On Monday night, the Sharks played a east-west game and ended up losing 4-3 to give the Blues a 2-1 lead in the series.
The Sharks started off with some sense of urgency to the game, but maybe that’s because they were in their own building and they felt the fans sense of urgency. So what went wrong?
We all know that the Sharks ended the season ranked 29th on the penalty kill and tonight’s game really showed. Three of the four goals scored tonight by the Blues were on a power play. Making five of their nine goals this series on the man advantage.
But if the Sharks had learned how to KISS, they should’ve been able to contain the Blues to their zone.
Playing an east-west game versus north-south game is what created turn overs and odd man rushes. Monday night, the Sharks turned the puck over 14 times compared to the Blues nine giveaways.
Late in the third period the Sharks seemed to wake up. Colin White scored his first goal of the series, giving him more goals then Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe combined. When Colin White scores more often then your top line, you can take a guess that things aren’t going so well. And on top of that, the “top line” of Marleau, Thornton and Pavelski has a combined 21 shots on goal with no goals to account for.
Couture scored his first goal of the season with just 16 seconds left in the game to bring the Sharks within one.
Sixty minutes of solid hockey is all fans ask for. Sixty minutes of continuous connected passes and shots. However, if you happen to be on the San Jose Sharks, it seems you only give your fans 3 minutes and that’s the last three in the game. That’s 57 minutes too late.
