Doug and Mike talk about the last three games, all of which the Sharks won, and go over the current playoff picture.  Also, Mike recounts his experience as a fantasy camper at the Shark for a Day event.

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After two terrible games against division opponents this week, the Sharks staunch the bleeding somewhat by edging the defending champs, the Bruins, 2-1.  Just when you think the Sharks are ready to give up the ghost, they come back like a Monty Python sketch.  “But I don’t want to go in the cart!  I’m not dead.”

There are still several signs that are very troubling about this team, mostly in the scoring department.  The last time the Sharks won a game by more than one goal was five weeks ago, against the Caps (thanks Kevin Kurz).  That’s also the last time the Sharks have scored more than three goals in a win.  The last time they scored more than three goals period was also five weeks ago, in a 6-5 loss in OT to the Lightning.  That’s 18 games ago, almost a quarter of the season.  In those 18 games where the Sharks didn’t score more than three, they scored three goals (supposedly the magic number) only four times.  Let’s put that a different context.  In the 55 games previous to that, the Sharks scored 3 or more goals 33 times, or 60% of the time.  That doesn’t include wins like 2-1, 2-0, etc.  Since, the Sharks have scored three or more goals only 22% of the time.  That’s not a decline.  That’s an anvil falling out of the sky.

The good thing about last night is they stayed step for step with the Stanley Cup Champions, and the 4th line was more than just a non-liability.  They were an asset, matching up well with the Bruins very respectable fourth line of Dan Paille, Shawn Thornton and Greg Campbell.  The bad thing is the Sharks still are not scoring in bunches.  They score once, have some good quality chances not go in, then slowly fade.  Whether they hold on or chip in another one seems to be a coin flip at best.  Looking at the stat sheet, another bad thing was the return of Michal Hanzus.  He was -1, and lost 5 of the 7 faceoffs he took.  T.J. Galiardi can’t come back fast enough.

There’s no more time for the Sharks to turn this around.  They have to be going in the right direction now.  Another game or two of disappointing losses will put them in an ugly position to make the playoffs.  Let’s hope the win against Boston was the turn, and now the Sharks are sailing in clear waters and strong wind to the finish line.

Mike and Doug talk about the efficacy of the sacrifice, and the lack of efficacy against the Ducks.

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The Sharks have thirteen games to play, and 78 points.  Here’s the point totals of the 8 seed every year since the lockout.

For the math nerds, the West average is 94.17, East is 92, overall average is 93.08, and standard deviation is 2.5.  The conventional wisdom is that the Sharks need 95 points to make the playoffs, and these numbers support that.  However, assuming the distribution is normal, there’s about a 15% chance the 8 seed will need 97 points to make it.

To get to 94 points, the Sharks need to go 8-5-0, or 7-3-2.  To get to 95 points, that’s 8-4-1 or 7-2-3.  To get to 97, that’s 9-3-1 or 8-1-3.

The last time the Sharks got 16 points or more in a 13-game span was January 5th to February 2nd, which included 8 games against teams that are not currently in the playoffs.  The final thirteen, the Sharks will have 6 games against such opponents, and three of them against the Kings, with whom the Sharks are tied.

Ain’t gonna be easy.

Here we are, in all of our glory, with some of our esteemed colleagues.

For those of you that wanted to hear some ‘real’ opinions (or as real as DOH can get), try that on for size.

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That’s last night’s game, and soon, the title will describe the season.  The Sharks cough up another 3rd period lead, decide not to try in an overtime power play, and then cap it by putting Tommy Wingels as the third shooter in the shootout, a guy who has literally never participated in the shootout in his career.  I know we were looking for desperation, but to me that means urgency and fire, not grasping at straws.

But I’m going to try and not let my extreme frustration leak over too much into this post, and talk about something that is becoming increasingly obvious- the rift between Doug Wilson and Todd McLellan.  Exhibit A is T.J. Galiardi.  Only on the Sharks for two weeks now, Galairdi has been scratched once, and played only 2:30 against St. Louis.  His average ice time in the other two games was about 11:40, which is far below his average with the Avalanche before he was traded.  And Galiardi was, by many reports, on the outs with Joe Sacco in Colorado.  So the Avs want to get him out of town, and then trade him to a team that plays him even less than he played before?  There’s a disconnect here.

Exhibit B is the penalty kill.  DW goes out and gets three guys who can play the kill, because, frankly, the kill has sucked for much of the year.  As of this writing, it’s 28th.  So we get Daniel Winnik (averaging 2:51 this season on the kill) Dominic Moore (1:50) , and Galiardi (1:06).  So who are the big killers last night?  Pavelski (1:41), Couture (1:35), and Marleau (1:31).  The three PK specialists we got are dwarfed in SH ice time by Andrew Desjardins (1:35).  Only Moore played a full shift (0:41), with Winnik, probably the best PKer of the three, playing just 0:14.  What is wrong with this picture?  Play the #2, #3, and #4 scorer the most on the PK, make the new defensive forwards ride the pine, even when you’ve averaged only 1.9 goals per game over the last 10? It just makes no sense to me.

If the Sharks manage to squeak into the playoffs, all bets are off.  But if April brings a Marleau-Roenick tee time, either T-Mac or DW will be gone, and possibly both.

The Sharks slide continues, as they barely beat Philly, but lose to the Sabres and Blues.  Mike and Doug try not to panic, and gauge what the Sharks need to do in order to make the playoffs.

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Another trade deadline day has passed, and the Sharks are again active, trading Jamie McGinn, Michael Sgarbossa, and Mike Kennedy to Colorado for T.J. Galliardi, Daniel Winnik, and a 7th.  The Dudes talk about the trade, the worst road trip in memory, and all the other deals that happened.

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