After the opening goal, the Sharks looked like they were looking for an excuse to lose this game, and they found it in Nabby’s gaffe in the second period. The lost composure, they lost organization and they lost the game. Now they just need to leave it all on the ice at home in front of the home crowd on Monday. And we will be there, trying with 17,000 others to will a Game 7.

Outside of the first period, the Sharks got outworked and outclassed this afternoon. The power play was ineffective. Holmstrom has been dominant. And the captain, Patrick Marleau, continues to be missing in action. After scoring the first goal, the Sharks stopped the offensive pressure and allowed Detroit to assault Nabby over and over again.

How did the Sharks not capitalize on Schneider’s absence? Losing their second best defensemen should have been a huge boost for the Sharkies, but instead they shut it down and didn’t test the Wings blueline.

Giving up two power plays goals and going 0/6 on your own is not a formula for victory. The odds are not in our favor – but that is why we play the games. The Sharks are going to have to dig deep and answer the bell in one of the biggest games in franchise history. To stall again in Round Two would be unacceptable. Maybe we should try not scoring first….that seems to work since the team that goes up is 1-4 in this match up.

Well….there was the meltdown. Wings outplayed the Sharks in every facet on the game and Nabby pulled a classic Arturs Irbe impression and gave the puck away outside the net. This having been said, the roughhousing at the end of the period might have been a huge mistake by the Wings. The Sharks had fallen asleep and now they may have just woken them up. The Sharks played their best hockey in response to the Nashville antics. What will happen now?

NBC says Sharks are starting on the power play. Based on the coverage so far (which has been horrid, especially the camera work) I’m not holding my breath.

Here we go…..

Bill Clement: I wonder how Evgeni Nabokov feels after that period…

Brett Hull: Stupid.

So it’s a good start- weak goal by Hasek is the only difference right now. Hasek looked like he expected Goc to come down the left boards, and when Goc shot instead, was hugging the near post. The power play still looks miserable, but the first possession of the PP looked different. More movement at the points, more pinching by the D, less standing around for Joe at the half boards. The Wings never seem to have anyone at the half boards on the PP- they always have one or two in the crease, and let the D bomb away. I say the Sharks go to that strategy. Two Wings collapse on Joe when he has it, so there needs to be more skating, and more movement.

Schneider took a hit from Marleau that looks like it separated his shoulder. He won’t return. We’ll see if that will make a difference in the next two.

I know it is early. There is lots of hockey left to go….but the Sharks have come out like with a repeat of their Game One first period performance in Game Five. Controlling play in the corners, blocking shots and solid goaltending. They had their early opportunity for a meltdown, ala Game Four, and did not allow the late power play goal.

Good start – but we’ve seen this before. Sharks have to continue on their Game One tribute. Hold on for Period Two.

So the cut to Guerin’s face might be more than just a bad cut, because the AP is reporting Guerin will be out for Game 5. If you get hit in the head with a object traveling that fast, it figures that a concussion might go along with it.

So I guess this means either Pavelski or Bell will be back in the lineup, along with Mark Smith. Smith wasn’t an impact player in Game 4, but he certainly didn’t play badly. His energy is something the Sharks need, and is a fan favorite, although it could be because he has blue hair and plays in a band. Personally, I think he’s a role player that plays hard, has an above average wrist shot, and below average puckhandling skills. He’s a fourth liner, an ‘energy’ player that doesn’t really fight.

At this point, that’s an improvement over Guerin, face intact or no. The question becomes, how do we get that line going? In this playoffs, it seems like the second line has been Marleau and some combination of the state of California. Ron Wilson has tried everything. I would personally try Marleau-Pavelski-Clowe next, but that’s probably been tried already. Mike Chen over at Battle of California is speculating Marleau is hurt, but I thought he was effective in the Nashville series. It’s hard to tell the difference between nagging/recurring injury and listlessness.

Will the Sharks have urgency for 60 minutes, or will they continue to try and skate by (pun intended, I guess) with flashes of brilliance followed by stretches of watching the Wings cycle and shoot? Once that question is answered, we will know how the series will turn out.

Oh yeah, thanks Vancouver, for putting up a fight. Bastards. This is why I wanted to play the Ducks next. Though if we did, and played the same way we played the last four games, we might have already met the Canucks’ fate.

I still can’t believe it happened. Robert Lang, who has been invisible for the entire series, slips in alone and puts one past the rock steady Nabby to tie the game with 34 seconds left in regulation. Nabby, who made 46 saves in another heroic performance, fell to the ice and looked to the rafters in disbelief. Did this really just happen?? And Robert Lang of all Wings? Unreal.

