SuperBoyle
April 21st, 2009, 9:35 pm
“Get on my back and I will take you to victory” – Dan Boyle (not really….but in my mind)
I don’t want to do a super long write up because I want to hear what everyone else thought of this amazing playoff game. This series has just become Must See TV (just hopefully no longer on Versus with their dreadful coverage and god-awful camera work. Is the long camera guy drinking Schlitz during the game? Good lord)
Dan Boyle was everywhere and did everything right tonight and all the other Sharks followed suit. Nabby made me extremely nervous letting in a few early soft goals, but he came up huge in the 3rd period and this team tonight looked focused, determined and they fought – literally with Murray smacking Parros around in a good scrap.
How about McLellan’s poker face on slipping Torrey Mitchell in there tonight, who looked pretty spry in his 6:34. Someone take this man to Vegas – he pulls a good bluff, McLellan.
So I take SuperBoyle as the key to this win. We’ll share more of our thoughts tomorrow night on the podcast. What are your thoughts?
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Despite his goal I thought Marleau still looked a little off his game. When the announcers brought up the fact that he was defensively matching up with Getzlaf’s line I guess that might make it more understandable why he wasn’t as visible offensively.
I still think Marleau and Thornton can take it up another notch, but this game is how I was expecting the series to be.
We just need Nabby to stay focused and the offense to keep clicking and it’s a brand new series.
Also, Mitchell looked really good for how much time he’s missed.
Easily the most surprising part of the night was when the announcers revealed that Parros went to Princeton. WTF? That’s like telling us that Corky from “Life Goes On” went to Oxford or that Selanne isn’t actually a 6-foot tall baby. Does not compute.
Agreed – best game by Boyle as a Shark. He might not win the Norris, but he made a very strong statement tonight if they ever consider him for Conn Smythe.
How about that PP?
McLellan outcoached Murray tonight. All kinds of lines were rolled tonight. Notice how none of the forwards played longer than 20 minutes. All of them were involved tonight.
Finally, Hiller now knows he’s mortal. That’s important going into game 4.
@Ivan – George Parros is actually a pretty smart guy. He taught me how to tie my skates and how to get a suspension in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Parros doesn’t know everything. We made a bet about our very own Teemu Selanne when I joined the team: loser had to grow a Ron Jeremy ‘stache. Poor George was sure Teemu was a man……
I recognize my kind.
-Chris P.
I was at game 3 sporting my new Boyle Jersey (just came in the mail yesterday). My man crush has depened considerably after tonight.
I said it in previous posts after the other two games, Marleau is invisible because he’s out there attempting to shut down their top line, which, when Pickles or Seto aren’t passing them the puck in shooting lanes, aren’t really doing much. I’m fine with that trade off. If Nabby would step up his game a little and at least get rid of the softies we’d be ahead and they’d have no real offense to combat us with. Well, Nabby stepping up and us continuing to convert on the power play and we’ll be fine.
So, here’s the dilemma guys: I’ve been to 5 of the 7 games the Sharks have played in Southern Cal. I am 5-0 in games I’ve attended and 0-2 in games I’ve missed. I don’t have tickets to game 4 and can’t really afford it. What do I do? (I accept donations for a good cause). We have time to decide, it’s not like the Ducks sell out playoff games or anything.
I want to get the bad out of the way quickly because we now hava a series.
– Joe! Wake UP! What frustrates me about Joe this series is that there is a scrum and he is just standing there and looming over it. there is no ref near him so he is not being held back he just simply chooses to watch. He needs to get in there and let the Ducks know he is alive. I’m not advocating for a string of 5 minute majors for fighting but if hes going to watch the game do it from the stands.
– Nabby, can be better and needs to be better going forward.
-CBC How dare you show a Canadian team in a deciding game in overtime instead of my Sharks :-p
But enough negativity, we have a series! The Sharks need to win this in 6 in my opinion a 7th game scares me a little bit.
The Good
– We took the lead early, this whole series we have fought from behind it was nice to have the lead and dictate the pace.
– Powerplay goals are going to be the key to winning this series if we can continue to pile on the Power Play goals the Ducks will beat themselves with trips to the sin bin.
