Sludge:at least your team made it to the playoffs.
Very good point Sludge.
There is a difference though in the Shark's and BJ's. Your team is going to be awesome sooner than later but they are still a work in progress. The Shark's have been on the edge for a few years and finally got the right pieces in place to push them over the top.
Think about your Jackets for a minute. Right now the Jackets are building a solid team for the future. A couple of seasons go by and you fall in love with the team and then after another year ot two they finally have a team that can get deep in the playoffs. You stumble in the playoffs with your guys for a couple of years but they are getting primed and ready to win the whole thing.
Now you have a sick team that dominates others, you get the final couple of pieces to the puzzle at the trade deadline and now you start peeking. You run away with your division and you're rolling going into the post season being the odds on favorite to win the cup.
This was that year for the Sharks.
Now visualize your team having the greatest final month of the season in NHL history and how jacked up you'd be entering the playoffs.
First we faced a brutal Calgary team that nobody thought we'd have an easy time with and we had to go 7 games but we narrowly escaped.
Now round 2, we play a Dallas team who has a great first line and a sick goalie but otherwise is very beatable.
Game 1, a Shark's goal is disallowed because the ref lost the puck and blew the whistle early and we lose in OT.
Game 2 was a train wreck that was our fault.
Game 3, another Shark's goal is disallowed because the refs lost sight of the puck again and blew the whistle early and we lose in OT again.
Then we win game 4 on the road last night.
Take away two bad calls that refs are supposed to get right 95% of the time and the Shark's lead this series 3-1 but because of the calls we are down 3-1.
This is the season we've been waiting for forever.
This reminds me of how Raider fans felt when they had that dominant team and lost to New England in the playoffs all because of that "tuck rule" play.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not agonizing over this like I am over the Iraq war or our planet choking to death but it's still a tough pill to swallow after seeing this team fight night in and night out to bring home the cup.
It's a 1.3% chance of coming from behind 3-0 to win the next 4 games but we got the first one on the road last night so now our odds have increased to 10%.
We haven't played our best since the playoffs began but if any team can come back from a 3-0 deficit it's this team, especially against a soft team like Dallas.
One game at a time, one shift at a time, that's the way they are looking at it and that's the only chance we have of coming back.
Now we're home Friday night and if we get that one we can go back to Dallas with nothing to lose just like last nights game.
It's a long shot but that's why they play the game, right???
My lone gripe with the Shark's is coach Wilson changing lines like crazy. Leave the guys in place and let them work out the kinks. He see's them come out flat and goes into panic mode and changes things up and that keeps the guys from settling in.
We went undefeated from the trade deadline all the way to the last two meaningless games of the season. If it aint broke, and it's better than anyone else then leave it alone.
Clowe had to get back in the line up so a small change was needed but you could put him on a line and move one guy out and call it good.
It took Wilson until last night to do that obvious move and he still didn't get the guys playing together who've played together all year.
The Shark's are a patient grind it out team who never win big. He should know that more than anyone to be patient with his team and he's not at all. If they don't score early or they get down a goal he freaks out and starts changing things up.
Hell, in game 2 , the game where we collapsed in the 3rd he benched Nabokov (best goalie in the league) 10 seconds before he was to pull the goalie for the odd man advantage late. If you are pulling the goalie in ten seconds then just leave him out there for the ten seconds and don't make him look bad by pulling him. He wasn't even the reason we blew that lead.
Pulling Nabby like that came off like Wilson was blaming him for the lose and he wasn't the problem at all.
Win, lose or draw I'd fire Wilson as soon as the season is over even if we were to miraculously win the cup.
He's an amazing regular season coach but he doesn't coach worth a sh*t in the playoffs and the playoffs are all that matters.
I used to have season tickets to the Sonics years ago and Wilson reminds me of our old coach George Karl.
He's a great regualr season coach who can't coach in a series which is all the playoffs are. We had Sean Kemp, Gary Payton, etc... and we won 60 games several years in a row and we lost in the first round twice and only made the finals once (and lost)
Wilson is just like him.
There have been several times in the playoffs where Roenick and Thornton were playing together and they created a ton of scoring chances including Roenick's 4 point night in game 7 against Calgary. Now Wilson has Roenick on the checking line against their top line and he isn't going to get many scoring chances on that line.
I wouldn't mind aso much if the Shark's just choked or if they got outplayed and lost but they have outplayed Dallas in all but 1 period in this series and miraculously they are down 3 games to 1. It's frustrating.
Peace Brother!
Those that give up freedom for security deserve neither.
Ben Franklin