April 30th, 2008. A San Jose Sharks team with their backs against the wall, after losing three straight games to the Dallas Stars, got an emotional win and played like a team that was literally fighting for its life. This team then showed up for Game Five (another win) and Game Six (the 4 OT heartbreaker). I was proud of that team, even though it was too late – they were gamers and they left everything on the ice.

Will this San Jose Sharks team show up Saturday night at the Tank?

I’ve been like a woman in menopause the last 24 hours – and by that I mean I’ve been moody, emotional and spent $300 at Lane Bryant. Every person I know wants to talk about the Sharks. Some have called them quitters, losers, overrated and heartless. Others have said they’ve hit tough-luck, deserve better, had a lousy draw and are one break away from bouncing back.

What do I think? I just don’t know anymore.

I watched the Washington Capitals put everything on the line tonight and crush, totally destroy, the New York Rangers to make that a series again. I watched the Columbus Blue Jackets bleed for their fans last night in their 6-5 loss to Detroit – they played one hell of a game when they needed to and you couldn’t fault their effort. The emotion was all there. Raw emotion. I would kill to see that on Saturday from our boys.

I refuse to trade away players, fire GM’s and discuss offseason plans until Game 5 is in the books. I feel more upbeat at this moment then I have the last 24 hours – that maybe the team that took Dallas to the brink and won the most emotional game in San Jose Sharks history in Game 7 vs. Calgary can do it again. If the Sharks can make a game of this, the fans will rally and support them all the way – but they’ve got to come out strong – otherwise the Tank could turn on them, and fast….

Come on Sharks from April 30th, 2008. Show up. We need you. Now.

Quick thoughts immediately after the game:

• It’s getting really hard to defend Joe Thornton now.  Like, REALLY hard.
• It’s hard to win a series when 4 opposing players (Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan, and Hiller) are playing better than any of your guys.
• It’s also amazing that the Sharks seem completely unaware when the Ducks’ dominating first line is on the ice, and they just leave guys alone in the slot area.
• The Sharks have outscored the Ducks 2 periods out of 12.
• Dan Boyle, with his 3 point game in game 3, leads the Sharks in playoff points even though he doesn’t have a point in any of the other games.
• I’m so glad the Sharks won game 3 so I get to watch the season’s destruction up close and in person.  Oh yeah, I get to spend $80 for the privilege.
• Needless to say, I’ve been drinking.

After another disappointing game, the Sharks come back and win one in Anaheim to keep their hopes alive.  Mike and Doug talk about Boyle, Mitchell, the Joe and Patty saga, and all the other pluses and minuses of the past couple of games.

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“Get on my back and I will take you to victory” – Dan Boyle (not really….but in my mind)

I don’t want to do a super long write up because I want to hear what everyone else thought of this amazing playoff game. This series has just become Must See TV (just hopefully no longer on Versus with their dreadful coverage and god-awful camera work. Is the long camera guy drinking Schlitz during the game? Good lord)

Dan Boyle was everywhere and did everything right tonight and all the other Sharks followed suit. Nabby made me extremely nervous letting in a few early soft goals, but he came up huge in the 3rd period and this team tonight looked focused, determined and they fought – literally with Murray smacking Parros around in a good scrap.

How about McLellan’s poker face on slipping Torrey Mitchell in there tonight, who looked pretty spry in his 6:34. Someone take this man to Vegas – he pulls a good bluff, McLellan.

So I take SuperBoyle as the key to this win. We’ll share more of our thoughts tomorrow night on the podcast. What are your thoughts?

NEW PODCAST RIGHT HERE!

If you watched the game tonight, you know these things….

The Sharks should have won this game, but they ran into a goalie playing the hockey of his life. Everything I hoped the Sharks would do, they did (except win). They dictated their style, forcing the Ducks into a run and gun game that normally plays right into the Sharks hands. Coach McLellan made some surprising line adjustments that gave the Sharks three regular lines that created consistent scoring chances. Cheechoo got completely under Pronger’s skin, forcing him into penalties….but the Sharks power play could not cash in.

So, do I feel terrible. Yes. I feel horrible. Everyone is ready to jump off a bridge and throw the season away. The numbers say the Sharks are finished. The experts will call the Sharks “the Chicago Cubs of hockey”. Many fans will throw this team away and give up….and to you I say – Get Out. Give Up. Don’t watch on Tuesday.

