Eerily Similar
May 7th, 2009, 9:02 am
So I watched the WorSharks for the first time this year on the AHL streamer, playing $8 for the privilege, and I have to say, it was pretty successful. The feed was steady and relatively clear. The audio was the radio feed, and I thought the broadcasters were pretty good.
The game, however, was all too familiar. The Sharks came out like gangbusters, dominated play in the first period, then made one bad mistake late in the first, and the Providence Bruins scored. The Sharks came back to tie the game at one with a beautiful feed from Logan Couture to Riley Armstrong in the slot. But then the Sharks seemed to lose interest. The Bruins picked up steam as the game went on, and despite several spectacular saves by Thomas Griess, managed to extend the lead to two goals. DeSilva had a laser wrist shot under the crossbar to make it 3-2 in the third, so there was a bit of drama, but Providence scored an empty-netter to put the game away.
Now the Sharks are down 2-0, heading to Providence for game 3. They continue to face the hottest goaltender in the AHL, Tukka Rask, who hasn’t given up more than 2 goals this entire postseason. These parallels are starting to get sickening. I’m trying to get AWAY from the crushing playoff disappointment, dammit!
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Thanks for the analysis Mike. I was considering watching one of the games, but I think I’ll pass. In fact, just reading Dan Boyle’s latest blog entry yesterday brought back all the depression I thought I already overcome.
And you probably shouldn’t be watching USA-Russia tomorrow either, as Ron Wilson, Pavs and Co are about to be taught a lesson by Kovalchuk and the boys. Unless you’re a Russian, of course.
Yeah, that Dan Boyle post is pretty depressing. But in a way, I’m kinda glad a player making $6M+ per year is taking it hard. The top players often get knocked with people saying, “yeah, they’ll just cry themselves to sleep on a mountain of cash,” but it really does suck to lose.
And while Kovie is by far the best player in that game, looking at the rosters, it could get interesting. The problem is I have no feel for the KHL guys. But are Johnson, Niskanen, Liles and Hainsey really worse than Tverdovsky, Kalinin, Volchenkov and Grebeshkov?
On paper, I think the mismatches with Breezy and Radulov/Kovie/Frolov could be the tipping point in Russia’s favor.
Haha – good point on Tverdovsky. The very fact of his presence on this team never put too much confidence in myself either.
Russia has two more things going for them tomorrow – (1) this team has been playing together for a long time since in Europe they play tournament all year around vs Americans who only get together once a year for this tournament. In a way, it’s almost good that Capitals are still playing – otherwise that would likely have meant taking some of that chemistry away while making room for Capitals players (but than again, would I take chemistry over Ovechkin?); (2) Ron Wilson behind the bench. Can’t wait to see him pacing back and forth with arms folded and not knowing what to say as Kovalchuk does his usual thing.
It would also be nice to face Canada at some point. Seeing the highlights, it appears their one loss in a tournament was resting on the shoulders of our poor Marc-Eduard who was burned on a play in the OT.
I watched the Worcester/Providence game as well and clearly the Bruins have more jump on their power play and general offensive talent. They also have a premium blueliner in Johnny Boychuk, who seemed like a young Rob Blake in the AHL with a breakout year with 65 points, looking like the 2nd round pick he was in 2002. He can bomb from the point.
What I liked about Worcester is they play with character, which is the trait the Sharks appear to be lacking. Worcester was down 2-0 to Hartford in Round One. We’ll see if they can gut one out tonight, but talent wise they are overmatched.
And, to agree with Mike, Logan Couture caught my eye as well…his line was the best the Sharks had to offer.