No doot aboot it.
Well, the bandwagon is getting a bit full, but I’m sure we can squeeze you in.
Cute.
The Sharks need to be very careful how they come out and play tonight. Their scrappy behavior at the end of last game isn’t going to win them much favor with the refs. What concerns me the most is the way they sound in the press right now. Wilson calls Nabokovs blunder a “back breaker” while Nabokov blasts his team for not coming back from 2-1 in the second. That doesn’t sound like a team that can come back and win. That sounds more frustrated than determined and San Jose can’t play like that. It leads to bad penalties and shooters trying too hard to make the perfect play. I’ve seen it often. I’m a Detroit fan. 
Not that I’m counting San Jose out by any means. Detroit is going to have to play their best game so far to put the Sharks down. Be patient. Let the Sharks make the mistakes. It certainly doesn’t help that Schneider is out for the rest of the playoffs. Getting Lebda back helps a bit. He’s a better skater, but he doesn’t have Schneiders experience or shot from the point. Right now momentum is on Detroits side and they’d better not blow it. If the Sharks win tonight, I don’t think Detroit can win game 7.
That’s a bold call, implying that Detroit won’t win game 7. Whatever I said upthread about the teams’ relative strengths, I’m still willing to believe that the conference points leader can hold its home ice in a game 7. I think the Sharks’ situation is daunting, at best.
However, I wouldn’t read too much into the quotes in the press. They fumed in the immediate aftermath–they should have; they played an awful game by all accounts–but all that will get tucked away by game time. We’ll know if San Jose is really panicking if they go with Toskala tonight instead of Nabokov. That change is unwarranted, I feel, but Wilson may do it if he feels he needs to shake up the team. And if he feels that, the team may not get out of there alive tonight.
Whatever happens, I’ll remember this: San Jose has as much young talent as any team in the league. That same old rules holds true: sometimes teams need to lose (a couple of times, even) before they learn how to win. San Jose’s track is still an upward curve. Their future is solid, even if their present ends tonight.
I’ll go out on the limb: Marleau finally has a big night, the Sharks get at least two power play goals, and Nabokov is solid. Game 7 Wednesday night.
San Jose is just as deep as Detroit is and what they lack in defense, they make up for in goaltending. San Jose has also scored first in all but one game in this series. Last thing Detroit needs is to give San Jose a moment to breath and Nabokov time to remember how good he really is.
I’d be surprised if he went with Toskala. As for the quotes, you rarely hear things like that from teams that win. Teams can be upset at their collective play. For example, Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau saying that the team didn’t play well enough. When coaches and players start pointing fingers, the wheels are coming off and the team starts to sound chokey.
San Jose has lost quite a bit and are on the verge of taking over St. Louis as the wests annual stanley cup bridesmaid. If there was a team that needed to make the cup finals for their own sake, it’s the Sharks.
Marleau is clutching his stick. He’s had new linemates and a (near) public calling out by the coach. If San Jose wins tonight, it’s going to be Thornton and Nabokov carrying the load again.
Hooray!
The Redwings are a great team but I really thought Thornton was capable of doing it himself. I saw a couple of games down the stretch last year live, and he absolutely dominated them. Watching him, I kept thinking if there were another league above the NHL full of nothing but superstars he would be the best in that league as well. This Sharks meltdown makes me think he doesn’t show up every night, and he can’t will his team to be greater- which the best can do. Regardless, I’d still want him on my team.
For the next two series, I think we are in for a treat. Both should be excellent and exciting and are IMHO up in the air. That being said, it’s no fun if you don’t put it on the line…
Red Wings in 6. Offence is the new defence, and the Wings have the guns. Great D as well, but without Schneider the result is far from guaranteed.
Ottawa in 7. Buffalo has the complete package, but I think the Sens have a lot of ghosts to exorcise and Heatley is the man to help them do it.
Whatever happens, there is some great hockey headed our way.
On a side note, does anyone else miss the days when the refs put the whistles away and let the shit sort itself out? I’m not talking about clutch-and-grab mugging, I’m talking about hockey.
I’ve been watching hockey since '97. Frankly, I can’t remember that ever being the case. Blame the Devils for opening Pandora’s box and the NHL referees for refusing to stick to some reasonable standard and forcing the NHL to go with today’s over-exuberant, but completely objective standard.
