And Big Brother said to Little Brother, “Not so fast. You can’t have my Cup yet”.

The Sharks got spanked last night. It was miserable to watch. After looking pretty sharp for the first ten minutes, it all went to Hell and a Hudler after that. We got worked, what can you say? We beat their butts in San Jose and they got even on their home turf. They won all the battles: outshot the Sharks, won more faceoffs….yada yada yada.

So with the #$% kickings out of both teams systems, the next meeting you can expect to be a tightly played, best vs. the best hockey game. We haven’t seen that yet from these two, but it’s on the horizon. Both teams have excuses, not that they would ever make them, about how or why they had a poor performance when they lost. The Sharks were playing with a less than 100% Pavelski, a rusty Cheechoo, no Michalek and no JR. They were on the 2nd game of a back to back and their 3rd game in four days. Detroit had the same adversity when they lost in San Jose, 3rd game in four days, no Franzen or Chelios, wah, wah, wah.

I’m not concerned about the loss. Losing can build character, make a team work harder, want it more, etc. What I’m mildly concerned about is the injury situation and the current effectiveness of Cheechoo and Pavelski, which last night appeared to be zero. The extent of their injuries, including the absent Michalek, will most definitely impact how the Sharks do against the Atlantic Division leaders, the New York Rangers, on Saturday night.