In my opinion, if you say the Sharks suck and they were terrible tonight – you didn’t watch the game. I’m not taking away anything from the Ducks, they have earned both of these wins….but they could have NEVER done it without the amazing play of Jonas Hiller. End of story. The Sharks were not an embarrassment tonight, they played hard and ran into a brick wall.

So, will Hiller keep it up and the Ducks roll to a four game sweep? Maybe. It’s possible. I say unlikely.. As Mike pointed out on the podcast, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006 after losing both Game 1 and 2 at home against Montreal. The Boston Red Sox came back against the New York Yankees in the biggest miracle finish of all in the World Series. This is why they play the games. There could be injuries on Tuesday, Pronger could come down with a case of “I’m an ass*$%&-itis”, Selanne could get deported or Brian Burke could return unannounced and mess up the whole team again. Who knows? What I’m saying is….let’s just wait and see what happens Tuesday.

We can talk about being disappointed, talk about ways to improve, curse the terrible draw of the Ducks and the amazing play of Hiller…but if you want to give up – here’s the door. Don’t come back if we win Game 3.

UPDATE: IF YOU’RE INTO NUMBERS, HERE’S A STAT FOR YOU OF RECENT CUP WINNERS.

2002: RED WINGS (Lost Game 1 and 2 at home….Won Cup)
2003: DEVILS
2004: LIGHTNING
2005: Lock-out, No Cup
2006: HURRICANES (Lost Game 1 and 2 at home….Won Cup)
2007: DUCKS
2008: RED WINGS
2009: ??????

Every three years this decade, someone has pulled this off. All is not lost.

UPDATED AGAIN:
We’ve been on the wrong end of this sucker, remember back to the Edmonton series in 2006? Now granted we won Game 1 and 2 at home (both games very close results at 2-1) BUT as we remember – it is definitely possible for the team up against the wall (the Oilers) to catch fire and rattle off four straight….and then run all the way to the Cup.

The Dudes are excited about the playoffs, so excited that they are recording more podcasts!  However, Mike and Doug were not that excited about the Sharks output in game 1, and illustrate what those situations were, and what they can do to improve in game 2.  The other first-round series are also touched on briefly, identifying the surprises so far.

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It is only game 2 tonight, but I have to say it- I think this is a must-win for the Sharks.  It’s very unlikely they could drop the first two games at home, and then play 2 on the road and really expect to be in Game 5 (if there is a game 5) at anything other than in a 3-1 deficit.  Thursday night was a decent performance, but the momentum will be fully and solidly with Anaheim if they win tonight.  Additionally, everybody from bloggers to pundits to casual fans will be trotting out the old “Sharks can’t get it done in the playoffs” canard, which will only add further pressure.  No thanks.  Sharks HAVE to win tonight.

In other news, the ChompTalk radio show will be going on tonight after the game, so make sure to tune into 1220AM from your cars, and give us a call after the game with your take on what just happened.  1-800-516-1220 is the number.

UPDATE:  Just posted a new episode of Dudes On Hockey.  This time of year, we just can’t help ourselves.

One down, five more to go. I say that because I did predict this series to go six games, so after some deep thought and reflection – the Sharks had to lose twice to make that sucker come true….so why not Game One? They got one heartbreak out of the way. I actually thought (and still do) that the series is going to go 2-2 before the Sharks take over and take Game 5 and 6 to move forward.

Mike pointed out in his last post much of the “strategery” we think needs to be changed for Game Deuce. The Sharks need to play like the number one seed, don’t adjust your game to fit the Ducks, make the Ducks adjust to you. If Anaheim is going to try and stand you up at the blueline, go around them with two of the best mobile D-men in the league in Boyle and Ehrhoff. They proved near the end of the game, when the checking should have been at its tightest, that they could gain the zone nearly every time and create chances. In an interview on NHL Live on Friday, Versus analyst Dave Strader recounted a conversation with Penguins head coach, Dan Bylsma, about matching up strategy against the Flyers and Bylsma responding by saying (and I’m paraphrasing) “We don’t match up or change styles against anyone. We’re going to play our way”. I expect this attitude to be on display in the Deuce.

I pondered why Jamie McGinn was here watching and I think we might find out tomorrow. Clearly, I was wrong about dressing Jody Shelley. Love the guy, but having a battle trophy on the bench for two minutes of ice time is a total waste. Dress McGinn or give Stanley Cup champion Lemiuex a chance to add some emotion.

