First two losses stung, but I saw the heart there. I saw positive signs. Nothing tonight. Absolutely nothing. Sub-par goaltending, hardly any generated offense and defensive breakdowns. I’d like to think that we can hold serve on home ice and then steal one on the road in Game 6, but this is the first time I’ve seriously doubted this team.

Hockey Night in Canada did a good job breaking it down: look at Thornton on all 3 goals. He’s just floating around out there – near the puck carrier, but just putting forth a minimal effort. And he directly caused the 3rd goal! Pavs can’t win a faceoff. Get dirty, dammit! Play with some urgency!

Sickening to watch. This hurts.

From the newswire:

Evgeni Nabokov made 22 saves in another unspectacular effort for the Sharks. They won the Presidents’ Trophy with a franchise-best 117 points, but they’re now one game away from the worst postseason flop yet in a recent history full of embarrassing faceplants.

San Jose was knocked out in the second round in each of the past three seasons, leading to coach Ron Wilson’s firing. The Sharks have never advanced past the conference finals during five consecutive playoff appearances—and unless their top two lines awaken from their four-game slumber, the franchise could be in for a wholesale overhaul.

is right.

What else is there to say?

-Why pull Nabby when the best scoring chance for us was when R. Niedermayer tipped S. Niedermayer’s pass over the net?

-Why we were playing pre-season hockey in April?

-Why Duck fans take off with five minutes left in the game? Sure getting out of parking is a biatch down here in LA of Anaheim, but you dropped a lot of money to see your team take a 3 games-to-1 lead on the “best” team in the NHL? why not watch it and celebrate a little?

I couldn’t even watch the last 3 minutes of the game. I was that disgusted by the lackluster play of a team that can dominate others when it feels like it. Now is the time of year where they have to stop remembering how we beat the D..I..C..K…S in the regular season and start playing on a “we want this as a team” level. Forced passes, face-offs losses, stagnant PP, and a rep for buckling under pressure. We suck when teams play aggressive against us. Each second round exit, starting with the Oilers, they apply pressure; we blow it. The thing that pisses me off the most about all this, the people that question Marleau and his abilities in the playoffs. Last time I checked, Joe has no goals and was -3 in game 4. Marleau does not have the jump he had during the season, and I agree with the people that think that he is playing hurt. Everyone points the finger at Marleau, but where has Joe been? Where has Nabby been? Our other “big guns”? Stop bitching about Marleau, period. Captains can give all the Kevin Costner speeches in the world, but if your team isn’t playing well, it is all for nothing. Start focusing on the team as a whole. Stop pointing the finger at one guy. No one has been that great this series (Boyle was good in game 3, but he, like Marleau and Seto, can often be seen trying to carry the puck into a gang of Ducks, trying to do it all himself, not good). We can come back, but we need to see an inspiring team effort. We can come back, but only if we want it badly enough.

Oh BTW, why didn’t we pick up Nolan in the off-season? He had a respectable year with the Wild and could really be helping us now..

GO SHARKS!

they suck…theyll never win. they have no drive. end of story.

and neither should any of you die hards. The Sharks went 17-17 over the last 2 1/2 months of the season going into the playoffs. Only the strong survive at playoff time and the Sharks blew their wad back in January. I’m happy they will go out early so the most ignorant fans in hockey can move on with their lives.

As a longtime (over a decade) Sharks fan that saw every game they played season, I can honestly say that most of this team simply doesn’t care if they win or lose. They only want to play hockey when it is fun. If they are not having fun, you see a performance like this.

Sharks fans deserve better than this. No matter where I go in the country, everyone loves to hate the Sharks. It’s “California Hockey”. Or, Sharks fans are “ignorant” for liking their team. I have been to almost every hockey arena in the league. I can assure you that there are both good and bad hockey fans for every team.

Before all of the Ducks fans get too proud of themselves, take your duck glasses off and roll tape of game 3, then game 4 side by side. If you can tell me with a straight face that the Sharks played hard tonight, then I wish you the continued luck of playing other pathetic teams that care more about themselves than the sport. This series is entirely about the bad play of a team with superior talent and absolutely no heart whatsoever.

If I owned the Sharks, I would send a personal apology to the fans for this effort. I don’t care if the Sharks lose; I care when they don’t try to win. Doug Wilson is going to have to shake a lot of heartless crap out of the roster, resulting in fewer wins but hopefully more honest hockey. I don’t like to watch pro athletes that think this is some kind of joke. I have better things to do with my time (this post notwithstanding)

I’ll admit I don’t know what is said behind closed doors, and I also only got to watch the 3rd period, but why were the forwards trying to continue carrying the puck into the zone when Anaheim was clearly interested in stacking 3-4 players at center ice/their blue line and stick checking the puck away. And the few times they did try and dump the puck, they forgot about the chase part afterwards…dump and line change or dump and stand at the blue line are both ineffective ways to come back from 2-0 and/or 3-0 deficits. I read here on a previous post the prediction the Ducks would do exactly what they did…is there a reason the coaches couldn’t have predicted the same? And why is there no in-game adjustments. I can understand wanting to stick with a scheme, but there is only so many times you should continue to bash your head into a wall before you stop unless you are a fan of serious brain damage. Oh well, as pissed as I am about the lackluster play, I hold out hope that something magical will happen.

It ain’t the red elephant from the grand ol’ party…

This is not the gray elephant from those Oakland A’s, although it may be a distant cousin…

The big ghost white elephant of playoffs past is sitting on bench, pacing locker room floors, and is the sixth player disrupting each shift.

This powerful ghost of playoffs past may even have caused a nearby 4.0 earthquake in Yorba Linda during first intermission.

