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.

In Game 2, the Sharks seemed to react similarly to the Bernier hit, never really getting their game back and losing 5-2. That evened the series 1-1, with games 3 and 4 back in San Jose.

So, we here at Fishmonger Central were concerned before Game 3, and eager to see how the Sharks responded and adjusted. The Predators have pretty well neutralized the Sharks power-lay, which was one of the best during the regular season. Nabokov has played reasonably well at times, but also let in some bad, untimely goals.

By Ian, contributing