Do what you do best...
...and that is for the Sharks to kick ass on the road. A few tidbits of news before tonight's game:
-While Mike Keenan's being his usual self and bitching about the refs, most of the Calgary media is not. In fact, they're being surprisingly objective for local media and blaming the team for taking stupid and selfish penalties. That's really refreshing, and I guess it shows the difference between the Calgary media and some bozo in Ottawa.
-I expect the refs to be closer to Game 2 (call a bunch of stuff even though you miss a bunch of stuff on both sides) than Game 1 (let them slash the hell out of each other); you have to remember that the directive, starting all the way from Gary Bettman and Stephen Walkom down, is to actually focus on stick/holding infractions. Regardless of what Keenan says, I'm sure the refs are more intimidated by their bosses rather than one of the coaches.
-Christian Ehrhoff skated yesterday and, presumably, today. Ron Wilson is mum about whether or not he'll play, but I'm guessing he will considering how bad Kyle McLaren has been.
-Keenan's experimented with a few different line combos during Saturday's practice, flipping Craig Conroy and Daymond Langkow on the first and second lines.
-A word to Joe Thornton: They're cutting off your passing lanes. Shoot the puck more. It'll help, I promise, especially on the power play.
-A word to Patrick Marleau, Ryane Clowe, and Joe Pavelski: Keep it up.
Let's take control of the series tonight.
7 comments:
The CBC broadcast of the game was pretty interesting, phenomenal camera work. Comcast, Versus, and NBC do a good job, but zero shaky camera movement, and tons of close up shots of the action. And very tight in replays on critical plays allow you to understand what is going on without any analysis.
They did have a running commentary about Mike Keenan yelling at the refs throughout the game. When there was a call on a Shark in the second, they closed in on Ron Wilson and said it was his turn to yell at the refs.
Interesting note about Christian Ehrhoff, from what I heard I thought he would be doubtful for the first round. But who knows in the playoffs. Since it was also on KNBR, they noted a Calgary radio station publishing a Sharks fax # so fans could flood it with faxes, I asked 4 members of the Sharks org and no one knew about it. So I have a feeling 1 unfortunate soul in the office has the job of clearing out the fax all day for the foreseeable future. Nice job Flames fans.
Perimeter passing on the power play was a concern. CBC broadcasters noted that even when one Flame lost his stick on one side of the ice during a penalty kill, the Sharks still tried to force it to Thornton on the other side. It ended up deflecting off traffic and out of the zone.
Hope you don't mind me adding a photo from the 2004 playoffs Mike.
Holy shit..now I know how Flames fans felt 5 minutes into game 1...
Feels good!
Well then...do the Sharks practice the power play or clearing the puck out of their zone first tomorrow?
Obligatory gloat comment.
For anyone wondering, the spin-o-rama turnover in the waning minute in front of the empty net is much more representative of Campbell than the spin-o-rama goal from a few weeks ago in my personal experience.
But ouch. What a crazy game.
obligatory reference to sleek's below article. could you forward me that book sleek? it's beginning to look like more and more of an excellent read.
oh and given the sharks previous lack of perceived guts in the playoffs, does the title of this post ("Do what you do best...") come off in any way ironic? maybe its just me.
Go Sharks.
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