The Crying of the Fishmongers
Well. Um. *cough* Err. Yuck. This going to sting for a while.
The Sharks are going to have a lot to think about this off-season, as they once again collapsed in the playoffs after taking a series lead. They were 30 seconds away from a commanding 3-1 lead in Game 4, but then collectively lost their minds, with some stand-out individual mind-losing efforts as well. They not only allowed Robert Lang to tie the score with barely half a minute left in that game, but were dominated in the subsequent overtime.
They lost the game in OT thanks to an outstanding goal on the power-play by Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider. With Craig Rivet in the box for a needless delay-of-game penalty thanks to a clearing attempt from the Sharks zone that went over the glass, which is now an automatic 2 minute penalty (I'm betting that will change over the off-season), Schneider gloved a weak clearing attempt right up center ice by normally reliable Scott Hannan. Schneider then dropped the puck to his stick, and launched a shot that deflected off a Sharks player and into the left-top corner of the net.
More stupidity followed in Game 5, with Nabokov literally giving away the game and the series with an attempt to play the puck at center ice with Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk bearing down on the loose puck. Nabby, for reasons still unclear to us, tried to clear the puck past Datsyuk, instead of away from him. Datsyuk blocked the clearing attempt with his body, corralled the loose puck, and calmly tapped it in the gaping net to break a tie-score.
By Ian, contributing
The less said about Game 6 , a shutout 2-0 victory on home-ice to give the series to the Wings, the better. Actually, no. Let's quickly mention this little gem from the box score:
J. Thornton 0G, 0A, -2, 0 shots, 4 penalty minutes
And for dessert:
P. Marleau 0G, 0A, even, 2 shots, 0 penalty minutes
As good as the Sharks looked against Nashville in closing them out in 5 games, they looked variously disinterested, inept, out-played, out- hit, and out-smarted in this series. Early in the series, Thornton played well, but his line and Mike Grier were the only forwards making any sort of impact on offense. Bill Guerin was awful, playing a huge part in the collapse at the end of regulation in Game 4. Patrick Marleau, who has a reputation as a big-game player (and looked it during the first round) was a complete non-factor against the Wings, with no points and -5 for the series.
It turns out his shoulder was separated in mid-February (he missed 5 games as a result, but we're wondering why didn't they let him heal for the playoffs?), but he says it wasn't the reason he was so unproductive against Detroit. Well, Patty, what the hell? Why do you have the C on your sweater? Take a lesson from Joe Sakic, a similarly quiet leader for his club: lead by example.
The lack of production from any of the other lines made Detroit's job easier: contain Joe Thornton, and dare anybody else (defensemen, forwards, the stick boy) to score. They didn't. The Sharks scored 9 goals in 6 games, making Dominik Hasek look better than he was actually playing. On the power play (which we said was key to this series), the Sharks continued their misery from the Nashville series, going 2 for 27.
One of the many frustrating things about their latest playoff brodie is that this club was supposedly built to prevent exactly the kind of dismantling that Detroit just did to them. With two scoring centers in Thornton and Marleau, the other team is forced to pick their poison: play their top defensive players against Joe's line, which opens up space for Marleau; or spread out their defense over the two lines, which gives both lines better scoring chances. This trickle- down theory also helps the 3rd line, as players like Mike Grier, Ryan Clowe, Joe Pavelski, and Stever Bernier have decent skill, and can chip in some offense. It doesn't work, however, if the Sharks can't score a goal--any goal. It doesn't work if they can't score on the power play. It doesn't work if they play so tentatively on the break- out that Detroit can easily frighten your D-men into dumb turnovers in the neutral zone and along the boards (we're looking at you, Christian Ehrhoff).
If there's any positive to take away from this, it's that the Sharks are still a young team. They've got a good 4-5 year window before their current key players (Thornton, Marleau, Cheechoo) will hit the down-slope of their careers. Matt Carle, Marc-Eduard Vlasic, Pavelski, Bernier, and Clowe are all still young and learning how to adjust their play to the speed of the NHL.
The big question, though, is whether this team ultimately has the ability to go deep in the playoffs. The last three years have seen the Sharks squander many opportunities to take control of their own playoff destiny, and look incredibly bad doing so. The Sharks gained a reputation as playoff overachievers in the first decade of their existence, but that reputation been flipped in the last few years, even while the roster has been better than ever. It's been painful to watch a carefully tuned performance machine turn into a laughable jalopy in the middle playoff rounds. What hurts worse is that we have to wait until next April to see if they can push through to the next level.
Until next Autumn.