San Jose Injury List

Courtesy of Working The Corners:

TO UNDERGO SURGERY:
Devin Setoguchi: Left shoulder, sports hernia.
Mike Grier: Right knee.
Patrick Rissmiller: Sports hernia.
Kyle McLaren: Knee, plus recovery from groin injury.

SCHEDULED FOR MRI:
Brian Campbell: Knee, shoulder.
Craig Rivet: Wrist, knee, elbow.
Patrick Marleau: Shoulder.
Joe Thornton: Right knee (hurt in final playoff game).
Curtis Brown: Left hand.

OTHER:
Christian Ehrhoff: Ankle sprain.
Milan Michalek: Shoulder injury (hurt in final playoff game).
Douglas Murray: Wrist pain.
Jeremy Roenick: Rib cage.
Jonathan Cheechoo: Knee sprain.

BoC Turns Two!

Happy 2nd birthday, blog!
I know the unwritten code for hockey bloggers is to avoid unnecessary profanity, but HOLY FUCKING MONKEYSHIT! IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS?!

Hard to believe, right? What started as one of uberblogger James Mirtle's internet pranks has escalated into this collection of assholes?! Amazing.

Well, what can we expect from BoC in its Terrible Twos? If child development is any indication, we’ll probably see an increase in temper tantrums, control-freak tendencies, and aggressive testing of our boundaries.

Frankly, that sounds fantastic. I can’t wait.
------------------------------------As a complete aside, one of my friends just sent me this link, and I think it's a hilarious dilemma: Will this traffic cop take the fall to keep Ryan Getzlaf out of traffic school? More to come, I'm sure.

A moment of silence, please

Well, while the Stars and Red Wings resume playing hockey tonight (see below for O'Brien's preview), the rest of us have some time to reflect on other things than "Please oh please don't lose tonight!"

Greg Wyshynski, now of Yahoo! Infamy (apparently now he's known as "Puck Daddy"), has put together a “Eulogy” feature to help remember teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention. Instead of having guest bloggers lament their own team's disappointing playoff exit, he instead has solicited rival-team bloggers to help celebrate the passing of the deceased teams. I think it makes for a better read: why focus on the pessimism of playoff elimination when in other corners of the hockey world rival fans are cheering?

So in that light I was selected to help commemorate the passing of the 2007-08 San Jose Sharks. When Greg contacted me before the postseason started, I didn’t realize it would be such a workload: I had to be prepared for a possible Sharks elimination in Game Seven of the first round, and then Games Four, Five, and Six of the second round, and even then the Sharks pushed their demise until quadruple overtime.

So, without further ado, I point you to Eulogy: Remembering the 2007-08 San Jose Sharks, penned by yours truly. Mainly, it’s a silly look at some of the ways that the Sharks tried to copycat tactics from the Ducks’ cup win from last year, and how even those changes couldn’t get the Sharks out of their annual second-round demise. Also, I take a brief look at some of the salary struggles the Sharks will have this coming offseason: how much more will this same Sharks team cost next year? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

But hey, Wyshynski's not all about Shark-bashing at Yahoo!; he's equal-opportunity. For embittered Shark fans (or other Duck-haters), why not enter Greg's caption contest to assign a Stompy-bashing label to Chris Pronger's Hockey-Reference.com player page? I predict that a Red Wing fan wins this, though; it's going to be tough to match the bitterness of a loud-and-proud fanbase that Pronger eliminated two years in a row.

Everyone Listen to My Opinion!

Olympics Re-match: Team Sweden vs. Team Finland

The Detroit Red Wings are better than the Dallas Stars. That's fact. You can talk about motivation, heart, and all that other stuff*, but the Red Wings are better at the sport of hockey than the Dallas Stars. 4 of the 5 best players in the series play for the Red Wings (Turco being the lone Star). The Red Wings had a goal differential of +73, by far the best of any team in the regular season. Their goaltenders made the fewest saves of any team, meaning the Red Wings were excellent at controlling the play. Plus, they simply do not take penalties (best in the league; Stars were 20th.) It's not that the Stars aren't good at what they do, it's just that the Red Wings have quietly been one of the most dominant teams the league has seen since... well, the last Red Wings team.




*I'm not dismissing that motivation and heart doesn't play a role in determining a series, but it's pointless to try to predict it. Usually, whoever won the series becomes the team that wanted it more. Has a team ever wanted it more but lost?