– After game 2 when I had put the request in to have Pattys face put on milk cartons, I was thinking to myself who else could be captain of this team and I only had one name in my mind, Dan Boyle! What a game, this is why we brought in all the veteran defense and they definatly did not let us down last night with Blake also playing a great game.
Can’t wait for Thursday! GO SHARKS!
GREAT GAME!!!
grier, you’re absolutely right about Boyle. He was on a mission and I think he forced the rest of the team to play to his level. Can he wear the C in the postseason, with my boy Patty sporting in the 82?
Clowe is a monster…. he’s playing big like that one guy… what was his name… oh, Joe Thornton.
Anybody else see the shot of JR last night in the 3rd when it was still tied 3-3? He had the crazy eye going. That’s when I knew they were going to win.
Torrey Freakin’ Mitchell! What injury? He only missed a couple of games this season, right? I thought he was just a little slow in his reaction speed, and didn’t have all the lateral movement of last year, but he wasn’t afraid to mix it up, bang around in the corners, and take punishment in front of the net. I think he’s going to be a factor before this series is over.
Boy, did we get under the Ducks skin last night, or what?
Murray won the scrap with Moustache by a nose IMO…
It sure was nice to welcome back an old friend last night….
Only one “not so good” last night as you said was Nabby. All three goals were stoppable, sure, but what was more concerning was how he was leaving a lot of pucks on the doorstep. A couple of strong saves mixed in but if he plays stronger early in the game it’s a blowout and I have fewer grey hairs.
Great comments. Keep them coming.
I didn’t think Joe was all that bad last night. He created some chances behind the net and was involved in Boyle’s PP goal. I think he didn’t need to be superhuman, Danny B. was taking care of that role.
This is how the Sharks won early in the year. They gave up some bad goals that Nabby should stop but they would still win 4-3. Think of both wins against the Blackhawks earlier in the year. Nabby came up big in the final period….but I think if we had lost, people would be calling for his head today.
I know I’m rooting for Calgary to extend that series to 2-2 tonight, because Detroit is giving the death blow tomorrow.
Good stuff everybody. Just wanted to let everyone know about the “Subscribe to comments” plugin Ivan mentioned in a previous thread. It’s installed now- just the checkbox below the “Post a Comment” field will let you choose to get emails when new comments are posted.
@evilducks You make a good point about Patty’s match up. After splitting up our #1 line it’s clearly on him to contain Getzlaf, and he is succeeding. That said there is no excuse for Joe, who is now getting much better match ups. He wasn’t invisible in game 3, ala games 1 and 2, but wasn’t the beast we know he can be. I think the book on Joe must read “play him soft and he’ll come at you soft” because no one has been hitting him this series and we are yet to see him get fired up.
Apparently Parros is the only Princeton grad ever to win the cup. I saw him when he came down to Princeton last summer to show off the cup at our local rink.
Joe has 2 points in 3 games… that’s pretty much Joe this year. Also, that point he got last night was on a pretty slick pass through the crease to Boyle.
I want him to play like a tank like everybody else but I think what I see happening is as soon as he gets the puck he has 2 guys on him, which means somebody is open somewhere and so he’s trying to get the puck to the open guy. I’m probably wrong, but eh, I have less complaints about his play than some of the rest that’s going on.
My biggest concern right now is ill advised passes or clears that go right to Ducks and end up in our net. Pickles had one to Getzlaf in game one and last night it was Pav’s to Pronger and Seto to Wiesnewski. We should never be seeing unassisted goals on the score sheet for the ducks and I think they have 3 or 4 right now. Those aren’t great plays by ducks, those are horrible turn overs by Sharks that cost us goals.
I thought it was a great game. The difference for me is that the Ducks were given their opportunities, while the Sharks EARNED their opportunities. Nearly every Sharks goal has been from a good offensive cycle or hard won battles. Nearly every Anaheim goal has been from a horrendous turnover or a really soft goal (except Bobby Ryan’s flying goal, that was great effort).
The other things is that the Sharks drifted into that dreaded defensive shell. Maybe its because they were tired (how did Cheechoo only get 8 min?), but there was some drifting and passive play in the last 5 minutes. And I know the “safe” play is chipping it up the boards, but that doesn’t make it the “best” play.
