From what I saw (heard) of the game tonight, they basically quit trying. That will NOT fly in the playoffs. Yes, it’s the regular season right now, but I’ve seen the exact same crap from this team over and over. Once they reach the top, once they start getting hyped, once they begin to see the wins far outnumber the losses, they stop trying.

I don’t remember who posted it, or where, but I recently saw someone put up a clip from "Miracle" in comparison to their team. You know the one, the team doing gassers (or whatever they’re called in hockey) after a loss, the coach yelling "You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone." Even though I feel that pound for pound and player by player the Sharks are the most talented team in the NHL, that quote still applies. Talent doesn’t win the Stanley Cup, it doesn’t even win in the second round.

Not just in this game, but for the last couple weeks, they look like they’re playing like they deserve the win; that they just have to show up to get their points. It’s worked a few times, sure, but I guarantee it won’t work anymore. They’re not untouchable anymore. They are, once again, the Sharks that can be outhustled, the Sharks that can be pushed around, the Sharks that can be beat. Every other team now knows how to beat the Sharks: work harder than they do. Those other teams know they can't rely solely on talent, and they’ve just been showed (again) that the Sharks don’t.

It’s an uphill battle now. I think that every game from now on will be the hardest game of the season. Even if they win the next 20 games by 10 goals each, that 21st team will still play like they have a shot, because they will have a shot. All the Sharks can do now is come out every game ready to play, ready to fight, ready to hustle, and to not take any game, any point, any goal, any shift for granted. Opponents will now be looking for any sign of weakness, and if they find one, they will win. I don’t care how hokey or sappy all this sounds, I truly believe it.

I pray to the Hockey Gods that tonight was just a fluke, that I’ve been seriously misinterpreting the past few weeks. I pray that at some point in this season that I’ll look at this and laugh at how idiotic this all sounds, that I was making a huge deal out of nothing. But right now, I just hope that McLellan knows how to do what Ron Wilson couldn’t: Get this team to stop pussyfooting around; to stop bending over at the first sign of trouble; to get this team to understand that they don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone, and to FUCKING PLAY LIKE IT.

If tonight proved that they can lose, Saturday and Tuesday will show if they can be beaten.

P.S.: I might regret posting this later. Whatever.