For all the hype about Dany Heatley playing his former club, and he did have a strong game with two assists, it was the Patrick Marleau show as he rung up two goals in his 900th NHL game. The duo, combined with Joe Thornton, had their engines humming all night. It was almost more amazing that Heatley didn’t score a goal considering his eight shots, including six in the first period.

“Dany played great,” said Thornton. “He is just one of the best players in the world.”

“After the first shift, he said ‘I feel good,’” said Marleau.

And the line may prove to the best in the world in a few months time.

“Joe makes great plays and passes and Dany does the same thing,” said Marleau.

The two tallies pushed Marleau into the club lead and into the second spot in the NHL with 18 tallies.

“Whoever get’s them it’s good,” said Marleau.

Heatley concurred.

“It’s fine with me as long as someone scores every night,” said Heatley. “Patty’s been playing great all year and it’s nice he got two in his 900th game. A lot of guys don’t play that many games.”

And Thornton simply continues to do his part. He now has an eight-game assist streak and points in his last nine games (3-14=17). Thornton moved ahead of Marian Gaborik in the Art Ross Trophy race (Thornton = 39 points; Gaborik = 37 points).

VICTORY
Thomas Greiss got the start and earned the victory, coming up with a couple of spectacular saves when it appeared a Senators goal was imminent.

“He played great,” said Thornton. “It was nice to see him get a win.”

What was more impressive is Greiss played so strongly while not having recorded much game time recently.

“That’s tough for a young goalie to go in on a two week hiatus,” said McLellan. “I thought he played very well.”

BIG GOAL
Jamie McGinn scored the Sharks second goal on a nice pass from Scott Nichol that sent him in alone on Brian Elliott. McGinn buried the puck against the team he used to cheer for while playing juniors in Ottawa.

STARTERS
Both coaches sent out significant pieces of the big summer trade to start the game as Heatley was out for the opening faceoff for San Jose and Milan Michalek was out there for Ottawa.

FAN APPRECIATION
The good folks in the Sharks event presentation department picked a nice spot to isolate the big screen on Cheechoo and he received a roar of applause worthy of his time in the Bay Area.

San Jose’s players were impressed with the play of Michalek as he notched two goals.

“He’s a really good player,” said Marleau.

“We wish those two as much luck now as possible,” said McLellan.

MAKING THE CUT
While taking a shot during the contest, Marleau was crunched by two Ottawa players and ended up with an open wound on his face.

“I got a shoulder in the face and the visor came in and cut me,” said Marleau.

LET’S GO
Fraser McLaren had a spirited bout with former Sharks blueliner Matt Carkner.

LUCKY 7
Ryane Clowe extended his point streak to seven games (4-4=8) with a second period goal.

OTTAWA HEAD COACH CORY CLOUSTON:
“We did a lot of good things and had a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t score early and when you get behind the eight ball against a team like that, it’s an uphill battle.”

“They are a good penalty killing team and I thought our kill was pretty solid as well against a very good power play. Sometimes those things happen. We do have to have our power play step up in important situations. Like I said before it’s sometimes not how many, it’s when they are scored. So that’s a couple of real important power plays towards the end that we didn’t capitalize.”

LINES
Heatley-Thornton-Marleau
Clowe-Pavelski-Malhotra
McGinn-Nichol-Ortmeyer
McLaren-Mitchell-Setoguchi

Murray-Boyle
Vlasic-Blake
Joslin-Huskins

Greiss-Nabokov

NEXT GAME
The Sharks will face St. Louis on Thursday night at HP Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be found at the HP Pavilion Ticket Office and at www.ticketmaster.com. The contest will be on CSN California, 98.5 KFOX and sjsharks.com.