Still, there's a chance for the Stars. The Stars excelled at getting the puck on Evgeni Nabokov even though the Sharks were 2nd in the league at limiting shots. Chris Osgood isn't as good as Nabokov, so they should not have trouble scoring. I don't know how their defense is going to be able to handle Datsyuk's line,* but I'm sure Dave Tippett can think of something. Oddly enough, this series may end up being the more high-scoring series than Pittsburgh-Philly. Plus, the Stars still have Marty Turco.



*You know what's crazy about Detroit? Their top line 5-on-5 is Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Rafalski-Lidstrom. Their top power play unit? Those same 5 guys. Their top crunch-time penalty kill? Same guys, minus Holmstrom. That's pretty awesome.

Is Chris Chelios about to kiss Zetterberg? I bet that happens to Henrik all the time.

Prediction: I think I'm going to have to break James' heart and go with the Red Wings fairly easily... 5 games? Sorry guys, but Sweden>Finland at hockey.

Pittsburgh v. Philadelphia



This series is weird for me because the city of Philadelphia is waaaaaaaaay better than Pittsburgh, but I like Pittsburgh's hockey team waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than Philadelphia's. I guess I'll cheer against Philly because I hate their style of play and Daniel Briere looks like Jack White. Plus Ben Franklin was a overrated philanderer and invented way too much shit. Give someone else a shot, man, don't be greedy. Also, cheesesteaks? What the fuck is that? What else is Philadelphia famous for, heart disease?

Prediction: I'm going to go out on a limb and say that someone in Philadelphia complains about the officiating. Just a little.

Stars-Wings preview III: D and O

In case you'd rather not scroll, here's a link to parts 1 and 2 of this increasingly exhaustive study of all things Wings and Stars:

Part 1

Part 2

OK, now let me break down the offensive and defensive units and give my prediction. As the series goes on, I'll probably post TiVo-delayed thoughts as well as a few corny theories and observations. Enjoy.

1. Top End Forwards

Photoshop Credit: Zanstorm .

With all due respect to The Mule and Mike Modano, this category basically comes down to a battle between Brenden (with an E) Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards versus Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

As much as I love the play of the Stars' troika, the Zetterberg-Datsyuk combo is up there with Crosby-Malkin, St. Louis-Lecavalier and Heatley-Spezza as the best 1-2 punches the NHL has to offer.

Witnessing hockey games up close gave me a heightened sense of appreciation for just about every team I've seen, from Peter Forsberg in one of the last games of his prime and Teemu Selanne during his post-lockout renaissance. But seeing the Red Wings in the flesh truly makes you appreciate the elite talent of Zetterberg and the stunning genius of half man/half computer Nicklas Lidstrom.

As nice as Morrow and Ribeiro's stats were this year, Zetterberg's year was just a few strides (and maybe one injury) short of Hart Trophy caliber. He managed 92 points via 43 goals and 49 assists, including 7 game-winners and an outstanding +30. Zetterberg and Datsyuk aren't exactly defensive liabilities either, being that they both are candidates for the Selke award (one of the biggest compliments a forward can receive).

I think that Morrow, Ribeiro and Richards are difference members and are very much for real. But Zetterberg and Datsyuk are practically from another planet.

Advantage: Red Wings

2. Scoring depth

Red Wings blogger Matt Saler made a great point that the Red Wings' secondary scoring has been underrated at times in his Q & A on the immortal Mirtle's blog. Still, when looking at the Red Wings regular season team stats it's still reasonable to say that the Red Wings offense is pretty top-heavy (there's a 50 point drop from Datsyuk to their third-highest point producing forward, Daniel Cleary).

Naturally, Johan Franzen bridges that gap considerably in the playoffs, and it's hard to overlook the top-notch offensive abilities of Lidstrom and former NJ Devil Brian Rafalski.

While the gap in secondary scoring might be overstated, it still seems clear that the Stars have more balance in their offense. Looking at their regular season offense, there's a clear hierarchy too but there's a lot more guys contributing around 30 pts.

The Stars hold the advantage in depth, especially if Stu Barnes can come back from injury. But, again, the gap is nowhere near as big as it might seem (and don't forget about Jiri Hudler).

Advantage: Stars

3. Defense

When your team features Nicklas Lidstrom, one of the most flawless hockey players in NHL history, you're pretty much always at the advantage. Lidstrom differs from many shutdown D-men in that he rarely lowers his game to Prongerian depths of goonery. Simply put, he doesn't need to.

