, a Team Canada regular, in the summer. I figured a Thornton-Heatley combo would prove so lethal in the regular season that I resigned myself to the idea there would be no way Canada could not take Jumbo Joe.

Then the Sharks loaded up the line by including Marleau too, and for stretches he has been the best of three. In the interest of instant chemistry in a short tournament, I advocated the inclusion of all three Sharks players, poor playoff and Olympic histories be damned.

I do not know if any Canadian player will ever face as much pressure as they will in Vancouver. Which brings me back to the Shark trio and their reputation for disappearing in big games. With Canada relying on these three players greatly, how are they going to handle this pressure?

The Sharks, for much of the season the best team in the NHL this season, have not had a lot of "big games" this season, but if they have it would be the four showdowns with the Chicago Blackhawks for the title of best team in the West, if not the entire NHL. Here's how the three fared:


What I see are average offensive numbers from three of Canada's top scorers and poor defensive ratings.

San Jose's big line needs to produce at the Olympics. They do provide big numbers heading into the tournament and instant chemistry, but they also bring some concern about their ability to get the job done.

Patrick Marleau Is A Playoff Stud

Great game last night between San Jose and Anaheim. The Sharks staved off elimination thanks to Patrick Marleau's OT goal and strong performance.

San Jose is still in real trouble here, as the Ducks still lead the series 3 games to 2 and have been the better team. Thoughts of yet another San Jose playoff failure have heaped heavy criticism on the Sharks top players - Joe Thornton, which is much deserve, and Patrick Marleau, which is not.

I'll comment on Thornton another day. As the resident superstar, he takes a lot of heat for his poor playoff play. Marleau, as team's long time captain, too often gets grouped together with Thornton. To do so is to spread a serious falsehood.

True Patrick Marleau hasn't been able to lead the Sharks to playoff success, but he has played well in the playoffs.

Marleau's OT goal last night was his 32nd playoff goal since 2002. He is the highest goal scorer in that time period:

Patrick Marleau - 32 goals in 69 games
Henrik Zetterberg - 31 goals in 66 games
Joe Sakic - 28 goals in 58 games
Daniel Alfredsson - 28 goals in 69 games
Jarome Iginla - 27 goals in 51 games
Chris Drury - 26 goals in 69 games
Marian Hossa - 26 goals in 65 games
Daniel Briere - 23 goals in 62 games
Martin St. Louis - 23 goals in 45 games
Tomas Holmstrom - 23 goals in 85 games

Not only is he the leading playoff goal scorer in the last 7 years, but he also leads in game winning goals. Marleau has 10 game winning goals, one better than Drury and two better than Alfredsson and Johan Franzen.

In that same time frame he is also tied for the lead in short handed goals (3), second in even strength goals (18), and tied for third in power play goals (11).

So do not be so quick to put Patrick Marleau in the same playoff-failure boat as Joe Thornton. Marleau has proven to be a good playoff player.