20:06 – 26:21 – 23:25. Thats Getzlaf’s ice time the first three games. Carlyle is riding that top line HARD. Here’s hoping they have nothing left in games 5 and 6.
Cheechoo didn’t play in any special teams situations last night, so all his time was even strength, that’s why we saw Grier’s time go up and Cheech’s go down.
Agreed on cutting down the gimme goals. Without those, we win 4-1 last night. That is also a product of excellent forechecking from the Ducks….don’t want to give them no credit for that.
Awesome!
Just imagine it could have been 4-1! Two of the goals were completely the Sharks’ fault and were avoidable. One was kicked in by Nabby. The other one was because Pavelski passed it right to Pronger.
The Sharks didn’t do anything to make me overly nervous about the rest of the series. Sure they broke through on the PP, but the Ducks haven’t cooled off on their PP. Boyle had a nice night, but a lot of that has to go to the coach who’s doing his best to keep Boyle away from Anaheim’s top line – he knows Boyle is a defensive liability (also the reason he’s not Smythe worhty). Seems that McLellan also realizes Cheechoo’s limited ability based on ice time.
We all knew this wasn’t going to be a sweep. And with all the scoring from defensemen, the question is: whose top offensive threats (Selanne, Perry, Thornton, Michalek) show up first?
Jeremy: I gotta disagree with you. Boyle was far from a defensive liability last night, he was an animal out there and broke up many plays, blocked three shots, played on the kill. Comparing him to Cheechoo defensively is not really fair to his overall skill level, especially his effort last night.
I don’t buy the fact that Boyle is a defensive liability. He made some amazing plays on the puck in the defensive zone. A great diving block when Nabby was out of position. I haven’t seen him hand the puck to Getzlaf like some of our other D-men have. Frankly, if it was possible I’d play the guy 60 minutes. He’s been solid everywhere.
He doesn’t get beat, he doesn’t turn over the puck, he’s fast and rarely gives up odd man rushes when he’s pinching up into the offensive play, and when he does, he skates his ass off to get back. Compared to the closest facsimile on the team in Erhoff, it’s night and day in the defensive end.
One more thing then I’ll shut up (maybe). How freaking awesome was Murrays hit on Teemu? Textbook, highlight worthy and maybe series- changing. I think his game last night spelled the end of Shelleys season… but thanks for all you do in the 82 Jody.
To defend my statement about Boyle:
Based on TOI stats, he was McLellan’s last choice of defensemen to be out there in a defensive situation (the PK). He didn’t kill any of the last Duck’s PP; and he wasn’t out there for the final 3 minutes of the game.
My comment was meant as praise for McLellan for getting Boyle into situations which are suited for him. I think you’d see similar mistakes from Boyle if he was in Erhoff’s place.
And to be fair, I think that Niedermayer’s shennanigans of playing below the offensive goal line creates uncomfortable defensive situations as well.
I’m glad we’ve got ourselves a series!
Jeremy… you are joking right? Youre telling us Boyle is McLellan’s last choice in a defensive situation? Dude, this aint a EEEE adult hockey team where defenders just hold the line. Bro, Boyle is money… you are way off home slice.
Jeremy,
May be true last night about Boyle on the PK, but if you look at the shift chart you’ll see he was on the ice right before 3 of the 4 penalties against the Sharks, so he didn’t start on the PK. During the season, he was the 3rd-most used defender on the PK, behind Vlasic and Blake. Also, given his offensive prowess last night, I could see why McLellan wouldn’t want to give him shorthanded minutes.
As far as calling Boyle a “defensive liability”, he’s averaged 2.08 ESGA/60, compared to Niedermayer’s 2.52. Even if you account for the Sharks being a better defensive team than the Ducks during the year, the Sharks +/- is better when Boyle is on the ice versus when he’s not, and Ducks’ +/- is worse when SN is on the ice. Even so, I think neither of them are liabilities, and Boyle less so than SN.
Boyle also compares favorably to Pronger using the same metrics.
Are there, like, 25 people in the Honda Center tonight? WTF Ducks fans???
Look, Dudes, I know it agitates you, but tonight Patty and Joe earned every bit of criticism they have received. One of the Merc writers was right… if this were any other hockey market they would be bombarded by fans and media criticism. Just plain pathetic effort after the first period.