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.