Usually I would like saying, “I hate to say I told you so.” I just knew this series was going to be trouble. However, in this case, I don’t really get the same feeling of satisfaction. As I mentioned in my last blog, I was in Texas for some personal reasons. I was able to catch some of the Sharks play on Versus, and it was a little disheartening. Watching the Sharks falter on power play after power play, my uncle at one point even asked if they really were the best team in the league.
The main problem that I have had with the Sharks throughout this series is that they really haven’t risen to the occasion. So many good players on paper, and up until tonight, had found themselves on the bottom of a dark and dreary 3-1 hole in the series against the Anaheim Ducks. I’d like to imagine what it would be like if the Sharks actually played like the team that they’re
supposed to be. But then again, I guess I could be considered a daydreamer at heart.
But, tonight, the Sharks live to see another game. It was a huge victory for them, avoiding elimination by managing to win from an overtime goal from Captain Patrick Marleau. The Sharks gave up a two-goal lead only to come back with the win. They never make it easy, do they?
- Joe Thornton, despite having his first three-point playoff game (sad, but true), has played like the invisible man. It was good to see Thornton chirping at Ryan Getzlaf. It only took Thornton like what, four games to get warmed up?
- Evgeni Nabokov is going to have to be a LOT better if they expect to win this series, or the Stanley Cup, for that matter. But hey, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. Right now, Jonas Hiller is flat-out outplaying Evgeni Nabokov. The Sharks are having a hell of a time trying to get the puck past Hiller, so Nabokov isn’t going to have the goal support he once had earlier in the season. Who knows, maybe he’ll be able to close up that five-hole.
- Torrey Mitchell’s return has been absolutely fantastic. He’s provided that extra energy in the lineup. Mitchell and the always graceful (note the sarcasm) Jonathan Cheechoo even had a few decent scoring chances during the second period. I personally really enjoy watching Mitchell being back in the lineup – he’s played like an animal, and I think that the timing for his return couldn’t have been better.
- There’s no more of a perfect example of those gritty goals you need in the playoffs than Marleau’s overtime goal. There wasn’t anything pretty about it, and those are the types of goals you need most of the time in the playoffs. All Marleau really did was just jab at the puck, and Hiller pulled a Nabby-esque move and helped that puck along past the goal line. It was a little strange to see the Sharks on that end of the goal. I’d say nine times out of ten it’d be the Sharks getting scored on like that.
The Sharks need to win two in a row in order to move on to the second round. It’s not up to the coaches, it’s up to them. Game six in Anaheim. All Sharks fans will have to do is wait and see if the team can get the job done, or if summer’s going to come a little earlier this year.
-Danielle
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