Sharks Last Stand
Tejus Govindjie | May 23, 2010 | Comments 2
Are the San Jose Sharks ready to play do-or-die hockey for the first time this postseason? Though the coaching staff and players have never acknowledged must-win games to this point, there’s no doubt that Game 4 in Chicago is just that being down 3-0 in the series.
Game 3 was a great effort. Virtually everything went right outside of the outcome.
The line shuffling worked well at generating more scoring chances, but didn’t phase Antti Niemi at all. The only goals however were scored when the Olympic line was reunited. Scoring chances have been there, now it’s just a matter of putting some in the net.
Evgeni Nabokov had easily his best game of the series. He stopped opportunities that would have been sure goals and kept his team in it. He can’t really be blamed for any of the three goals he allowed.
However, all of that is not enough anymore and to be honest, it doesn’t hold much water on the Sharks game 4.
The Sharks need to forget that 3-0 series lead. Only game 7′s remain now.
This is the team’s first game facing elimination. They’ve responded well to adversity throughout this postseason but now they face their biggest challenge yet.
Someone needs to beat Niemi. If anything just to prove that he’s beatable to players not named Patrick Marleau. Save after save without blemish or soft play, Niemi needs to be solved if the Sharks want to stay alive.
Chicago will get their chances. There’s too much offensive fire power on that team. Limiting those chances as much as possible will be crucial to the Sharks forcing a trip back to HP Pavilion for game 5. Nabokov needs to be as close to flawless as possible.
Leaders lead by example. Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle, Rob Blake. When these four go, so does the rest of the team. They’ve played well thus far, but in game 4 they need to be outstanding; difference-makers/game-changers.
The Sharks may need to deploy a bend-not-break mentality here on the road. Simple strategies like keeping the game close, making the most of your opportunities and try to get established and ahead on the scoreboard early.
There’s no margin for error. There’s no we’ll come back to fight another day. It’s now or never, backs against the wall, all-out playoff hockey from here on out.
Filed Under: Featured • NHL • San Jose Sharks
Tejus, as many have pointed out including yourself, the difference between winning and losing games in this series has been that very small margin of error.
Given the score and the flow of the play, the results could easily be different.
Former Blackhawks great and current WGN Radio analyst Troy Murray has underlined this viewpoint many times throughout the series.
Both Todd McLellan and Joel Quenneville–as do most of the players quoted–acknowledge the same.
If any differences can be highlighted, one might examine the relative performance of the ‘bottom 6′ rather than ‘top six’ forwards.
How have Nichol, Malhotra, Mitchell, Couture, Helminen, McGinn, fared in comparison to Bolland, Versteeg, Madden, Eager, Burish, and Ladd?
It has been said that in the playoffs, the stars tend to cancel each other out, so the “supporting cast” has to be the factor that tips the scales.
So far, the Hawks’ bottom 6 have outplayed the Sharks’ bottom 6.
Another factor has been the gaps in Nabokov’s game. They may have been infrequent, but the ones he has been guilty of, such as his apparent failure to set himself on the Bolland-to-Byfuglien OT goal, have been fatal.
When two clubs are so closely matched, even a momentary lapse can compromise a team’s chances.
There are, of course, no guarantees this is the last game the Sharks will play this year.
They will most probably give the Hawks all they can handle, and who knows, perhaps force a 5th game. The law of averages tends to favor the Sharks taking at least one.
The Blackhawks, on the other hand, must know that they can’t afford to give their enemy any hope.
Today’s contest, whatever the result, should be a thriller.
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