Brian Rafalski is, in my opinion, a huge upgrade over oft-injured current Duck Mathieu Schneider, if for no other reason than he typically stays on the ice and off the gurney (I'd also say he's just flat out better during the playoffs). Niklas Kronwall also looks like he's blossoming into the force pundits have been predicting for a few years, which is sad news for people who continue to countdown the crumbling of the Red Wing Empire.

Chris Chelios is old. But for a guy who was around when Father Time was wearing diapers, he's still a surprisingly capable defenseman albeit in a reduced role.

Still, the Stars aren't exactly Swiss cheese either.

Smokin' Sergei Zubov might not be quite as flawless as Lidstrom, but he's monumentally important to the Stars' D. But Zubov isn't the story of this year's playoffs. No, that goes to a guy who burst on the scene...

Sleek does it again

Yes, that would be none other than the breakout defenseman of this year's playoffs, Stephane Robidas. Robidas frequently caught my eye back before he started really making an impact, as it was clear as day that the guy could skate like a bat out of hell. But it wasn't until this season (and the playoffs especially) that "Robo-das" started to put a nice little ribbon on all that promise. He helped lead the Stars past the Ducks when Zubov was smoking away on the trainer's bench and was on the ice for many of the Stars' biggest playoff goals.His 8 playoff points in '08 are more than all of his other postseason NHL totals combined.

Thanks to Sleek for the kick-ass PhotoShop, although I worry that giving him a Robocop-inspired nickname might doom him to a future full of injury and disappointment (see: Ed "Jovocop" Jovanovski).

Both teams are heartily devoted to defense, so this is yet another category where neither team truly dominates. Still, giving a "pass" is just kinda wussy material, so...

Advantage: Red Wings

And my prediction

Note: Blogger for some reason refused to allow me to keep the font for the prediction section below Maddox-level huge, so I decided to split it from the rest of the post. (Let's just pretend I did it for dramatic effect)

Prediction

This series is the brainiest duel in many years. You have two consistently competent coaches in Mike Babcock (formerly of Ducks Cinderella run fame) and Dave Tippett (whose mustache I still sort of miss). Each team has plenty of experience, a nice mixture of grit and European flair, plus enough skeletons in their playoff closet to remind them that they have a long way to go before they can smile and relax.

It's a tough call, really. The Red Wings have been so lights-out that Marty Turco's Run of Redemption could be devoured by their dominant, puck possessive style. Then again, maybe the Red Wings greatest "weakness" might end up being their goaltending after all.

My brain says Detroit.

But my heart, gut and balls say "Dallas is the team of destiny."

The Stars have been tested by two tough Battles of California and have convincingly defeated teams pundits expected to see sipping from the greatest trophy in sports. The Red Wings either haven't really been tested or are simply better than anyone else.

As with most decisions in my life, I'm going to go with feeling over theory.

My pick: Stars in six nail-biting epics (going 2-1 at the Joe).

Red Wings - Stars Part 2: some juicy storylines

Expect a more thorough breakdown of the D and O groups for both teams on Wednesday. For today I thought I'd just take a free-form approach to some of the more interesting subplots of a rivalry renewed.

1. How good are Ribeiro and Morrow, really?

The resounding rise of Ribeiro and Morrow is one of the most interesting stories of this year's postseason alongside Not Ready for Primetime Price, Malkin sort of upstaging Crosby and the unexpected explosion of Johan Franzen.

McRib silenced, or at least befuddled, many of his critics who remember him only for his shameful MENSA moment years ago in that surprisingly memorable series against Joe Thornton's Boston Bruins. After gathering a nice amount of momentum last season, Ribeiro put up a career-best season with 83 points in 76 games (not to mention a fantastic plus-21). He was so good, in fact, that he tied Marian Gaborik for 5th place in scoring among Western Conference forwards.

Naturally, the question was whether or not he could keep that going when the ice became clogged like Ken Hitchcock's post-cheese steak arteries. All but his greatest admirers doubted that he could maintain his level of play being that his previous playoff high in points was a measly 3.

To his credit, Ribeiro maintained his fantastic chemistry with Brenden Morrow. He is now tied for second place in playoff scoring with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin! Ribeiro is flourishing thanks to the scoring depth provided by Brad Richards and the space Morrow creates with his gutsy style of play.

Ribeiro's playoff year reminds me of the year Eric Staal had during the Hurricanes' unlikely Stanley Cup run. Naturally, Staal didn't have quite the same baggage that Ribeiro does, but both players produced well beyond even the most optimistic projections. And like Staal, Ribeiro is doing even better when every goal and assist matters the most. But yet, if Ribeiro's team wins the Cup, he'll most likely be an honorable mention for the Smythe...