Anyone else for getting Cheechoo off that 3rd line? Solid D has never been Cheech’s thing and it takes him out of the most important aspect of his game, which is attacking the net. Cheech and J.R. could cause the Ducks 4th line the crazies, they could be a hand full. Grier needs to return to that group and I hope we’ll see more of Goc/Moen/Grier on the ice vs. the Ducks top line and that frees up Joe/Marleau/Seto to do their thing. Does this mean the Ducks might score more? Sure. It also means we’re gonna score, and in a 5-4 gunfight, I’d take the Sharks every single time. BANG!

I feel like we’re all kind of waiting for the playoff ceiling to cave in. Like we expect the Sharks to make an early exit. I admit it, I felt that way almost all day Friday – but as J.R. said after the game, this is a long series and we’ve only just begun. And, after all, not many of us thought this was gonna be a sweep – right?

OTHER PLAYOFF STUFF
Oops. Picking St. Louis isn’t looking so hot for me right now, but there was a ton of emotion at the end of Game Two on the Blues bench over some rough stuff at the buzzer – we’ll see if that is the wake up call the Blues need in front of their home fans in Game Three.

Philadelphia just can’t help themselves. They have to take dumb/dumb penalties and they totally blew the game against the Penguins. If you’re gonna give them a 5 on 3 in overtime, you deserve to lose, especially on a stupid slash by rookie Giroux and an interference by Knuble on their own PP. Smooth move, Ex-Lax….couldn’t resist.

So let the naysayers start that well-worn tune again, about how the Sharks are chokers.  We’re one game into the playoffs, and we have a lot further to go.  I have to say, most of the ideas for this post were conceived as grier and I walked home from the game, so it’s not going to be the most positive thing you ever read.  But as I was driving home, listening to NHL Home Ice immediately after Dan Rusanowsky wrapped up his broadcast, the first thing out of the first guy’s mouth was, “Where was the captain?  Where was Joe Thornton?”  And I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.  But I lay a large share of the blame at a guy we haven’t written much about this season.

Todd McLellan.

The way I see it, the Sharks made three pretty big strategic errors in the way they approached the game tonight.

1. They dumped the puck in every chance they got, so much so I thought I was watching the Sharks in 1996.  With speedy guys like Marleau, Michalek, Seto, Ehrhoff, hell, even Marcel Goc, this strategy is playing against the Sharks’ strength.  Actually, it plays almost directly into the Ducks’ strength, which, if you heard the podcast, is their defense.   Do you really want to get into a skating contest with Scott Niedermayer, maybe the best skating defenseman in the NHL?  Do you really want to try and go around Chris Pronger, who goes right up to the line of interference EVERY SINGLE TIME?  Sorry to get off on a rant, but how you can take four steps to your left and put your stick in a guy’s ribs when he  dumps the puck in directly in front of you and not get a penalty, I’ll never know.
2. Matching up their top offensive line with Anaheim’s.  If you look at the neato graphical shift chart, you’ll see Joe’s line went up against Getzlaf’s almost exclusively even strength.  Two of the guys on that line never kill penalties- Joe and Seto.  So if you are in a matchup against a better line (make no mistake, the Ducks have the better top line right now), you’re going to spend a lot of time defending.  Having the Sharks’ top line, the line that scored 222 regular season points, about 150 feet away from the goal the entire game is, frankly, a dumb matchup.  Why not Moen, Grier, and Goc (all penalty killers) against those guys?  So what if they don’t score?
3. Not playing 12 forwards.  Jody Shelley got 2:02 in ice time tonight, painfully reminiscent of a game in last year’s playoffs, where, like tonight, he only got three first period shifts.  What, are we trying to do a Calgary impression and play with a short bench?  We know from the last couple of months this team has depth, and we now know this could be a long and arduous series.  Dress guys, and play ’em.  Start with McGinn.

Although this certainly is the biggest (really the only) blast I’ve ever done against TMac, I do have faith in the guy.  The entire coaching staff is resourceful and smart, and I have confidence they will make the necessary adjustments going forward.  It just would have been nice to see those adjustments made after first or second period when the game could have still been won.

In another special playoff edition episode, the Dudes talk to Adam Brady, who despite being a blogger for the Anaheim Ducks organization, is a pretty nice guy.  Mike and Doug try to get some insight and perspective from the other side of the first Battle of California series in 40 years.  Listener emails are read, and the first-round picks are given.

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