Postgame: All Good Things ...

This is the first postgame writeup I've done after a Sharks loss. I'm less certain how to approach this, I must admit; as a recent-years Sharks fan, I'm always curious how I'm supposed to react to regular-season losses, especially when the Sharks find themselves maintaining their position at the top of the league, as San Jose did tonight by pushing the Chicago Blackhawks into overtime after giving up three goals in the first period before finally Joe Pavelski breathed some life into the faltering, rest-rusty skaters.

Doomsayers and out-of-market critics will cite this as the downfall of the San Jose Sharks to their (variably) likely Western Conference Final opponents. Chicago and San Jose have fought for the top of the West (and the league) all season, more or less, and many in the blogosphere and ever-accurate prediction market always favor Chicago in the mix, and this game will go into their books as evidence to support their case, despite the struggle back from the Sharks to bring themselves to within hope.

For my part, what I see is a Sharks team that is, even lacking their top defenseman and minutes-man in Dan Boyle (not to mention losing Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the second...) that has brought themselves together to really work better than they otherwise would have against Chicago. Although the season series is secured by the Blackhawks in this overtime victory, we've really seen the Sharks progress in their ability to adapt their game and respond to pressure over earlier in the season. Fighting back from an early 0-3 deficit can seem impossible; the Sharks never really left me feeling as if they were entirely out of the game.

I may just be reaching for these things for a sense of optimism; it may be the fact that San Jose managed to fight back well enough to retain the league lead by securing an OT point. Maybe it's the fact that I'm drinking beer that I brewed for the first time in my life (Ignorant Peacock Pale Ale by Elitist Idiots) ... but somehow, even with all the weight laid down on this game by the NHL, the players, and the media, somehow I'm still able to only see the things that Team Teal did right and improved on, and remember that this was just another game in an 82-game regular-season schedule.

Foreshadowing? I don't care for it; it's cheap and trite, so I won't believe in destiny. I turned on my television tonight so that I could see a good game of hockey, and (certain areas of the first excepted) I was not disappointed. Let us look forward, now, to the Minnesota Wild this weekend. I'll be having the public unveiling of my beer during that game, and we'll be eating venison and drinking some Milwaukee's Best -- the Chicago-style pizza may not have worked as well as I'd have liked; I will note this though: We ate before the game started, so we were somewhat full. Every piece of pizza consumed during the game was met with a Sharks goal. I will refrain from pre-game eating for Saturday, to test this theory more ...