...because of the balls-to-the-wall, all over the ice play of their hearty Canadian captain. In this case, Morrow takes the place of Rod Brind'amour. With Ribeiro and Morrow clicking together at such a high level, Morrow produced the best year of his career, hitting a new high in points (74) while limiting his penalty minutes to an ideal-for-power-forward number of 105.

Statistically, the Morrow-Ribeiro line ranks as one of the best in the NHL at this moment in time but you never hear them spoken about in the hushed tones reserved for superstars. So, really, where on the NHL totem pole do they rank?

If they can keep producing against the likes of Nicklas Lidstrom and that fragile but talented Kronwall kid, then I think it would be about time that hockey pundits give sizzle (Ribeiro) and steak (Morrow) their hard-earned dap.

2. Mike Modano, checking center?

You'll rarely, if ever, hear hockey fanatics (outside of Dallas) refer to Modano as a hockey icon. But Modano is to the Stars what Mario Lemieux was to the Penguins and Steve Yzerman was to the Detroit Red Wings. My guess is that most people are jealous of his almost incomparably awesome life.

Still, if you need a reason to feel like life's not always been on a gravy road with biscuit wheels for Modano, I submit this bit of circumstantial evidence. Edit: After seeing the comments, I'd like to express to you the importance in watching the entire clip. Especially if you hate Mike Modano (thanks Anonymous poster)...

Mikey Mo certainly has taken his fair share of licks, as many Dallas fans/Calgary farmboys would say. I actually think the Yzerman-Modano parallel is quite apt, and not just because it will probably enrage zany, octopus chucking Wingheads.

Both guys are synonymous with their franchises. To this day, if you asked a random Dallas resident on the street what they think about when they hear Dallas Stars, most of them would probably say "Mike Modano." When you're with a team for as long as he has been (seriously, he was a Minnesota North Star...) you're going to have some lowlights to go along with the highlights, and it's been well publicized that Modano wasn't too pleased when they gave the C to Morrow.

Still, you'd be batshit crazy to criticize Modano if you're a Stars fan. Much like Yzerman, Modano eventually agreed to sacrifice offensive numbers and played a solid two-way game to lead his club to a hard fought Stanley Cup.

And much like Stevie Y, it's disgusting to imagine Modano in another uniform (which almost happened with Boston).

He still is one of the best skaters on one of the best skating teams in the NHL, which is an accomplishment in itself. Modano still shows his offensive prowess every now and then, but his main duty is harassing the Joe Thorntons of the world and he's done a more than admirable job.

If you're picking the greatest American hockey player of all time, is it Chris Chelios, Mike Richter, Jeremy Roenick, Brendan Shanahan or even Joe Mullen? Or could it be that the greatest talent ever developed by the old U-S-of-A might be the very guy who owns the all-time points record for a red, white and bluer? He at least needs to be on the USA Hockey Mount Rushmore (although some would probably argue that it would just feature Herb Brooks, Mike Eruzione and their big-screen dopplegangers)

3. Can Turco get yet another monkey off of his back?

4. Is this Johan Franzen character for real?

Before the days of the salary cap, the Red Wings were either the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Lakers of the NHL, depending on which teams you grew up hating the most. Along with the Avalanche and a handful of other teams, they'd always poach the Ray Bourques during the trade deadline and were the easy Goliath to root against.

Now that the Red Wings must play fair and stay under the cap, it's harder to hate them (though by no means impossible). But there's one element that still links them with the Yankees. There's a well worn cliche that players who were once lost causes somehow find a second life when they put on the pinstripes.

The beautiful "Original Six" jersey of the Red Wings often has the effect on players, as guys seem to come out of nowhere when they put on a jersey that seems equal parts elegant, Freudian and Russian.

While Franzen isn't a perfect example of that, he definitely seems to add another layer of validity to the hockey factory feel of the Red Wings. They always seem to find gems late in the draft - whether it's Henrik Zetterberg or Nicklas Lidstrom. Since the Red Wings series lacked substantial drama (although there was a brief bit of intrigue against the Predators), I haven't been able to catch the Wings that much in this year's playoffs. Still from what I've heard Franzen's hot streak started quite a while before the playoffs started, so he might simply be on fire.

This is bad news for the Stars, who will have their hands full with two absolute superstars in Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

5. Henrik Zetterberg looks like Jared Leto. And so does Ryan Miller

Am I right? Tell me I'm right...

