Emotions are Running High…
April 14th, 2008, 8:10 am
I’ve calmed down now…a little
Last night at my house, I was a disaster as I watched the Sharks slowly crumble under the physical nature and playoff pressure of Game 3 in Calgary. All the questions that have been raised are all valid and, as we all know, none of them are new issues. San Jose Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy says it all in his article in today’s paper hitting all the relevant concerns.
1) Why do the Sharks always take the foot off the gas when they get a big lead? This pattern repeats and repeats and I have to point the finger at Ron Wilson on this one. While the players play the game, how do you stand by and watch your boys sit back and chase the opposition around – hoping that Nabby can hang on to the victory. This doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked. It will never work. I wanted the Sharks to try and win last night 7-1 and instead, after Kipper got chased, they stopped pressing and gave Calgary the glimmer of hope they needed to come back.
2) Patrick Marleau showed some balls last night, I’ll give him that – but the rest of the Sharks were completely nutless. Shame on them for allowing their Captain to get bloodied twice without exacting any kind of revenge on one of Calgary’s top players. Where was Jody Shelley? He was only given four minutes of ice time… Where was Dougie Murray? Where was Craig Rivet even? Someone should have done something to send the message that this type of tactic will not fly with the 2007-08 Sharks. Instead – they proved physical play is their kryptonite once again. The Sharks can be bullied without any fear of response.
3) People have been saying Joe isn’t a big time playoff performer, but I have to disagree. Last year Joe had 11 points in as many playoff games and the year before he had nine in eleven. Calgary has put all their focus on shutting down the Thornton line because it worked so well for them during the regular season. As for Brian Campbell, his weaknesses have been exposed in this series. He is allergic to physical play and has been a non-factor, making noticeable errors in his own zone. His +1 with one assist doesn’t really tell the tale of his series so far.
Tomorrow night is not only a pivotal game in the series, but a landmark game for this franchise. If the Sharks go down again, this will be a different team next year with a different coach behind the bench. The roster turnover could be high, with some surprising names leaving town. Campbell might not be resigned and other veterans will likely be cut loose as well. But if, somehow, the Sharks can shake their playoff demons and gut out a Game 4 victory – they can put this all behind them.
I’m nervous as hell. Are you?
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if the Sharks lose this series then Joe WILL be labelled as a guy can’t lead in the playoffs. i realize he’s still producing and he’ll keep doing that but if they don’t win then it’ll fall to an issue of leadership, and one’s best players are to be the leaders.
Joe may just end up as one of the best players in the NHL never to win a Cup. i don’t think the Flames are the better team, i don’t think they have the better goalie, i don’t think the supporting staff is any better than the Sharks and their best player may or may not be better than the Sharks best player. however, i can say this, Jarome Iginla doesn’t carry the same load as Joe does because Jarome has WON the big game.
i think Sharks fans should be nervous. if they don’t win game 4 i don’t see this mess turning around.
Obviously I’m still royally pissed about last night, but I don’t see how you don’t blow the team up if the Sharks lose in 5. Everybody but Nabby goes. Everybody.
Just to reiterate what Grier said on Thornton. Every playoff series since Thornton has gotten here, the other team doubles up on him and tries to shut him down. He’s averaged just under a point per playoff game since he’s gotten here. He may not be getting the 2 points/game (or whatever it is, I’m no stats guy) like in the regular season, but 1 point/game isn’t disappearing. I think Ian’s right, though, that many fans will *perceive* him as a ghost and turn on him like they did in Boston.
If DW sticks around, I don’t see him completely blowing up the team as Mike thinks. He likes trying to find just the right puzzle piece(s) for the team. That said, I think we will see a major shakeup, just not a complete overhaul. RW gone or Marleau gone or something, but he’ll stick with what he considers his core guys. Now whether that’s the right strategy at this point, I don’t know, but I think that’s what will happen. Of course, if they bounce DW, all bets are off.
I think DW has done an outstanding job of putting together a Cup potential team. Like I said in an earlier post, on paper these guys should dominate. There really isn’t anything else DW can do but, like Mike said, blow up the team and start from scratch.
Sorry, grier, but I have to disagree with you about Jumbo. Once again, on paper he may have ok stats but it’s not showing up in the game. For some reason Patty, Iginla, Sakic, and other “franchise faces” are able to take their game to a whole other level in the postseason, whereas Joe seems to become just one of the guys.
If I were RW, after I got through updating my resume on CareerBuilder I would set the lines up as follows:
Clowe – Joe – Seto
Michalek – Patty – Cheech
Pavs – Torrey – Grier
JR – Goc – CuBro
Murray, Carle, Ehrhoff (or Ozo), Rivet, Soupy, Vlasic
…and I’d tell Murray, Rivet and Clowe that they need to drop ’em whenever needed.
It’s funny, all season long there have been swirling doubts about the Sharks ability to rise in the postseason, even when they were on a tear. I count myself in the group that absolutely was sold into the fact that this group would raise the Cup in the end. How much more heartbreak can fans, and season ticket holders, take? If this is it for the boys this season, my prediction is the attendance at the Tank next season plummets… and honestly, it rightly should.