F*&^ “Puck Luck” as an excuse to explain this dismal series. That sound bite deserves a major penalty.

The fact that the Honda center did not sell out is a very sad reflection by the Duck fan base and irritates me above all other ills.

Yah for sure don-chya-no dat next game looks pretty good to me…

Game 5: Lutefisk Fear and Loathing in San Jose

last night’s performance will be my last watching of the Sharks for this series.

That’s not to say I don’t want them to win and that I don’t want to watch, but I have a competition on Sunday and I need to spend my mental energy and focus on getting ready for that instead of on the Sharks “effort”.

its really too bad.

Some people are pointing out “oh we don’t know who’s injured”, etc. etc…. It doesn’t matter who is hurt, or how bad. Frankly, they’re still skating, so its not an excuse. Brett Hull scored a cup winning goal (ok, it wasn’t a goal, but he was still out there and doing it) with a torn groin. Steve Yzerman dragged the Red Wings through the first two rounds with only one knee. Those are two high-profile cases of stars playing like stars, whether they’re hurt or not, refusing to use it as an excuse, doing what they have to do. I don’t know whats wrong with Marleau, why he isn’t skating the way he should, but if he’s a star, if he’s a captain, he can’t be using it as an excuse.

This team is soft because of the player the front office selects, not that they are not talented but wanting they get pushed around the ice for 60 minutes of playoff hockey is embarrassing. Even Sidney Crosby fights! Come on Patrick be a leader in all areas of the game especially if you’re not hitting the score sheet drop the gloves show your own player you want it!

To The Front Office – It’s great that you get players that are also quality people but this team needs tough hockey players that understand sacrifice during the playoff for the good of the team that want nothing more than their name on that Cup.

Theory – If this was Boston or Chicago the sports writers would be ripping the team, and the player would be worried they have to go all summer hearing it from the fans about what happened in the playoffs, their kids would even get heckled in school. Our players just disappear once they exit the playoff’s and go on vacation until next September and all is forgotten!

I am in the team corner all the way and I hope this team proves me 100% wrong than I’ll be the first to apologize but you got to give a sh_t!

This team is soft because of the players the front office selects, not that they are not talented but watching them get pushed around the ice for 60 minutes of playoff hockey is embarrassing. Even Sidney Crosby fights! Come on Patrick be a leader in all areas of the game especially if you’re not hitting the score sheet drop the gloves show your own player you want it!

To The Front Office – It’s great that you get players that are also quality people but this team needs tough hockey players that understand sacrifice during the playoff for the good of the team that want nothing more than their name on that Cup.

Theory – If this was Boston or Chicago the sports writers would be ripping the team, and the player would be worried they have to go all summer hearing it from the fans about what happened in the playoffs, their kids would even get heckled in school. Our players just disappear once they exit the playoff’s and go on vacation until next September and all is forgotten!

I am in the team corner all the way and I hope this team proves me 100% wrong than I’ll be the first to apologize but you got to give a sh_t!

Time to BENCH THORTON, MARLEAU and NABBY!

If the Sharks are going to lose … may as well put a few FRESH players in their spots that will have the HEART to PLAY to WIN ….

Who Knows … it might even work!

Nothing else is ….

A few thoughts from the other side.

Give the ducks some credit. Since the trade deadine, they’ve had one of the best records in the NHL, if not the best. During that same period, the Sharks were up and down, do to injuriies in part. In contrast, the ducks are the healthiest they’ve been all year now that Beauchamin is back.

The ducks have the best overall defensive corps in the league. Beauchamin is their 5th defenseman – on most teams he’d be a number 2. The trade deadline additions of wisniewski and Whitney have been huge for the ducks. This is a team built for the playoffs. Defensive depth, a good checking line, and a dominant top line (the second line has been not so good, but not a defensive liabiiity).

Hiler has played well – he’s been more solid than spectacular. The key for the ducks is that positionally the ducks defense has been unbelievable. When Hiller gives up rebounds, the ducks have been there to clear the puck (except a few times in Game 3). This is part good defense and part bad offense – the Sharks players have been unwilling to pay the price to create traffic in front of the net and fight for rebounds/screnes (except a few times in game 3).

Don’t let shots on goal fool you into thinking the sharks have been unlucky. The key is where the shots come from and, in most cases, the shots have been from the outside. Also, the sharks block a lot of shots – my guess is that if you add blocks + shots on goal for each team, the numbers would be close.

Coaching – I think your coach panicked after game 1 by switching lines. Implicitly, it showed a lack of confidence in a president’s trophy winning team. Also, I personaly would like to thank him for playing Cheechoo so little – that guy kills the ducks.

Finally, it is apparent that the Sharks have leadership and chemistry problems. The quotes from Thornton after losses have been pathetic – “we played well. No need to make changes” etc. No accountability. Same for Marleau. Totally pathetic that they snuck out and refused to speak with the media after game 4. Contrast there behaviour with that of Boyle (and the ducks players coaches after game 3) who all basically said “I” need to be better.

Good luck – as a ducks fan I would have been rooting for the sharks in all other circumstances. It will be interesting to see what happens in the offseason for the sharks if the ducks close out the series (which I don’t take for granted).

I’m a die hard Preds fan, but I obtained a lot of respect (not fear) of the Sharks this season. However, one thing I did consistently notice was Nabby’s inability to handle the puck with pressure. I watched him countless times in games against the Preds where he would drop it in front of the net, and not realize it (which, unfortunately, the Preds never seemed to capitalize on..) I always thought to myself, “Man, if it weren’t for the great forecheck these guys have, they’d be screwed.” It finally caught up to them, and I just see everyone running out of gas. I wish the Sharks the best of luck, because I want to see a hell of a series these last couple games. We need some good entertaining hockey.