Game Seven is tomorrow night at the Tank. I don’t think it’s overly dramatic to say that this is the biggest game in franchise history. Fitting it should happen when the Sharks are celebrating their 20th year of existence as an NHL franchise.

There are two obvious outcomes here:

1. The Sharks deliver a dramatic victory at the Tank and move forward to face Vancouver in the Conference Finals and all is forgotten, like a bad dream. It becomes a landmark series for the franchise and Stanley Cup hopes are still alive. Just another bump in the long road to winning it all. Gumdrops and lollipops and whiskey.
2. Sharks complete operation meltdown and lose on Thursday night and the franchise officially hits a new all-time low. Worse than losing to the 8th seeded Ducks. Worse than being swept by the Blackhawks. Worse than losing to the Oilers after leading 2-0 in the series. This is rock bottom.

I feel like this has not been a heart healthy sports year, but I’m absolutely refusing to throw in the towel and I hope you will join me in bringing the fighting spirit to the Tank tomorrow. Do we want to boys to go into to tomorrow expecting to lose? I remember the atmosphere in Vancouver in Round One when the Canucks played Game Seven two weeks ago. The crowd was rabid and the victory was sweet. Vancouver fans were probably feeling as bad as we are, perhaps worse.

If the Sharks win or lose, I am going down a raving madman in the stands. Join me in taking the following pledge.

• I will wave whatever towel or frilly pom pom like plastic material they give me.
• I will hug strangers and especially the guy who looks like Keyser Soze that’s always on the big screen.
• I will shake my junk with the Dancing Bear.
• I will scream Teriyaki Rice Bowl at the top of my lungs in the concourse.
• I will consume an overpriced jack and coke.
• I will try and fight Bertuzzi myself, if need be, and I will beat his ass.
• I will not sit down during the final period if we are winning.
• I will not utter the word “Vancouver” until the game is over. No matter what the score. No lead is safe.
• I am going to will them to victory…. or go down in flames trying.

Tomorrow night will either be the best memory in franchise history or the worst.

Choose your road, Sharks.

I’ve chosen mine. I am not giving up.

The Marleau Years Have Been Kind When Up Three Games

Something to chew on before Game Six. Here is a record of San Jose Sharks teams with Patrick Marleau on them in playoff series they have lead going into Game Six.

1999-2000 vs. St. Louis – SERIES WIN 4-3.

Sharks are the eight seed here and were leading this series 3-1 going into Game Five. They dropped Games Five and Six and it appeared the heavily favored Blues would win, but the Sharks won Game Seven in St. Louis 3-1. Marleau didn’t play a factor in this series.

2001-02 vs. Colorado – SERIES LOSS 4-3

Sharks take a series lead with a win on the road in Game Five, but drop the final two games to lose the series to the favored Avalanche. Marleau had zero points in both the final two games after notching 11 points in the previous ten playoff games.

2003-04 vs. Colorado – SERIES WIN 4-2

This scenario should feel the most familiar and give us a degree of hope tonight. The Avalanche were huge bullies on the block and chock full of superstars and the Sharks ran out to a 3-0 series lead. The Sharks then then lost Game Four 2-1 in OT and Game Five 2-1 in OT at the Tank, sending the Avs home to Colorado believing they could win the series and causing Sharks fans to see deja vu. The Sharks went to the Pepsi Center and won Game Six 3-1 with a huge second period.

2007-08 vs. Calgary – SERIES WIN 4-3

The Sharks broke the series deadlock with a win at home in Game Five, but dropped Game Six in Calgary 2-0. We all remember the Game Seven win at the Tank and JR’s explosion of four points in the win.

2009-10 vs. Colorado – SERIES WIN 4-2

The exorcism of Dan Boyle and the Craig Anderson Lifetime movie finally ended in Game Six after the Sharks woke up and spanked the Baby Avs the final two games of the series. They won, on the road, in Game Six to close this **** out.

2010-11 vs. Los Angeles – SERIES WIN 4-2

Our memories aren’t this short are they? The Sharks had the chance to close out LA at home in Game Five and could not do it. In fact, they got embarrassed by Kyle Clifford, no less. The boys finished the job in OT in Game Six…and here we are…

2010-11 vs. Detroit – UNKNOWN

The track record from The Marleau Years is there. In this situation, the Sharks have won five out of six series historically, beating two damn good teams in St. Louis and the 2003-04 Avalanche in the process. I know, different roster means different results and Marleau is the only guy still around from that Colorado series, but the core of this team has been here twice before in the last 12 months – and won both times when they were up three games.

Keep the faith.

