I thought it would be hard to find anything older and more tired than Tony Lindsay (one of nearly a dozen former 'Santana' vocalists) singing the national anthem, but the Preds proved me wrong with a terrible third period Wednesday night, letting the Sharks notch a 3-2 victory and a 3-1 series lead.
It was a strange game from the start, and both teams have mellowed to the point it actually felt like a ringette game at times. The fire from the first two games is completely gone, and that only serves the Sharks, who did enough to win and never faced a real threat from the Preds after the first period. Every period was so different, looking at each one separately is the only way to break things down.
First Period - Nashville's gameplan was evident from the start, trying to keep pressure on the Sharks with speed and quick puck movement. It worked early on, and Nabby had to come up with a couple big saves as the Preds worked the puck around. "They wanted to turn it into a track meet, which would probably be to their advantage," Ron Wilson said. "If it's going back and forth they don't have to pay a price down low in their end." Ultimately, Nashville couldn't find the twine because they didn't get
any traffic in front. Nabby was able to see every shot cleanly, and he slammed the door.
San Jose took the lead on Michalek's third of the playoffs, taking one of Thornton's patented backhand feeds from behind the net and squeezing it through Vokoun's pads. Oddly, just like Game 3, there wasn't any urgency or concern from the Sharks, even though Nashville was creating chances. There was some nice end-to-end action in the first, and the Sharks were outshot 14-5 after missing the net and clanging a few posts on some nice chances in close.
Second Period - Pavelski's blast early in the second gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Zanon misplayed the shot terribly, screening his own goalie and failing to block it despite Pavelski's long windup. You've gotta pay the price in that situation. Arnott converted on a bang-bang setup from Dumont a couple minutes later, but the Preds couldn't gain any momentum from it.
Mark Buehrle wasn't the only one with a no-hitter Wednesday night. Physical play was limited in the first period, but it died off completely in the second, mainly because Nashville had another steady stream of penalties midway through the frame. However, the Nashville penalty kill is simply outstanding. They rarely let the Sharks gain the blueline, and they get out to the point so quickly the Sharks never had time to set up. San Jose was a little too cute at times, but the Preds got sticks in the way and broke up everything around the net. Basically, seeing San Jose on the power play during this series is a little like eating jell-o. You keep thinking it's going to be good, but it's kinda boring and doesn't have any nutritional value. The only real advantage is it limits Nashville's scoring opportunities for two minutes, so that's a plus, I guess.
San Jose took control of the game as the period progressed, and Michalek earned his second of the game thanks to a lucky bounce, giving the Sharks held a 3-1 lead after two. Shots in the second were 8-8.
Third Period - San Jose put the stranglehold on in the third, and the Predators looked terrible. They couldn't gain the zone at all, and weren't banging or pressing for loose pucks. There were a few times Radulov or Kariya would chip the puck in, see Hannan lining up for a hipcheck, and just peel off without any puck pursuit.
You have to give the Sharks credit for strong defensive play, especially with Grier backchecking so well. "We didn't want to give up the blueline in the third, and all five guys were coming back to help," Nabby said after the game. But despite San Jose's strong play, I don't think I've ever seen a team roll over the way Nashville did in the third. Nashville's first shot of the period came with 5:20 remaining, and they only had three total. They pulled to within one late, but couldn't put a shot on goal in the final two minutes. Basically it was Hartnell, Forsberg and Dumont working hard, while the rest of the team coasted around hoping something would bounce the right way.
The Sharks didn't have to bang and crash, because Nashville never really brought anything to them. It's easy to win playoff games when you don't have to pay a price and you're able to win all the battles along the boards.
***
After the game, the difference in body language between the two coaches was miles apart. Trotz looked beaten, saying "We're going to have a mourning period for about an hour, and then we'll look forward to the next game." While Trotz was beaten, Wilson was upbeat, looking forward to Friday's game. "I think for us, our power play will be better on the road. We just feel this antsiness with our fans, and our guys just need to go on the road and relax and not care how ugly our power play is, just throw some pucks on the net and win some battles."
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was in town for Game 4 and had a couple interesting things to say prior to the game about the league's partnership with Versus rather than ESPN.
"We wanted and needed and desired a partner who would give us the importance and prominence that our previous partner couldn’t give us. When you look at their (Versus) playoff coverage, having double headers, which is great, running hockey movies, the intermissions are devoted to hockey not other sports, nightly wrap-ups that are hockey-centric, hockey focused exclusively. Wall-to wall coverage is great. And we knew that in the short-term we were going to be giving up some distribution in order to get that type of importance, that type of prominence. Versus is growing. When we joined them they were in 64 million homes a year and a half ago. They’re now in 72.5 million homes. They’re continuing to grow."
"From our standpoint, if we had to make this decision all over again, we’d make the same decision because this is a great treatment…an important that we get and they’re growing."
Nothing too earth-shattering there, and you're never going to hear him coveting another deal with ESPN, but unfortunately if they're going to grow the game Versus just can't keep up.
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Some quick notes:
- Thornton had a great game, but took a couple stitches after being cut in the face late. Nothing serious, just a little mending.
- Pavelski was outstanding again in place of Mark Bell, moving his feet and creating chances. Very nice to see him playing well and hopefully they can find a spot for Bell on Friday night.
- Not looking ahead too far, but Detroit had Pat Verbeek and Scotty Bowman in town scouting the Sharks. The Wings are lining up as the most likely second-round opponent for San Jose, if each first-round series keeps going the way it has.
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