Drawing Inspiration From Today
April 26th, 2009, 5:09 pm
Here’s the new podcast where Mike and I break down Game Five and talk about the rest of the series. We’ll have another podcast, win or lose, after Game Six.
Coming back from down 3-1 in a series takes a herculean effort, plus a little bit of lady luck. The San Jose Sharks have the biggest hurdle to overcome on Monday night in Anaheim, heading into hostile territory where the Ducks are going to be desperate. The veterans on that team know that if the series comes back to San Jose, they are in big, deep, mega trouble – with all their momentum toast. The Ducks are going to come out firing, banging and eager to bury the Sharks in the first period. If San Jose can survive…..doubt will slowly start to creep in the Ducks locker room.
This can’t be done? Then you didn’t watch the Washington Capitals go into Madison Square Garden on Sunday morning and bury the New York Rangers to tie that series up 3-3. The Capitals were left for dead by many, and they refused to go. I got inspired seeing the better team (Washington) really beat down the Rangers and capitalize on New York mistakes. I hope that the Sharks can do the same tomorrow, but as we saw, even five flat minutes could prove costly against the Ducks.
Three things must happen tomorrow for the Sharks to win.
1) The Sharks must score first. Every team that has scored first has won the game in this series.
2) The Mitchell/Cheechoo/JR line needs to score a goal. They are so much better than the Ducks third or fourth lines, they must cash in on an opportunity.
3) Nabokov needs to step up and win a game for his team. Be the big game goalie we know you can be.
Do you have any other keys to victory?
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They have to skate with purpose. That is why that MRC line has looked so good. Say what you want about Cheechoo (he has lost his touch, he skates like he is in the middle of an earthquake, his blue line to blue line time is measured with a sundial) but him, JR, and Mitchell have to be the hardest workers on the team. They are the perfect 4th line, in that you know they are going to come back to the bench gassed on a 40 second shift. How any line follows that group by gliding through their shift is beyond me. Honestly, that 4th line was the second most dangerous line last night. Here’s hoping they get rewarded.
Carolina just crushed the Devils 4-0 to go force a Game 7 as well!
No extra keys- you stole them all especially the Cheechoo/Mitchell/Roenick line. They were spectacular last night and I was convinced they were going to score… here’s hoping it flows over to tomorrow night!!!
Still believin! See ya at game 7 on Wednesday. 🙂
Another key to the game, play Bobby Ryan physically. I know that the press today was saying that it was a skate issue that caused him to be off the ice for a good portion of the third, but the grimaces during the game speak differently.
Two more keys that I can think of:
1) Score on the PP. Both games the Sharks have won they have capitalized on the power play.
2) Don’t turn the puck over. This is blatantly obvious, but I would bet that more than half of the ducks goals were scored on turnovers.
I’m thinking along the same lines.
(1) Joe T has to play just as pissed as he played last game. Someone needs to motivate Getzlaf to keep his big mouth open on faceoffs, and get Joe to keep talking and respond on the ice with his meanest game we’ve ever seen.
(2) We have to stay disciplined, and we have to cash in on the PP. There won’t be many penalties in this game, but when they come, we can’t waste our chances
(3) Nabby has won plenty of big games in his career (Detroit games this season, Calgary games last year, SO vs Canada at the Olympics, etc etc), so it’s his turn to shine tonight and prove that he can still do it better than Hiller.
I’d like to see Mitchy, Cheechy, and Ro Ro get a goal, but I’d settle from a goal out of the second line. I think as long as the Sharks can force the Ducks to spread out their defense and defend multiple lines, they stand a fighting chance
I am looking forward to tonights game. I’m still quite pissed at some of the boys but a win tonight would be a start to undoing that I’m not really ready to pat them on the back for last game alone.
I think everyone is right on the keys to the game, JT has to be angry and push people around and let people know he is alive if there is a scrum he needs to be in the middle sticking up for his team not standing there watching, if he wants to watch buy a ticket and sit in the stands. Nabby needs to be able to make the game stealing save, Nabby has not been anywhere near where he can be. Marleau needs to be the Marleau he was in the regular season.