That picture of Jared Leto (middle) was the worst I could find of the "Fight Club" actor/semi-decent lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars (searching for Danica Patrick and Willa Ford > Jared Leto). Well, uh...make that the...uh...almost worst photo I could find.

Good lord.

Breaking down the Stars - Wings Part 1: the next round of Goalie H-O-R-S-E

Before I get into any of my pre-series buffoonery, the YouTube Gods demand that I embed the two jaw dropping saves of that epic 4 OT game:

OK, now that I've got that out of my system, lemme do my best to breakdown the Stars-Wings series. Since there's an agonizingly long break (Thursday? RAAUGH I can't wait that long!!!) between games, I figure I might as well breakdown the bejesus out of this series. So I'll chop it up into a few digestible chunks, starting with the netminders:

Marty Turco vs. Chris Osgood/the rotting corpse of Dominik Hasek

If this were just NHL '08 (why can't everything in life be NHL '08, honestly?) then it would be an easy call to choose Marty Turco. And although Turco has had his catcallers and doubters when it comes to big game performances, few goalies in the history of the NHL have received more semi-unfair abuse than Chris Osgood.

Note: I know that Osgood let up an infamous goal back in the mid-90s, one of those career-defining gaffes. But I cannot remember what team it was against and YouTube seems to only have positive Osgood clips. But then I realized that Osgood would live on in YouTube immortality for the Roy fight, not that gaffe:

*Sigh* Simpler times. Scott Burnside did a solid little breakdown of the series on ESPN:

"Osgood leads the league with a 1.52 goals-against average and a third-best .937 save percentage. Turco has a 1.73 GAA and .929 save percentage."

But there are some disturbing statistics that Burnside overlooked, and they paint an interesting picture that makes you wonder if the Red Wings are in Turco's head. Stars fans might want to burn their eyes or at least look away from the screen at these disturbing statistics:

"The former University of Michigan star is 2-10-5 lifetime against the Red Wings, which includes an 0-7-2 record in Detroit, where he has posted a 3.38 goals-against average and awful .882 save percentage."

Yikes. Still, there's no doubt that Turco is on Old Man Momentum's speed dial this year. Breaking the Stars' single playoff game record with 61 saves is the icing on his playoff redemption sundae.

No doubt about it, Chris Osgood has been putting up bananas numbers all year. But it's difficult to tell how much of that is chalked up to the luxury that is roving supercomputer on skates Nicklas Lidstrom making the right play basically every moment he's on the ice (not to mention the benefits of playing behind Mike Babbock's brilliant puck possession system). Still, Osgood is an experienced, solid goalie who won't lose the game/pull a Carey Price for his typically superior team.

Check out Osgood's scouting report (which includes an uncalled for potshot "has always had trouble with long shots") and see his expansive playoff experience. And you never know when the man with the Slinky Spine might come back from the dead again.

It's difficult to hate Osgood, especially considering the abuse he's faced over the years, but Turco has to be the pick as the top goalie in this series. Turco's world-class ability to play the puck gives a lot of teams fits and it might just be a skill that grants the Stars an occasional reprieve from the Red Wings collective hockey IQ.

It also doesn't hurt that he's had two tough series to really get his swagger back, while the Wings absolutely annihilated an Avalanche team that, let's face it, probably didn't deserve to be in the second round. Sometimes an easy series can be poison for a great team's rhythm.

There's basically two ways this goalie matchup can go: either both guys will have zero margin of error (good) or Turco will have to conjure the ghost of 2003 J.S. Giguere simply to keep the Stars from getting destroyed (bad). If it's more of the coin-flip-it's-anybody's-game variety, the Stars just might have a chance to make a few octopus-chucking hands clammy.

But this is the scariest, smartest Red Wings team since well before the lockout.

Goaltending Advantage: Stars.

This Should Lower the Level of Discourse a Little Bit

The U.S. played Slovenia in the World Championships yesterday. It was a ho-hum 5-1 victory for the Americans (Brown and O'Sullivan with assists, Kopitar with a goal), but the incident I'd like to bring to people's attention was a hit laid on Kopitar by Keith Ballard, defenseman for the Phoenix Coyotes. He got a penalty for a hit to the head (what the fuck?), plus a 10-minute misconduct. Now, I'm nothing if not reasonable, so I'd just like to ask Ballard one question:

*ahem

*takes sip of water

What in the everloving fuck is wrong with you? You're trying to hit people in the head in a titty-fucking World Championships game? You're a lunatic. It's the World Championships. Nobody except insecure Canadians gives a rat's dick about the World Championships. I'm not even mad (okay, I'm mad), I'm more worried for you. You just tried to take out the most popular person in Slovenia; you might as well have taken a shoe out of Raitis Ivanan's mouth. If I were you, I'd just pack it in and shack up in Montana and never show your face again, because you're going to get gutted by some guy with a name like Blaz Jernej. Slovenians fucked up Yugoslavia, you think they'd have any qualms about shoving your intestines in your mouth? Based on my knowledge of Slovenia (and my racism), I'm assuming they're already delving into the national treasury to send their army (his name's Srecko) to literally bust your balls. You're doomed.

