Sharks 2, Blackhawks 1

Chicago rookie Jonathan Toews scored his first career goal on his first career shot in his first career game, but that didn't prevent the San Jose Sharks from dominating on the shot clock and turning in one of their more complete performances of the young season.

Milan Michalek potted two power play goals, the second of which he tipped past Nikolai Khabibulin with just 3:31 remaining in regulation time to give the Sharks a 2-1 win over the youthful Hawks. Definitely a far better all-around performance from the Sharks than their 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Avalanche Sunday, but the Sharks are in dire need of getting more traffic to the front of the net, which they finally accomplished on Michalek's game-winning goal.

Joe Thornton seemed to be laboring somewhat in this game, but no word of an injury whatsoever. He's gotten off to a bit of a slow start by his lofty standards, with two goals and an assist through four games but there's no doubt he'll rebound. One facet of his game that he's improved tremendously however is faceoffs at 73.9%.

Three Stars:
1. Milan Michalek: 2G
2. Jonathan Toews: 1G, +1
3. Craig Rivet: 2A, 22:56TOI