Ryane Clowe, the Sharks’ leading scorer in the playoffs, is out for game 6.  This is not good.  While I’ve certainly softened from the position I stated on the podcast, I can’t help but think the Sharks are significant underdogs tonight in Detroit.

If they do close the series out, I will be fixing myself a gigantic plate of crow.  Mmmm, crow.

Sharks lose game five in a ‘gutless’ fashion, as Jeremy Roenick might say, and the Dudes have some strong emotions about it.

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Game Five on permanent repeat for Detroit. Again and again and again and again….

The quote is from Mike Babcock, and you couldn’t find a better one to sum up game 3.  Thoroughly outplayed for most of the contest, the Sharks managed to prevent the Wings from blowing the game wide open.  I imagine Wings fans felt the same in the 3rd period last night as I did in game 2, when the Sharks were just curb-stomping the Wings, yet couldn’t find a way to put the game out of reach.  “One bad bounce, one bad play, and this game is tied, with Wings having all the momentum,” I thought to myself.  At that point, we witnessed a little force of nature I like to call Hamburgers.  The Wings did not have their own Hamburgers in the lineup last night- they only had a Zetterberger (2 A, but still managed to be -1). Instead, the Sharks bent but did not break, with Dan Boyle continuing his redemption by roofing one with less than five minutes left.

Still, as good teams do, the Wings persisted, creating several more chances, including one right near the end of regulation.  And the old take-a-penalty-in-overtime-but-kill-it-and-score-afterwards trick worked to perfection, one the Sharks had already whipped out in game 6 against the Kings.  The Canucks also pulled it off in game 7 versus the Blackhawks.  I think I can say now that going on the PP in overtime is decidedly a bad thing.  It’s basically the hockey equivalent of the two minute drill- score and you win, don’t score and you will lose.

I’m really enjoying this one, even more so than last year.  Despite the bad headline of this piece, Ken Campbell says what Doug and I said this week – this team could really do it. They are built as well now as they have ever been in their history.

The Dudes couldn’t me more thrilled that the Sharks take a 2-0 lead in the Wings series, same as last year.  Mike and Doug discuss what has led the Sharks to be so successful so far, the Snowgate controversy, and what changes Detroit will make for game 3, and if the Sharks should counter them.

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For the second year in a row, the Sharks are staring down the Wings in the second round.  Mike and Doug compare and contrast both the Sharks and Wings teams from a year ago, and make their picks.  A short recap of the first round follows, with some of the Dudes picks working out to perfection, and others not.

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The Dudes celebrate the gritty round 1 win against the Kings, with Joe Thornton putting in the game winner.  Mike and Doug identify the series MVP, evaluate Niemi’s performance and prospects, and look forward to either Chicago or Detroit in round 2.

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I was so mad at the Niemi tonight, because he basically gave that game away in the first ten minutes. People might quibble on how responsible he was, but I think he was at least partially to blame on all three.

1. Shot through traffic with a deflection, but he had a pretty narrow butterfly.  A 6’2 butterfly goaltenter should be able to cover the bottom of the net when he goes down, and he didn’t.  This was his ‘best’ goal.
2. Clifford’s goal came because Niemi couldn’t catch the damn biscuit, and left it 2 feet outside of the crease for him to clean up.
3. Penner’s goal was just an outside shot with Niemi too deep.

I knew once the Kings were up 3-0 they wouldn’t make the same mistakes they made in game 3, and sure enough, they sat on it, played the 1-2-2, got two and three guys in the shooting lanes, and pulled it out. But the real story of the night was Jonathan Quick, who made 52 saves, only giving up one goal. I was thinking to myself, how often does a Sharks goalie put up a line like that?

So I decided to invent a new stat, called the Goalie Steal. A goalie steal is when the goaltender gives up 1 goal or less while making 35 or more saves. 35 isn’t particularly significant, but I had to put a cutoff point somewhere. 31 or 32 saves just doesn’t sound that impressive, and somehow, 36 does. I went back and looked at the box score for every playoff game the Sharks have participated in since the lockout. Here are the goalie steals:

Notice anything missing about this list?  Yep, not a single Sharks goaltender has posted a Goalie Steal since the lockout.  Nabby had a 34 save shutout in 2007, so maybe I should give him a freebie.  But anyway, the point is the same- there hasn’t been a dominating goalie performance in the playoffs in a very very long time.

I admit this does certainly have something to do with the Sharks D- if they don’t give up a lot of shots, then the goalie doesn’t have the opportunity to steal a game.  That’s frankly true for most games- the Sharks haven’t given up 35 or more shots in too many playoff games.  But in every damn one of those games, they had to score 3 goals (the ‘magic number’) or more to win, or lost it.