(Wouldn't it have been awesome if Brown had kicked Ballard's ass after the hit? I would've named my first kid Dustin.)

Speaking of Playoff Overtime...

Well wasn't that something last night? The seventh overtime period of the six-game series, grittily played from opening whistle until Brendan Morrow's final tally early on a Cinco morning. I got the following e-mail sent to me 10 days ago, but between my 'week off' and the zaniness of the Sharks-Stars series I've been waiting to post it, but I guess now it's as appropriate as it's ever going to be:

Earl--

My name is Jonathan Harris and I work at a human-powered search service called Mahalo.com.

I've been a big fan of The Battle of California for a few seasons now and appreciate the pro-Ducks coverage I can get there (I'm a die-hard Anaheim fan myself, and am still reeling from high expectations and disappointment.)

At any rate, one of my associates at Mahalo has recently completed a page celebrating the Best Hockey OT Winners in NHL history. We think this is a great page with original content and commentary and we're trying to get it featured on as many hockey/sports related blogs as we can. I thought you might like to see it, considering your love of the game and penchant for slightly off-beat hockey content off your own (I particularly like your recent cartoon of the Sharks and Flames begging each other to score first).

Take a look at the page when you get a chance. Let us know what we're missing and how we can improve the result!

Jonathan

Nothing gets my attention like a little flattery. So, if you're inclined, take a look at their collection of OT winners and offer your suggestions, either here or on their comments section. The plug e-mail also got me thinking, though, 'What was my favorite OT winner in Anaheim's playoff history?' It's not that easy a question, I think, because it should consider:

a) The prettiness or grittiness of the goal
b) The game up to that point (were goalies unbeatable to that point?)
c) The importance of the game and perhaps what followed
d) The game-winning hero

Based on that criteria, I am leaning towards Steve Rucchin's overtime winner in G4 of the first round of the 2003 playoffs, the goal that completed the sweep of the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't the prettiest of goals, but it was the only time I ever saw defenseman Keith Carney carry the puck behind the opponent's net, and Rucchin was as appropriate a hero as Anaheim had on that squad. It was a huge statement goal, one that vanquished the Red Wings curse that had swept Anaheim in both previous playoff appearances, and helped propel the upstart Ducks all the way to the seventh game of the cup finals.

Still, I am open to suggestions on this one, so let me open it up to the comments: For any team, what was your favorite OT winner in your team's playoff history? Who was the hero, and why was it so special?

(Side note: Incidentally, today is the 5-year anniversary of the G6 when Anaheim ousted the Dallas Stars in 2003. I remember the date specifically, because a fan sitting next to me at that game had put together one of the more memorable signs I saw that playoffs: "It's Cinco de Mayo--Time to Sink DiMaio!" Rob DiMaio was just a bit player for Dallas, of course, but I've always been a sucker for stubborn puns.)

Dang

Well, I suppose technically, the Sharks went farther than they did in previous seasons. I know Doug Wilson said that he thinks no one should question the heart of this group of players, and perhaps that's true--their comebacks certainly showed a never-say-die attitude that we haven't seen previously.

So that's all well and good, but you know, if the Sharks played with both smarts and hearts during the first three games of the Dallas series, they'd be gearing up to play Detroit right now. With leads in all of the games, the Sharks shot themselves in the foot with their constant reliance on a stupid defensive shell that couldn't handle the Brenden Morrow line. That same defensive shell often led to several panic plays that gave you that horrible "This is gonna lead to a goal" feeling. The damn thing never, ever, ever works, and one has to wonder whether their constant reliance on it is a coaching strategy issue or an issue of the players just not getting it.

As I mentioned before, there definitely needs to be a change in the team, but I don't think that change has anything to do with Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton. I'll put together a full post-mortem in a few days after I've had a few days to digest the whole thing. I'll still be covering the playoffs on my other blog and FoxSports.com, but I'll probably be laying low here for a little bit. I'm sure all Sharks fans just want to breathe for a few seconds anyways.

