DOH 405 – Playoffs 2019
April 8th, 2019, 7:57 pm
Not a matchup we were hoping for- the Vegas Golden Knights. The Dudes break down that series and all the others in the first round
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mayhaps
Glad the comments section is back! Around the league, this is looking like one of the most topsy-turvy first rounds in recent playoff history. Going into the Vegas series, I thought the Sharks could win in 7 if Jones had over a .915 save percentage and Karlsson was a dominant force. Following Game 3, Jones is at .849 and Karlsson is clearly not healthy, posting a -5 over games 2 and 3 combined.
This is spot on. True, the Sharks have played awful, but the horrific goaltending – giving up a goal in the first second of 3 straight periods! – would zap any team. I’ve been calling for the Sharks to address the goalie situation all year, and they said “We like our goaltending.” Pretty embarassing statement right now, Combine that with Karlsson obviously still injured and you have a recipe for disaster.
Honestly, I would limit Karlsson to power play minutes, giving the heavy minutes to someone like Braun or even Heed, who should be resinserted. Karlsson simply can’t skate with the VGK due to his groin injury. And yes, I’d start Dell in game 4. Can’t possibly be any worse than Jones has been.
I expect the full teardown the Dudes alluded to. Gone: Karlsson, Pavelski, Thornton, and would add to that list: Jones. The good news is, the Sharks can add a goalie, add a 3rd line center, and can still be a pretty darn good team next year. They’re not going to win any cups, but they’ll be competitive.
Just to clarify, I’m not blaming Jones entirely. A good save percentage is also indicative of team defense, of which there has been none. I think Karlsson was always going to walk. Not so sure about Jumbo and Pavs. Could see them giving it one last shot together. The big question will be about the coach. This year’s playoffs might cost DeBoer his job. It’s hard to say that the series results would be the same if the coaches in this series switched places.
And of course, it’s not over yet! Crazy things happen when suspensions and injuries set in. Some team rally. If they can win Game 4, it’s anybody’s series.
All fair points. But the goalie and coach are the still biggest problems right now, even if they’re not the only problems. DeBoer has announced Jones is starting Game 4. That’s a poor decision. Even if you are just changing the momentum, you can’t put Jones out there after his Game 3 performance.
I don’t feel as gloomy either way how it plays out. The team has a future any way u slice it.
Most likely, they are cooked this time around for obvious reasons of dead last goaltending that everyone knew about the whole year and we didn’t do squat to address it. DW is an amazing GM but we have never ever had an elite goalie. We did not recognize Kiprusoff for what he was and bet on Nabokov. Nabby was an amazing reg season goalie but had consistently laid an egg in playoff.
It’s understandable with $6 million per year for next 5? years DW would have really hard time explaining bringing another goalie but he should have if team is ‘all in’ – why he went for more scoring for the one of the highest scoring teams is a mystery. i bet Miller was avail in Anaheim. Nyquist is nice but 10 min of his time per game vs USA best goalie to replace this laughing stock in net?
But, nothing can hurt Sharks fan after LA humiliation from few years ago. Nothing will ever come close to that an it will not happen this year.
If karlsson, thornton and pavelski leave after this year and Doug manages to get out of goalie obligations imagine how much money the team will have to play with. young core is great. we will be in playoffs for many years to come. if karlsson stays – even better.
agree the future is bright – if the sharks bring back the joe’s and swap out jones for a solid goalie. they didn’t really miss karlsson much when he was out. they seem to miss simek much more. they’ve won, like, 5 games since his injury.
chat w/ a buddy who rarely watches hockey during game 4 (before we turned it off).
buddy: didn’t the sharks lose to vegas last year because of their goalie was outplayed?
me: yep.
buddy: and it’s happening again, only worse?
me: yep.
buddy: is the sharks goalie really good during the regular season?
me: actually, he had a terrible regular season.
buddy: why didn’t they replace him last year, or at least this year at the trade deadline?
me: … ?