The Sharks blow a 3rd period leave and exit the playoffs earlier than they ever have, in 5 games.  Mike and Doug provide a instant reaction to the Sharks’ disappointing season, along with knee-jerk reactions about what might happen next.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Sharks win game 1 in double OT, but get beat fairly badly in St. Louis in game 2.  But the Sharks have home ice for games 3 and 4, so Mike and Doug talk about the keys to winning those games.  Also, there is so much good hockey going on, and other Round 1 stories to talk about.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Sharks have made it into the playoff by winning their last four games, the two against the Kings in a wildly entertaining fashion.  But now they face the Blues in the first round, without beating them all year.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

With only three games remaining in the season, the Sharks still can win the Pacific, or miss the playoffs entirely.  It’s as tense a situation as there has been in San Jose for several years.  The Dudes try and guess what might happen, revisit the Remenda-Ratto dustup, and identify other playoff matchups that will be fun to watch.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

In this corner, representing the salty Sharks broadcasting team, the bald, the beautiful – Drew Remenda.

In this corner, representing fed up Bay Area media, weighing in at a light 123 pounds…with one foot on the scale – Ray Ratto.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o5BF9nWNHY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Last night after the Sharks kick to the groin loss in Phoenix, Ratto spoke words that echoed how I was feeling after the game and you can see, Drew turns about as red as a Canadian can get.

It was the most entertaining part of the game, no question.

Because Drew was there, I can understand him getting caught up in the emotion of the moment. I guess he was upset that Ratto was implying the Sharks didn’t give it a full effort last night. So, are we saying that the Sharks did try but they just aren’t that good – that’s the response? In Drew’s own statement he says the Sharks were good not great and can’t score.

I never thought I’d type this, but I agree with Ratto. I was infuriated too. They couldn’t finish, they didn’t play their game, they weren’t physical, and it didn’t appear that their season was on the line. The Sharks should have the Pacific Division won by now. They should be resting key players. They should not be in this position…but the facts are they have been awful on the road, two of their best players in Couture and Marleau couldn’t score with a drunk Snookie right now, and with their season on the line – the Sharks went into Phoenix and played Phoenix’s style. Drew said the Sharks established their game. They did? Doesn’t that involve scoring and executing on the power play and not giving up a goal to the WORST power play in the league? Good teams don’t play right into another teams strengths and right now the Sharks just aren’t good enough to dictate their style of play. We saw how it worked against Phoenix at the home opener. It’s possible…just not right now I guess.

Who do you think is right?

After three good wins, the Sharks manage to lose two critical road games to Anaheim and Phoenix, and they are back out of the playoff picture.  We can go over what they did wrong, how Mike Smith is the second coming of Ken Dryden or whatever, but the fact is this:  if the Sharks can’t beat Dallas and L.A. for the next four games, they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs anyway.  Should they manage to limp in without winning those four games, they will almost certainly get crushed by whomever they face in the first round, playing either St. Louis or Vancouver with no home ice.

Doug and Mike talk about the last three games, all of which the Sharks won, and go over the current playoff picture.  Also, Mike recounts his experience as a fantasy camper at the Shark for a Day event.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

After two terrible games against division opponents this week, the Sharks staunch the bleeding somewhat by edging the defending champs, the Bruins, 2-1.  Just when you think the Sharks are ready to give up the ghost, they come back like a Monty Python sketch.  “But I don’t want to go in the cart!  I’m not dead.”

There are still several signs that are very troubling about this team, mostly in the scoring department.  The last time the Sharks won a game by more than one goal was five weeks ago, against the Caps (thanks Kevin Kurz).  That’s also the last time the Sharks have scored more than three goals in a win.  The last time they scored more than three goals period was also five weeks ago, in a 6-5 loss in OT to the Lightning.  That’s 18 games ago, almost a quarter of the season.  In those 18 games where the Sharks didn’t score more than three, they scored three goals (supposedly the magic number) only four times.  Let’s put that a different context.  In the 55 games previous to that, the Sharks scored 3 or more goals 33 times, or 60% of the time.  That doesn’t include wins like 2-1, 2-0, etc.  Since, the Sharks have scored three or more goals only 22% of the time.  That’s not a decline.  That’s an anvil falling out of the sky.

The good thing about last night is they stayed step for step with the Stanley Cup Champions, and the 4th line was more than just a non-liability.  They were an asset, matching up well with the Bruins very respectable fourth line of Dan Paille, Shawn Thornton and Greg Campbell.  The bad thing is the Sharks still are not scoring in bunches.  They score once, have some good quality chances not go in, then slowly fade.  Whether they hold on or chip in another one seems to be a coin flip at best.  Looking at the stat sheet, another bad thing was the return of Michal Hanzus.  He was -1, and lost 5 of the 7 faceoffs he took.  T.J. Galiardi can’t come back fast enough.

There’s no more time for the Sharks to turn this around.  They have to be going in the right direction now.  Another game or two of disappointing losses will put them in an ugly position to make the playoffs.  Let’s hope the win against Boston was the turn, and now the Sharks are sailing in clear waters and strong wind to the finish line.

Mike and Doug talk about the efficacy of the sacrifice, and the lack of efficacy against the Ducks.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS