Saturday Scraps (April 5th, 2008)

Humility, thy name is Losing to the Kings

The Sharks' 20-game point streak ended on Thursday with a 4-2 defeat in Los Angeles.

There's no good time to lose, but of course this streak had to come to an end at some point. Detroit defeated Columbus earlier that evening, sewing up the President's Trophy and ensuring that the Sharks-Kings matchup would be genuinely meaningless in terms of position in the standings, and one wonders if this didn't have an effect on the Sharks. Evgeni Nabokov got the start in goal in a last-minute reversal by head coach Ron Wilson (we had been told for days that Brian Boucher would play against LA), but Christian Ehrhoff, Craig Rivet, Jonathan Cheechoo, Devin Setoguchi, and Marcel Goc all sat...chances are all of these players are dealing with minor injuries and could use a bit of extra rest before the playoffs start.

So by losing to the last-place Kings, San Jose didn't really suffer any damage of consequence, except possibly a blow to their ego. With the right attitude, the team can turn this into a positive. "Tonight kind of showed that if you let your guard down, even for a little bit, the game's not going to go your way," Mike Grier was quoted as saying in the AP recap. A timeless and valuable lesson that a team cannot be reminded of too many times.

Tomorrow the Sharks wrap up the regular season in Dallas. The loss to LA ought to give San Jose motivation to beat the Stars and go into the postseason on a good note. I hope they come out charging, because I loooooove beating Dallas.


A Long, Strange Trip

So after weeks of hanging on to the tail-end of the playoff caboose by the very tips of their fingernails, the Washington Capitals at last control their own destiny. The Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Florida Panthers last night by the final score of 4-3 in their last game of the season, ensuring at a stroke that Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Boston made the playoffs and putting the improbable Caps in a position to win the Southeast Division championship if they can get at least a point out of their game against Florida tonight. Only one team from the Southeast will make the playoffs, so for both Washington and Carolina it's either win the division and get the East's third seed or start scheduling tee times.

The Hurricanes feel, quite correctly, that the entire hockey world is against them. I freely admit that I am cheering with all my might for the Caps, and there is no doubt that the Powers That Be at NHL headquarters in New York are desperately hoping that Alexander Ovechkin and his 60+ goals will head to the playoffs. The only obstacle in their path is a Florida Panthers team that survived a grueling game against Carolina yesterday and has nothing to play for other than pride and the chance to be a spoiler.

However, having watched the Canes-Panthers game yesterday I can testify to the fact that pride and the chance to be a spoiler are serving as tremendous motivators for Florida. They are clearly in no mood to be a pushover--they were outshot 46-17, played most of the game with backup goalie Craig Anderson in net after Tomas Vokoun left with back spasms, were clearly exhausted by the middle of the third period, and faced power play after power play, but still hung on for the win, displaying admirable guts and heart in the process. Do they have one more such game in them? We'll find out tonight...I'll be tuning in, even though it means abandoning my Final Four-watching friends to do so. (Hey, priorities are priorities!)

Go Caps!