Marathong

I knew the Stars wouldn't make it through a single playoff year without at least one ridiculous game that would make Jaromir Jagr lose 8 lbs. I'm writing this during the intermission after the Third OT and it might be a while until I could get much more up, so here's a few dopey observations to warm your hockey logs (good God look at what three OTs will do to my already horrid punnery).

ANYWAY...

Evgeni Nabokov's first OT save was artful to say the least. Definite save-of-the-year material when you consider the importance and paper thin margin of error. But just as I was about to bring out the annointing oils, Marty Turco made an awesome throwback kick save. (1,000 Monopoly dollars to whoever can link me the YouTube clips on those bad boys)

Anyway, after those two saves I decided that Turco and Nabokov must be engaged in some form of Goalie H-O-R-S-E. By my unofficial count, Turco's on H-O-R-S at this point.

• Mike Ribeiro's hesitation during a tense moment definitely solidified the time-honored shooting cliche of having too much time in front of the goalie.

• If multiple scoring chances would dictate an OT GWG and the Stars win, Brad Richards would probably deserve the goal because he's had a million close calls in this game.

• Am I wrong in thinking that Jeremy Roenick bares a striking resemblance to cooky kindred spirit Willem Dafoe? I'd certainly cast him in the lead role in the JR Story.

Sharks Gameday: Cliches and Statistics

I think we're running out of sports cliches to describe where the San Jose Sharks sit. Backs against the wall, give a 110%, do or die, bla bla bla. Momentum does exist in sports, but it's not a game to game thing. It's more like an ebb and flow, and it can only last one or two shifts or it can last an entire playoffs. It's the kind of thing you can't really detect or define; you just know it when you see it.

Ron Wilson's been trying to psych his team up by talking about history. Well, here are some stats courtesy of WhoWins:

(Mike's note: Some of these numbers were compiled after looking at a bazillion tables. I might have made a counting error.)

-In NHL history, 150 teams have been down 0-3. Of those teams, only two have come back (1942 Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders).
-Of those comebacks, one was for the home-team series and one was for the visitor-team series.
-The average win percentage of the team up 3-0 winning game 4 (in other words, a sweep) is 65.1%.
-One comeback was in the Stanley Cup Final (Leafs), the one was in the conference semifinal (Islanders)
-In the modern era, a Game 7 has only been forced twice, both by the Islanders in 1975 (one win, one loss). In the early days of the NHL, this happened a few times, such as the 1939 Boston win over the New York Rangers.
-In total, ten teams have come back to force Game 6. In the modern era, only five teams have done this, the most recent being the 2004 Colorado Avalanche--losing to the San Jose Sharks.

So, the whole deal is about making history, right? Well, the Sharks are in pretty rare company as it is, and if they pull off tonight, they'll be in even rarer company.

The big, big difference between a lot of 3-0 series and this one is that the games have been extremely tight affairs with a number of overtime periods and disallowed goals. For the Sharks, we all know how they can be topsy-turvey in a maddening way; at this point, I don't question their heart anymore, I question their smarts, because if they'd played smart the whole way through, we wouldn't be in this mess. Still, you learn from your mistakes, and this team has been set on proving to everyone that they could withstand adversity.

Well, here's the ultimate adversity. Let's take another step towards history tonight.

Go Sharks.

This Is It

Alright, man. You've had all the regular season success, the praise, the accolades. Now it's time to buck up and show your worth when the stakes are higher. Put your team on your back and control this game. You're the inspirational leader to this team. You're the one who decides whether or not you win this game. Now, I know you've got a history of coming up short in the post-season, but I believe you can come through in this game. The people need you to be great, they want you to be great, but they need you to give them a reason to anoint you. Likewise, some want you to fail so they can label you soft or a choker, but you can shut them up forever today. You ultimately write your own story, Kevin Garnett; what's it going to be?

(Who'd you think I was talking about?)

Sharks vs Dallas Stars Game 5 photos

More notes and photos from the Sharks 3-2 OT win in game 5 will be up here soon. Now accepting nicknames for Joe Pavelski.

Staying Alive

Rut Roh (The Director's Cut)

The Stars just caught Lady Luck in bed with a mysterious gentleman wearing Teal. Yes, indeed, the Stars might have the series lead but the Sharks regained their self-belief after coming back from the dreaded "worst lead in hockey."

