Patrick Marleau’s confidence gets better with the scoring streak (Part 1)
The stands at the HP Pavilion Center were still filling up as San Jose Sharks came up with some brilliant plays and scored the opening goal of the game.
Patrick Marleau was the goal scorer during the power-play, scoring through a powerful strike in the fourth minute with Captain Joe Thornton coming up with the assist.
Marleau was brilliant in the offence and with some strong display of ice hockey. He was able to bag his second goal with a few minutes left in the first period.
"He's back", defenseman, Dan Boyle, said about Marleau. "He's back to the Patty we've been accustomed to. He scored two goals. The speed on the second one -- not many guys have that speed in the NHL. He's been a difference-maker. Obviously he's scored in
every game so far".
Marleau has been quite impressive in the series so far as he has scored a total of four goals in the series and has been on the end of scoring five goals in the past four games.
This includes the game winning goal against Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 that ended the player’s run of poor form.
Marleau was all over the Canucks in the third and crucial game of this Western Conference clash. He was the assist provider for Dan Boyle’s game winning goal during the power-play in the third period.
"He competed hard", Sharks’ coach, Todd McLellan, said. "He was on loose pucks, he skated, he blocked shots. He was good in the faceoff circle. Patty is a multi-faceted player. He's got tons of ability, and he can play in any situation, and when he's playing
well, you just turn him loose and let him go".
Marleau was coming under immense pressure in the series against Red Wings. There were great expectations from him during that series as he was considered as one of the game-changing and winning players.
However, he constantly failed to bag the expected performances and as a result, he had to face heavy criticism.
The first six games of the Red Wings’ series witnessed a very poor performance from him as he was unable to score even a single point.
Coupled with this was the fact that former Sharks’ players started to come up with statements that further got his morale down.
The most notable out of this was the statement made by Jeremy Roenick who called Marleau a gutless player. There was a point in Game 6 of the Red Wings’ series where it looked as if he was trying to get out of the poor form but it didn’t help the cause.
(Continued in part 2). . . . . . . .
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