We haven’t seen a Bay Area hop create this much buzz since Joe Montana found Dwight Clark in the end zone. While the 1982 NFC Championship touchdown toss created jubilation – replayed, relived and reenacted for more than two decades – Patrick Marleau’s leap resulted in frustration and a postgame tongue-lashing from Sharks coach Ron Wilson.
Nobody can tell why Marleau jumped over Mike Modano’s point shot, screening his goaltender in the process and allowing the Stars to even up the score, but it’s time to cut the captain a little slack. He’s been ripped by the media for a lack of leadership, refusing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team. Some have made it sound like an act of cowardice or treason, rather than a simple mistake.
The replays clearly show him hopping to dodge the oncoming puck, but I find it hard to believe Marleau intentionally avoided the shot by jumping out of the way. Plus, he couldn’t have been more than 15 feet away from Modano. That means he would need to have remarkable reflexes to consciously leap over the puck, which could have been traveling upwards of 95 miles per hour. Whether it was intentional or not, I wouldn’t expect hopping of any kind when the team takes the ice for Game 2 tonight.
In addition to hopping, I wouldn’t bet on any more flopping from Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov. Some seem to think the Vezina candidate is impervious to criticism, building up so much goodwill from a season of spectacular play that he deserves the benefit of the doubt for a poor performance. It’s true the team wouldn’t be anywhere near the second round without Nabokov but this is the playoffs, and if the best Shark repeats his impression of a beached whale San Jose will surely head back to Dallas trailing 2-0.
Nabokov was overly aggressive on the Stars’ overtime winner, sliding well out of his crease and scrambling to get back into position before Brenden Morrow wired a perfect one-timer that found the twine. Simply put, it was uglier than Torrey Mitchell’s playoff beard. San Jose isn’t going to go score many goals. An offense that stagnated for the majority of the regular season is having a difficult time setting up scoring chances, and the Sharks won’t survive this round without Nabokov pulling out a couple games.
Everyone knows mistakes are magnified in the playoffs, and Dallas made fewer of them in Game 1 despite being outshot by a wide margin. The Stars simply controlled when they had to. They sat back prematurely in the third and allowed San Jose to push the play, but answered back after Cheechoo’s equalizer and dictated the tempo until Morrow finished things off.
One thing is certain: the Sharks aren’t making things easy for themselves. The last Stanley Cup winner to lose more than four games in the first two rounds was the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins, who dropped five en route their second consecutive title. No Cup winner has dropped four games in the opening two rounds since the Detroit Red Wings in 1998. We saw San Jose push back from a deficit twice in the opening round against Calgary. They’ll need to do it again tonight, without the hop or the flops.
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Join us tonight at 9 p.m. PT for the SharksBuzz postgame show. We'll take the entire hour and break it all down, taking your calls at (724) 444-7444, talkcast ID# 74909. Plus, immediately after we wrap things up tune in to the Teal Spiel beginning at 10 p.m. PT on 1220-AM KNTS with special guest Jamie Baker. Two great shows absolutely free, quenching your thirst for informative Sharks talk. Enjoy the game everybody and we look forward to hearing from you.
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