There's basically two ways to look at Game 6 if you're a Stars fan. Either you're optimistic and think that the next two games are the equivalent of two coin flips: there's a good chance you'll get at least one of them to land your way. And then there's the Chicken Little side, the one that says the Stars are screwed if they have to win a Game 7 in Computer Arena after losing all the momentum.

Either way, the Sharks have nothing to lose (not true) while the Stars are facing that energy-sapping "we better not get reverse swept" feeling and need to win one of the next two to avoid being placed with the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins and that New York Yankees team on the Mount Rushmore of playoff choke jobs. There's really no good way to spin coughing up a 3-0 lead. Even if you're the underdog.

A lot will be made about the Brendan Morrow goal that was called back (my opinion: "dubious"). But the Stars had the lead at that point and increased that lead soon afterward, so to blame the loss on a non-goal that honestly should have been rendered irrelevant is just making excuses. Besides, the Ambassador of Fun scored a certain obvious non-goal to win a certain Stanley Cup, so Stars fans might want to save their tissues for another day.


The funny thing about the Bill Buckner error and the Bartman fiasco is that both scapegoat moments happened on a Game 6. In other words, their teams still had a chance to seal the deal.

The Stars have no excuse if they lose four games in a row. Choker, soft, whatever label you choose might not be fair but that's life.

Avoiding that ugly fate would be slightly easier if they got Stu Barnes back, though.

Jimmy Fox, Voice of Reason

From Inside the Kings:


7. Which former player was the most challenging to deal with off the ice, and why?

Jim Fox: In a different kind of way, Jeremy Roenick was the most challenging, and this is very difficult for me to explain, but I'll give it a try. Not because he was hard to get along with - nothing could be further than the truth - JR was always willing to help and answer questions at any time, it was challenging because so much was expected of him and he did not deliver. He came to camp out of shape and that affected him the whole season. He also started to complain about his "skates" and the way they were sharpened. There is no doubt that a player's skates are the most important part of equipment, and I would have put more credence into this, if only he had been in shape to start out with. It was "challenging" to deal with his situation because he was not very effective on-the-ice. I want to be clear: At no time did JR ever shy away from the media and was always accessible. I just felt very uncomfortable covering the situation because JR is such a good guy to be around. But he was unprepared as a professional to give his all for the team.

I just nodded so hard I nearly broke my neck.

Stars suck!

Sharks Gameday: Ok, Well, Whatever

When I worked in London for a little bit, I had this boss who loved gambling. Almost every week he'd go to a casino and somehow come back with stacks of money. I went with him one time, and as we walked through the London tube station, he explained his strategy to me. He always brought about 150 pounds and played roulette. Instead of sitting at a table and playing, he'd stand in the middle of a bunch of tables and watch the screens displaying the numbers. He'd look for a certain third or a certain column to appear three times in a row; if it did, he'd run over to a table and bet 20 pounds each on the other two thirds or columns. If it didn't hit, he'd do the same thing but double his bet.

He didn't look like he had much fun, but I saw him turn 150 pounds into about 800 pounds with a small number of bets (and a lot of standing around). When I later presented his strategy to stats people, they said that it was a flawed strategy because you can't look at something like roulette with series odds; that it has to be a single event taken every time.

Well, the Sharks are down 3-1. Do you look at the inevitable and say it'll be just about impossible for them to win three in a row or do you just look at this next game and see what happens?

The cynic/realist in me says to accept what it is, and for the most part, I have. The optimist in me says that the Stars (and Marty Turco) are due for a meltdown game and that the Sharks have been close in this series despite playing pretty crappy, and if they can just reach that magical plateau where the whole team is firing on all cylinders, who knows? It's not impossible, after all, just really, really, really ridiculously unlikely.

As for me, I feel loose. I'm going tonight, but I'm not stressing because ultimately, whatever happens will be and now that I've sat back and thought about it, I can see where the flaws are in the way this team is constructed. I may be drinking the Teal Kool-Aid, but I don't think it's as bad as some people do. I don't think there's a need to completely destroy things, just one or two core changes, a few tweaks, and another year for so many of the kids that the Sharks relied on to mature.

If they win, that'll activate the little part in me that goes, "Maybe, just maybe." If things aren't going well, I'm going to take the whole thing in as something that's pretty personal to me, as it may be Jeremy Roenick's last game. For a guy that's been a fan of his since middle school, it's kind of neat to be able to be there if it ends. I hope it doesn't, either for the team or for him (especially with his newfound ability to be a character role-player), but you know, shit happens.

Go Sharks.