The Sharks dispatched the Mustard Men in 5 games, which makes the series seem a lot less close than it was. 3 of the games were decided by one goal, with Game 1 in double overtime. Even Game 2, the Predators 5-2 win, was not decided until late in the 3rd period. Nashville's undisciplined play (they led all playoff teams with almost 30 minutes of penalties per game) was their undoing, even though the Sharks power play was more or less ineffective, and often frankly ugly to watch. But it was one more way to wear down the Nashville defenders, and keep their skill players on the bench. Patrick Marleau again scored some big goals, and Joe Thornton took the first step toward erasing his playoff-choker reputation with dominating play and 6 points in the series. Nashville wasn't the only team to distinguish itself with dirty play in this year's playoffs. The Calgary Flames managed to steal the spotlight by having their backup goalie come in to play lumberjack to the Detroit Red Wings Johan Franzen's, umm, old growth redwood late in Game 5 of their series (Franzen, fittingly, scored the series winner in Game 6). Then the Flames' Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow got in the act late in the game (cross-checking plus slashing and sucker-punching, respectively). Classy. Brad May of the Anaheim Ducks got a 3 game suspension for sucker-punching the back of Minnesota Wild defenseman Kim Johnsson (who is both emphatically not a pugilist, and happened to be Minnesota's best D man), which then caused a multi-player dust-up between the Ducks and Wild during the *pre-game skate* of Game 5 in their series. ...

Sharks 3 Predators 2- SFist did something we haven't done in a long time-- watched a hockey game. Well, the last period at least. For those who've never watched playoff hockey, it's great fun. The sport is already pretty intense with it's speed and occasional bouts of violence and the intensity is turned up several notches during the playoffs. Especially when one is facing elimination. Other than a minute of action, when the Predators scored......

Here's todays sports news...

So, backup to before Monday night, before Game 3. Two games into the series, two key Sharks players injured and brought off the ice on two dirty hits. Scott Hartnell got a game misconduct in game 1 for elbowing and then kneeing Jonathan Cheechoo. In Game 2, rookie and budding Shark hunter Alexander Radulov checked Steve Bernier from behind, earning himself a game misconduct and a one game suspension. Clearly the Predators were paying attention to last year's Sharks-Oilers series in the second round, when Raffi Torres ran Milan Michalek in Game 3 after the Sharks were up 2-0 in the series. Michalek was knocked out of the playoffs, and the Sharks lost four straight to join him. Torres' hit wasn't penalized, and the Sharks ompletely collapsed. ...

Sharks 3 Predators 1- San Jose took an all important 2-1 lead in the series against the Predators with an offensive onslaught, getting off 41 shots while holding the Predators to only 19 shots. The Sharks actually were down 1-0 going into the second period when they got goals from Milan Michalek and Ryane Clowe. Patrick Marleau added the insurance goal with about 4 minutes left to play. Also of note is that while......

Here's todays wrap up of last night's sports news...

The Sharks open the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs Wednesday night as a #5 seed on the road against the #4 Nashville Predators. If this match-up sounds familiar, it's because these two teams were first-round opponents last year, when the Predators made their post-season debut, falling to the Sharks 4-1. ...

In lieu of the NFL trying to trademark the words "Big Game," we are going to do our best to honor them by using the phrase "Big Game" as much as possible. -The Warriors once again get blown out on the road, this time to the Chicago Bulls in their BIg Game. Even Don Nelson seems to be throwing in the towel about playing in all of those Big Games in the playoffs. ...

-The Warriors get a big lead, lose a big lead, then regain a big lead as they beat the NY Knicks. Tim Kawakami thinks the Warriors need to tank the season by giving Patrick O’Bryant some playing time. ...

We're going to talk about something we rarely talk about-- hockey. Why? Because the San Jose Sharks are now up 2-0 against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the playoffs, after winning last night 2-1. The Sharks, who have won six playoff games in a row, won on a game winning goal by MVP candidate Joe Thorton (check out the great video of it from a fan in the stands). Then there's how they did it, winning last night's game despite, incredibly, being down two players in a 5-3 matchup, only to have two of those players lose their sticks, and still-- somehow, inexplicably-- kept the Oilers from scoring for over a minute. That's studly. Even better is the fact that in describing the whole thing, Sharks coach Brian Wilson referenced the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. How can you not give some props to a Monty Python quoting coach? ...