last four cup winners (post LO) record in the last 15 games…

2009 – Penguins went 10-2-3
2008 – Red Wings went 11-3-2
2007 – Ducks went 9-3-3
2006 – Canes went 8-6-2

In that time period no team has lost 3 consecutive games in regulation during the final 15 games… Penguins and RW lost only 2 conseq. games, either in OT or in regulation. Ducks DID lose three in a row in that span but one was an OT loss. Canes lost 2 in a row at two different times during the last 15 games…. And the Ducks lost two of their final three games…

There is a precedent for teams losing three in a row during the home stretch. We have currently lost three in a row with one being in the OT. To be fair I am including the Florida game which was the 16th to last game for the Sharks….

There is still time to right this ship and get going. But it MUST be now… While I think we are all feeling similar feelings I am trying to find some ray of hope.

I still contend that the Ducks got great draws before they had to face the RW in the Conference finals the year they won the cup. The Sharks could get lucky and get easier draws…

i don’t think all hope is lost. Yet…

We gettin a pod cast today?

at some point this roller coaster insanity must end. If the sharks pull it together awesome. Maybe a cup in our future would make it all better..

Or they choke and DW dismantles this team in every way he can.

Something has to give because this is frikin crazy!!!

lol…

Really though, this was tough to watch I don’t know the last time I actually turned off a game that started at a reasonable time. Heck even the west coast games I may fall asleep during but I usually don’t turn off the TV in disgust like I did tonight. I have never been less excited for the playoffs to start. I HATE being so negative but unless there is a turn around fast my threshold for optimism is quickly fading.

If I had to describe the Sharks play against Dallas and Anaheim in one word it would be “unfocused.” Just constant, sloppy, brainless plays. Lapses in coverage, soft goals by Nabby (the knucklepuck against Anaheim and the icing that he let drift right into the crease against Dallas), dumb penalties at bad times. Just ridiculous.

To come off that performance against the Ducks with this stinkbomb is beyond disappointing.

Totally wrong on that one. But the situations are different. There were lots of injuries to the team last season just before the playoffs. Right now we have Vlassic still nursing an injury and Mitchell taking a “maintenance day.” Not nearly the same.

That being said, there’s really no excuse for the way they’ve played the last two games. And we can complain about how bad they’ve been since the olympic break, but the bottom line is they’ve still won some games. Doesn’t matter if they were comebacks. If anything, a comeback win was something last year’s team couldn’t do so I take that as a positive.

I still think they need to bring up Demers permanently and get him in a rhythm into the playoffs. McGinn should stay as well and as much as plenty of other fans and I would like Couture to be up on a line with him, they’re going to keep him in the AHL for the rest of this season with development as the excuse. I think that’s BS and that they should field the best team they possibly can, but what do I know?

Like others have said, we’ll see what these losses do to this team tomorrow and how they’ll fare against their next set of opponents. Should be interesting and hopefully fun. Keep up the good podcasting, dudes.

DirecTV stalemate over!! I am now watching versus on my DirecTV!!! Minor miracle!

Does anyone else find it strange that we have only played Vancouver once this year and not since November 26th? We play them three times of the remaining 14 games…

I might be able to put the Ana and Fla losses behind me and chalk them up to low motivation against non-playoff teams. Ok, I’ll buy that for now…if ONLY for now…

But, Sharks play 8 of their remaining 14 games against playoff teams. (I’m counting Calgary because weather or not they actually make the PO’s or not, they are going to fight just as hard and are currently 8th)

Canucks – 3 times
Flames – twice
Coyotes – Once
Avs – twice

Those are the games i’m going to measure this team buy. I understand the arguments about being a professional team that must learn to get motivated for all their games, even when playing a 12th and 13th seeded team. However, I can understand the lack of energy too. If the Sharks are going to get it going into the playoffs they absolutely need to bring it against those clear PO teams. Alll of those teams I listed above are possible first or second round opponents…

Again, I can understand the lack of motivation, on off nights, against non-PO teams…. but only for so long.

That said, I would give him a 1 game suspension, but I doubt he will get anything. Downie, despite needing him on my fantasy squad, should be out 5-10 games. Intent to injure needs to be stomped out of the game, regardless if there was an actual injury.