Well I’m not a big fan of the guy, buy I have to admit Hasek is one of the best goalies around. I think he’s like 41 and he’s still showing he’s got it. Good win wings.
Well, I certainly remember it. The list of Stanley Cup winners from 1994 on back is filled with exciting teams that played crazy good hockey, and the refs pretty much didn’t call anything that wasn’t egregious. You have to go back to the 1967 champs to find a team that sucked 
. Seeing a 5 on 3 in the playoffs almost short-circuits my tiny brain.
People keep blaming the Devils for the mugging style that tried to kill hockey, but I don’t think that is accurate. The Devils played a defence first style that wasn’t super exciting, and they won the cup in 1995. After that it was all very exciting teams that won until the devils again in 2000. The real culprit in the death of offense was expansion. The league added too many teams too quickly, and in the new diluted NHL many teams resorted to hooking, clutching and grabbing to stop the skilled players. The refs were overrun, and without a clear mandate to call everything the game spiraled into, well, what it became. The whole fiasco could have been avoided by showing the refs this video before every game.
I would also like to reiterate how excited I am about these two matchups. Buffalo v Ottawa should be a barn burner, one for the ages. I’m also excited about Detroit v the Ducks, with Holmstrom in front of the net and Pronger and Neidermeyer clearing him out, I think it’ll be another classic. HERE WE GO!
I still remember when the goalie wandered he was fair game. The players would love to cream a goalie. I also remember when a player passing or bringing the puck out his own zone . if he crossed in front of his net, the crowd let out a gasp.
Maybe it’s just the markets. In Canada, a player crossing in front of his own net will still get a gasp.
Uuh, OK. I sure was wrong.
As I said above, the Sharks still have a lot of goodness in their future. Too many good, young players to get down on the team, even with last night’s flameout. That’s why, Harborwolf, I wouldn’t give them the “bridesmaid” tag just yet. It’s another of those “lose before you learn to win” situations.
Having said that, I must admit, what bothers me about this is the fact that this is the second year in a row when, having made the second round, the Sharks were on the verge of taking a stranglehold on the series, then just stood there and watched as the other team waltzed by them. Edmonton last year, Detroit this year. They’ve got to learn this lesson, or then they will be perennial also-rans.
Ex-Sharks TV analysit Drew Remenda was back on the Sharks broadcast last night (on loan from CBC), and he made a really good point about the Sharks. He noted that, whenever one of their guys would go to the net, the player would get to the net and then skate by, instead of stopping on the doorstep and working to make Hasek work. They’re not willing to stand in there and take the crosscheck in order to get the goal. I take it to be evidence that San Jose gets into the playoffs and continues to play good hockey, but they don’t play good playoff hockey. They haven’t learned to go the extra step yet. But that can be corrected.
Ultimately, though, Detroit deserves credit. They did what they had to to close it out.
Such is my post mortem on the Sharks. Let’s see what happens in the conference finals.
Joe Thornton wasn’t the only Shark who didn’t show up last night. 
Watching last night’s debacle made me wonder what those guys were trying to do. It looked like a general free-for-all, with no consolidated teamwork, and very little screening of the goalie. The Wings first goal was an extremely lucky shot that IMHO no goalie could deflect, but after that … ? Come on San Jose, if you’re going to be a world-class hockey team, please start playing as a TEAM.
That being said, I’m really in a corner now. At the beginning of the season, my SO and I each pick the team we think is going to win the Cup & put a $20 bet on them in Las Vegas. His picks for the last two years were … Tampa Bay &North Carolina??! This year it’s Detroit!!! If the Wings win this year, he’ll be totally insufferable!
Please, guys, ANYONE except the Wings!!
SJS fans-
Is my impression correct that the acquisition of Guerin threw Marleau completely off-kilter? Or did Marleau simply suck unilaterally? Very unlike him.
Woohoooo! They just announced the schedule for the Sens/Sabres and Ducks/Wings series.
http://www.versus.com/nw/article/view/18497/?tf=NHLArticleWrapper.tpl
The next week is going to be pretty damn exciting. I’m still pulling for Buffalo, but I’m thinking whoever wins the Ducks/Wings series is going to win the whole thing.
