Monday night was an historic night at SAP Center as Mr. San Jose Shark, Patrick Marleau made his return to the ‘Tank as a member of the visiting team. Marleau signed a three year, $18 million contract this off season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, cementing his exit from San Jose after an astounding 20 years with the Sharks (for reference, the franchise is 26 years old).
Marleau holds just about every franchise record: 508 Goals, 1,493 Points, 624 consecutive games played, and that is just skimming the surface. If you look at every franchise record minus assists (owned by Jumbo Joe), Patrick Marleau’s name is atop the list. He’s one of the best players in Sharks history, and even more impressive, he continues to play at a high level today with Toronto all these years later.
The Sharks held an emotional video tribute before the puck dropped, and the feels continued for about five minutes after with a standing ovation from the San Jose crowd.
Patty Marleau tribute. https://t.co/mcnfrisrxm
— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) October 31, 2017
Welcome back Patty! Great to see the tribute for Patrick Marleau. #MapleLeafs ? #SJSharks ? https://t.co/2rx0ECV2Ls pic.twitter.com/jUYq5yF0iW
— Ryan Leong ? (@RyanLeong) October 31, 2017
Yes. There was also a hockey game played that night. The Sharks played their best game of the year against Marleau’s Maple Leafs. They out-shot the Leafs 39-18 in a 3-2 victory. This team has been playing some of its best hockey lately. They’re getting major contributions up and down all four lines, the man between the pipes, Martin Jones has been the wall we expected him to be and they’ve been getting increased production from all three defensive pairings. Sweetest of all? They’re doing all this and Brent Burns doesn’t even have a goal yet this season.
They tacked on another dominant performance with a 4-1 victory over the Western Conference Champion Nashville Predators Wednesday night. If the Sharks continue to play at this level throughout the season, it should put the rest of the Western Conference on notice.
But Monday night was about #12. It was great to see him back, playing at the level he is. He didn’t have any points in the loss, but he showed no signs of slowing down. Patrick Marleau will continue to be a great player in this league until his retirement, and will always be looked at as Mr. San Jose Shark here in the Bay Area.