2010 Sharks Playoff Preview: Nabokov & Greiss

Go Nabby. Please dont get hurt

Griess hasn’t had much of an opportunity to show what he’s got on a daily basis so I have no comment there. But Evgeni Nabokov was flat out amazing last night, he’s been playing well of late but last night he truly brought his A-game and made some spectacular stops. I think I asked him to be my Valentine at one point during that game.

Am pretty confident in Greiss — as a backup. I wouldn’t consider him starter material I think, at least until he mellows out a bit on the leg-flailing kick-saves followed by mad scrambles back to the goal-line side of the crease. That said, he’s been solid at getting there even when he looks panicked.

I’ve also noticed that Nabby has taken to a LOT of behind-the-net play, and doing a ‘waiting game’ there. Most of the time, he gets a good chip over the stick (as mentioned) and gets the puck to the d-man in the corner, but sometimes he hesitates just a bit too much and ends up leaving that back door open (you know, the one that none of the Sharks ever watch when the puck is nearby?)

Running up to the playoffs, though, we’ve seen a lot more of “Vezina Nabby” and that, for a goaltender who tends towards play that gets him labeled ‘streaky’, is a good thing to go in with. I just hope he can hold it, and I hope that McClellan isn’t afraid to speak up if Greiss needs to fill some space for a bit if Nabby does start to waver.

… actually, that’s been one of my biggest gripes this season; not just that Nabby dictates his own schedule, but that the coaching staff seems genuinely afraid to challenge or question his decisions to that end. They don’t like to pull Evgeni out of his starts, and they don’t ever seem to say, “Are you really sure you’re good?” when his confidence is clearly shaken before the first puck even drops — and you can always see it when he’s off his game. That makes me nervous for important clutch games going the other way in the postseason party — if the opposition can see that doubt in our netminder, then they’re going to gain some swagger; at the same time, the Sharks defensive pairings seem to fall prey to the same thing that happens to our forwards during HTML-droughts — would-be superstar moves that leave us flat-footed in odd-man situations and dangerous threats to our goal as each player individually tries to be the hero instead of keeping the play simple and communicating with their partner.

That said, especially with his performances in the last few, I can’t think of many other goalies I’d like to be backing my team headed into Round 1. When Nabokov is “on”, he’s straight up one of the best in the business.

This has always been the case. He is our backstop…and is definately more than good enough to get us to the promised land. He just needs to man up and do it. His play as of late has been encouraging. And all season, really, except for when he swooned right after the Olympics (along with the rest of the team), he’s been an awesome goaltender who appears ready to take that next step in the playoffs. Or, at least, I hope he is. Because it’ll be another disappointing offseason if he is not.

No Meth Squirrel reference in the article? I know at least one FTF member who’ll be upset.

Here is my take on the goalie situation.

Have I seen Nabby win the post season? Yes, I have, and I wrote about it before. Do I still have faith in him? I’m not sure. Not after the Olympics.

But going into playoffs, I have more concerns about our special teams and our ability to consistently score goals. I personally think we’ll go as far as our scoring takes us.

If we have to rely on Nabby or Greiss to bail us out of games where we can only score one or two, we’re in deep trouble.

Totally OT, but Shelley seems to be clicking with the Rangers. Still clinging to playoff hopes. I’d be happy if the Sharks went up against the Blueshirts…