Is There Any Reason For Optimism?

In another twenty-six hours or so I might be looking back on this post and laughing through my tears, but there seems to be just a bit of optimism amongst Shark watchers today. Is it justified? Is there any reason to believe that the Sharks could actually become the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history to win a series after falling into a three-games-to-none hole?

Call me crazy, but I think there might be. Yes, the odds against it are enormous--the Sharks must play shift after shift of just about literally perfect hockey, and probably get some help from Dallas to boot--but if there were ever a team that you might single out as being capable of pulling off such a Houdiniesque escape, it might be this year's San Jose Sharks. Here are some reasons why...

1. Dallas is not that much better than San Jose. In fact, the Sharks are probably the more talented team...the difficulties they have experienced this playoff season have had more to do with psychology than a lack of talent. As I alluded to in my last post, a good part of the reason the vast majority of teams that have gone up 3-0 have gone on to win is that they have generally been that much better than their hapless opponents...that's why they're up 3-0 in the first place.

In 1995, the Sharks upset the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs and then got swept decisively by a vastly better Detroit Red Wings team. The final scores of the games were 6-0, 6-2, 6-2, and 6-2. Detroit probably would've swept that series if it had been best-of-seven or best-of-seventeen. This isn't that kind of series...the teams are both very good, and two of Dallas' three wins came in OT.

2. The Sharks are inconsistent...and that cuts both ways. Remember that franchise-record eleven-game winning streak earlier this season? Well, you may also remember that that run followed right on the heels of a season-high five-game losing streak that had certain fans of the team on the edge of despair. It's not inconceivable that last night's game--in which the Sharks played very well, flub by Setoguchi aside--could be the equivalent of the game against Philly that launched that winning streak.

3. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs were the first team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and win. The 1975 New York Islanders were the second. You may notice that the second event occurred thirty-three years after the first. Well, guess what? 1975 was thirty-three years ago... (Oooooo...spooky!)

Okay, well I need to go now, because representatives of the Leland Stanford Junior University are (quite correctly) coming to take my engineering degree away after that last point. A Sharks rally is a very very long shot, but if any team could do it, it would be this erratic, occasionally brilliant, always maddening bunch.