Detroit stole Game Four and all it would have taken was 39 seconds. That’s it. Five more seconds of penalty kill in the 2nd period. 34 more precious ticks of the clock to go up 3-1 in the series and it’s lights out Motown. Instead, it is gut check time. The Sharks need to dig deep to pull this off. Detroit has all the momentum. They won two games they had no business winning. By all accounts, this series could very well be over. Instead, we will see what the team is made of….and I’ll tell you what. I don’t think it is a bad thing. Let me tell you why.

The Sharks are the most talented team in the playoffs. I still believe that. Doug Wilson put all the pieces in place to win a Cup this year. He added my invaluable namesake, Can’t Stop the Grier, and penalty killer Curtiss Brown. At the deadline, he pulled the trigger on Rivet and Guerin. These upgrades were made to improve a team that had already flexed its playoffs muscles and won 22 playoff games since 2004, more than any other team in the NHL. Yet, this stat means nothing without the big prize and we all know you can’t get to Lord Stanley without some major obstacles in your path. This is the Sharks test. Stand up tall, look each other in the eye and get it done. Here are three ways how.

1) Don’t take your foot off the gas. When you get the lead, keep applying pressure. Sitting back and letting the Wings pepper Nabby with 50 shots will not win a series.

2) Ron Wilson – Please stop changing the lines. Stick with what got us here. Separating Clowe-Bernier-Goc broke up our second best line. Stop moving them around and roll the four lines that were successful in the 2nd half of the year.

3) Marleau and Guerin. Time to show up boys. Moving them around isn’t going to help. Let them be and figure it out. If they don’t, there is no one to blame other than two big guns that have been shooting blanks all series. Put them back together (if Guerin still has a face) and I believe they will have a big Game 5. They have been called out and these All Star performers will not disappoint again.

I still believe and so should you. Is this a real series? Yes. Have the Wings proven to be a more worthy opponent than I expected? Yes. I stand by my statement of rather having the Wings first. I’m sure Mike would agree, with the Sharks playing at 60% we are 2-2 with the Wings. The Ducks would have swept us by now. We will come out bigger, stronger and better. There is no free ride to the Cup. This is a not a bad thing – it will make us stronger if we get throught this. If the Sharks get past Detroit, Anahiem should be shaking in the pond.

Arthur King of the Britains had the Killer Rabbit. We have some Nasty Octapus. But we will reach the Grail, I have no fear. Just a flesh wound friends, just a flesh wound.

Words fail me.

Cue the references to the ‘flip side of the coin’ and all that. Almost a mirror image of Game 2. Wings came out hot, early lead, and let it slip away, mostly due to dominant work in the corners by the Sharks. And a really bad slew-foot penalty by Bertuzzi. Although that was after the go-ahead goal, it really took the wind out of the Wings’ sails. A 6-on-5 Wings advantage would not have been fun for two minutes, or at least a minute-thirty. Instead, the Wings had to kill the penalty, on which the Sharks had good puck possession, then try to turn it around in 30 or 40 seconds, with the crowd on their feet, hopefully providing that final boost of adrenaline to the Grier line.

Joe was dominant. On a 6-game point streak now, he was double-shifting most of the third period, trying to tire out Draper and Lidstrom, and then create scoring chances once they were off the ice. Nobody other than Bertuzzi is really big enough to muscle Joe off the puck along the boards. And it didn’t seem like Bertuzzi was really playing much of a game. So bad, in fact, that E.J. Hradek is saying that the Wings should scratch him for Game 4. I can’t imagine them doing that, but Holmstrom is reported to be on his way to SJ in order to suit up.

Playing Homstrom is a risk, but down 2-1, it’s one the Wings have to take. It’s great to have a player with heart that will play through injuries, but do you want a player that’s not fully healthy? Just like Cheech wasn’t the rest of the Nashville series, and probably even now. I guess Holmstrom’s real asset is to stand in the front of the net and create havoc, and his injury is (supposedly) an eye injury, so he may be close to 100% right away. But not being able to see a booming Lidstrom shot from the point could be hazardous to your health.

One last note- I sure hope Guerin is giving ‘locker room leadership’ or ‘playoff know-how’ or some of that shit, because he sure ain’t doing squat on the ice. Shooting from every possible angle is great and all, but after a while it starts looking like the lazy way out.

I sure wish my Treo took better pictures, but oh well. Here’s one of the crowd after Cheech’s goal, about as loud as I’ve ever heard it in there, with a sea of white towels.