In his NHL debut, Sharks D Jeff Jillson found himself facing Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov in a two-on-one that ended in a hat trick for Shanahan. Nice welcoming committee for a 21-year-old defenseman. "I wanted to dig a hole," says Jillson, "and disappear into the ice."

That's as good a place any ice for Jillson to call home. He came to rookie camp three months ago uncertain if he had a place on the team so he checked into a downtown San Jose motel room. He's still there. The hotel staff knows him by name and he orders so much room service that they give him an employee discount.

This is the unsettled life of a young defenseman playing on the fringe. "These young kids have to adjust to the speed of the game," says Sharks tough-guy coach Darryl Sutter. "Up here they get manhandled by men instead of boys."

A few bad games makes an apartment lease foolhardy. But now maybe Jillson can at least start looking at the newspaper ads.

Saturday night, Jillson one-timed a Gary Suter feed past Columbus goalie Ron Tugnutt for his first NHL goal. He's been playing 17 minutes a game, working the point on the power play, and holding his own fighting with the NHL's big boys.

In spite of his success, Jillson is still living in that downtown San Jose hotel room with two double beds, waiting to find out if he'll be sticking around or packing his bags for the minors. Not having a car and depending on teammates for rides, he's spending plenty of time in his room.

"It was worse in the beginning, but I've been there so long, I'm used to it now," he says. "I'm just playing hard and waiting to see if they tell me to look for a place. I think when they tell you that, it means you're staying."

Maybe Saturday night's game will help Jillson realize his home sweet home.

E-mail Lindsay Berra at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.