Well that wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. The Sharks are still up 3-1 in the series, which now heads back to San Jose on Saturday night. So that's good. The bad news? Cross-Shredding now has a 0-1 record covering the Sharks and hockey. There’s only up from here.
We’ll go in more detail tomorrow, but here are some initial thoughts on the game:
We’ll go in more detail tomorrow, but here are some initial thoughts on the game:
- For the most part this wasn’t a terrible game. The Kings obviously weren’t going to go down without a fight on home ice. They proved that tonight, especially during the second period in which they absolutely owned the Sharks.
- Jonathan Quick looked better than he has all series, though that really isn’t saying much.
- The Sharks were on the receiving end of some bad bounces throughout the night, but also some poor play by their defense particularly Brad Stuart who looked listless at times and was part of the reason Marian Gaborik got his second goal of the night.
- Just keep Pavelski on the third line, dammit.
Post-game song: Don’t Let Me Cave In - The Wonder Years
Let’s touch on the other two games for a hot minute:
Avalanche-Wild
Darcy Kuemper didn’t see many shots from the Avs facing only 12. Most of the Avalanche players aren’t used to staying up this late on a school night which could have something to do with their poor offensive performance. The Wild get a couple power play goals and beat the Avalanche 2-1 to tie the series at 2.
Bruins-Red Wings
Very good back and forth game that featured a humongous dive from resident douchebag Zdeno Chara. Iginla wins the game in OT because of course. Bruins lead the series 3 games to 1 heading back to Baaaaahston.
The question, as always, is thus: Would it be more beneficial for the Sharks to have won tonight and have an extended break, or is it better that they lost at least one game, ensuring less of a rest time, but an immediacy of having recently won a series against a bitter rival. Unfortunately, hockey bloggers are rarely NHL players, and even if they were, they wouldn't know shit, so we can only speculate on the answer. As bitter as I am that the Kings won, I am nonetheless happy that I 1) Get to watch more California vs California hockey, and 2) Raffi Torres goes to sleep tonight with only one thought on his mind--murder. And regardless of the outcome of this series, and the spawn of Satan that is Dallaheim, I either get to watch more Ca-Ca hockey, or Dallas acting like the redheaded stepchild that it is, trying to get back into the Pacific.
ReplyDeleteAs far as other games tonight go: Minnesota is dumb. I have to wonder if anyone is actually watching that series, or if everyone just falls asleep once the game starts only to wake up once it is over. Seriously, if Minnesota can't get an outdoor game, they certainly don't deserve the Cup. If the Avs don't win, they should all be castrated. Also, if the Avs do win then they should all be castrated. Can we just castrate everyone that isn't the Sharks?
Boston-Detroit is at least interesting in the fact that I can tell people that there are actually three forms of the plural of octopus. Octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. What does this have to do with hockey? Nothing, much like the Red Wings were this season. How did they even get into the playoffs when half their players need walker/hockey stick hybrids?
There is little else to say about tonight, except to say that everyone should be drinking, regardless of whether or not their team won. I know I am.
2 thoughts:
Delete1. I can't believe we actually have our first comment (and one that is actually well written and well thought out). So thanks whiskeyjakk!
2. I'm actually not terribly bitter about the loss last night. We'll do a more detailed post about it a bit later, but the Sharks for the most part out-played LA. Some unlucky bounces/refs that weren't calling a whole lot of penalties took this one out of reach. While I'm also happy we get more CA-CA hockey, I would get pretty nervous if the Sharks don't end the series on Saturday. No one expected a quick series, but the value of rest during the playoffs can't be overstated. So for the Sharks sake, and so Raffi doesn't stay up all night plotting the death of Kyle Clifford, I hope they can close it out.
Agreed on the MIN-COL series. I watched MAYBE half a period once then changed it to golf or something. There's always a "meh" series every year and this one is it. I don't care who wins.
BOS-DET I think has been moderately interesting, but a bit overblown by the media. MTL-BOS will be a bloodbath series when it happens.