I never got that impression. In fact, when Guerin came in, he struggled at first, but then started scoring regularly; I think he had a decent point streak going at one point. And if I remember correctly, he was on Marleau’s line most of the time after the trade. So they were making things happen in tandem. Marleau simply disappeared during these playoffs. Of course, so did Guerin, so maybe the one begat the other. But there was no big fall off during the season.
Re: schedules for conference finals: looks like we’ll have a game a night until next Friday, and all in Hi-Def. Sweet.
I’m throwing my rooting interest behind Ottawa from here on out. Don’t know if they’ll win it, but I just like their moxie this year.
Toot, Toot. 4-0 in the picks. Dead on in one game, off by one game in the other 3 series.
Senators v. Sabers - Wow, just wow. Looking forward to this series because it’s virtually a tossup…Great, but inexperienced goaltending at this level. Scoring machines on both sides of the puck…good, but not great defense but nearly matched against each other with maybe, just maybe, a slight edge to Buffalo. Would that be the difference? OR is it the hunger of not making it to the next level that could make it enough of an intangible to drive either team to the finals? What, you’re putting a gun to my head? Well, then…ok…I will say…
Buffalo in 7.
Warning: Homer Hyperbole Ahead.
Ducks v. Wings - Wow, just wow. Looking forward to this series because it’s not a tossup, it’s time for payback…AGAIN. “Payback for what?”, you may say and my response…“Payback for Detroit sweeping the Ducks twice back in the 1997 and 1999…the Ducks owe the Wings one more.” Ducks gained a great deal of respect back in 2003 (Remember this great moment in history?) with the first playoff sweep.
Nice quote, Mr. Babcock…too bad you’ll be on the opposite end of it this time.
Let’s check our math… 2 - 1 = 1. That’s right, Ducks owe the wings ONE MORE. Will this be a debt paid in full, or will Anaheim lay the wood to them in 5, 6 or 7? It’s Anaheim’s series to win or lose, because Detroit IMHO, is one notch below Anaheim in every sense…
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Goaltending (that’s right, goaltending). Hasek is gonna get peppered by big, speedy, and strong dudes…lots of them. He’s gonna get screened an awful lot. He’s not gonna catch what he can’t see. Just ask Backstrom and Luongo how their series went. Advantage…Anaheim.
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Defense…3 Norris Tropy nominees all together in one series. Does Lidstrom cancel both Pronger and Neidermayer out? Uh…NO. Does the rest of Detroit’s decimated defense cancel the rest of Anaheim’s defense out? Uh…NO. How about Penalty Kills? Uh…NO. Advantage…Anaheim.
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Offense…Now, this might be a closer matchup…until you compare how they match up. Pahlsson is starting to emerge as center who skates against the opposition’s best line and still manages a +4 rating. He has one of the best face-off percentages and is a non-stop forechecking sonofabitch. He will make Detroit’s top line sputter, hiccup, and stutter with the puck. The Wings will grow to hate him as the series wears on. Little bro Neidermayer also is capable of such treachery. Getzlaf, Penner, and Perry will give any line matched up against them an extra 5 to 10 years of aging (hey Cheli, that’s 50-55 for you!) with their smashmouth style of puck possession, corner play and crease traffic. And when Detroit wears down in the 3rd, McDonald, Selanne, Kunitz, and Moen will capitialize with their speed. If you can clone 5 more Lidstroms, then maybe you’ll be able to shut down the Ducks.
Also, you better start cloning Datzyuk, Zetterberg, and Holmstrom, because you’ll need an army of them to beat the Duck’s defense. Heh, good luck with that.
Advantage…Anaheim.
Ducks REPEAT sweep.
[/hh]
OK, more like the Ducks in 6.
You were off by 2 in the Sens-Devils series.
Are you out of your mind? There’s no way that Buffalo has a better defence than Ottawa. Phillips and Volchenkov are absolute horses, and completely shut down the best player in the league in Sidney Crosby. Wade Redden played at the Olympics for Canada, and there’s no tighter competition than to get one of those 6 spots on the Canadian blueline.
Even if you call it even between the defence corps, Ottawa plays much better team defence than Buffalo. Jason Spezza is out there blocking shots. Do you see Briere or Vanek doing that?
Now, if you count goaltending in the “defence” category, than maybe you can say that Buffalo has a better defence than Ottawa, but I don’t often see them goaltending grouped in like that when comparing defences.