Roller Coaster

There is no roller coaster ride quite like the NHL playoffs.

Minnesota and Colorado went to overtime in the first three games of their series, with Minnesota taking two before suffering a 5-1 pasting last night that knotted up the series. The Nashville Predators, four minutes away from a 3-0 series deficit on Monday against the Wings, roared back with three late goals to win the game and serve notice that they ain't dead yet. And of course the San Jose Sharks, following an epic, sickening collapse on Sunday, came from behind to stun the Calgary Flames last night, with Joe Thornton getting the game-winner with 9.4 seconds left on the clock.

A day and a half ago the gloom hanging over Sharks watchers was so thick and black that not only had many written off this series, and therefore the season, but some even questioned the very future of the franchise. When the Flames went nasty on the Sharks on Sunday after falling behind 3-0 in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Sharks melted away into a pool of tepid, teal-tinted water. Calgary rallied to win 4-3, an outcome that honestly never seemed in doubt after the Flames got their first goal. That's what was so sickening about it--the sense that you could smell the disaster coming.

The reason the loss was so disheartening is that the failure to respond to the tough, dirty, physical challenges of the playoffs had been identified by the front office as the key weakness of the team in the offseason (and the offseason before, too, as long as we're lingering around the subject). This year, we were assured, would be different. And yet there it was, playing out right in front of us, just like the Edmonton series two years ago. I felt like Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back when the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon fails yet again--"They told me they fixed it!" I screamed. "I trusted them to fix it!" (This was followed by a wail reminiscent of the voice of the galaxy's most mournful Wookie).

The screams of joy that probably woke up my peacefully sleeping neighbors last night 'round 11:30 PM Central Time were therefore inspired not just by victory in a key playoff game ("key playoff game" is a tautology, I suppose) but also by sheer relief that finally my guys had shown some guts and heart at a crucial time. As I've said before, possession of these qualities is no guarantee of success, but without them ye will surely lose.

So: back to the Tank tomorrow. The Sharks certainly have the momentum right now, but last night's game could justifiably go down in history as a textbook example of just how quickly Big Mo can switch sweaters in the sport of ice hockey. When--it's not a question of if--the Flames sock the Sharks in the gut tomorrow night in an effort to get them to fold once again, how will Team Teal respond? Will this be the turning point in the history of the franchise, when the team finally starts living up to the potential of its talent? Is it truly darkest before the dawn? We'll find out in the coming days, as this particular storyline unfolds amongst a host of others in the NHL playoffs, an event that is unmatched for drama in the world of sports.

And this is only the first round.

Never. Give. Up.

The Sharks trailed the Flames 2-1 with less than five minutes left and were staring at a 3-1 series deficit in the wake of Sunday's crushing loss.

Then Jonathan Cheechoo scored to tie it at 15:06 of the third period. Then Thornton scored the game winner with 9.4 seconds left on a deflection of a Douglas Murray point shot.

Now the series is tied 2-2 and it's the guys in red who will be nursing the wounds of a blown lead heading into the next game.

This team still has tons to prove, but at long last they finally showed some guts and played with desperation when nothing else would do.

Shattering

All season long we've wondered if this San Jose Sharks team would be able to overcome adversity come playoff time.

Adversity has arrived in the form of a crushing 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Calgary Flames, in a game the Sharks led 3-0 only a few minutes in.

If this team is going to respond, they need to respond Right Now. Otherwise they are going to be ushered out of the playoffs in the first round by a Flames team that feels like Supermen right now.

The only upside is that I've been working on taking this stuff less seriously, and this is about as savage a test as I can imagine being put through.

I'm going to bed.

Heeeeere we Go!

So the Sharks and the Flames get each other in the first round.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it really doesn't matter who you play...any team that gets into the Stanley Cup playoffs these days is going to be tough.

Should be a great series...gotta love the atmosphere against a Canadian team.

Quick post tonight...I'm going to be out of town (in California, as it happens) for the next few days, so even though the Sharks will play tomorrow night and then again on Thursday, I probably won't be able to post. Hopefully, I'll be able to watch the games, though.

Till next time, then...

The Old Man and the "C"s

The Washington Capitals defeated a stubborn but worn-out Florida Panthers team tonight 3-1 to secure the Southeast Division championship and the accompanying playoff spot, but not before the sellout crowd at Verizon Center was obliged to endure some anxious moments. After a first-period goal by Tomas Fleischmann gave the home team a 1-0 lead, the Capitals failed to score on a pair of minute-long 5-on-3 advantages, and when Kamil Kreps tied the game for Florida you could almost see the mist of anxiety fall across the previously raucous Washington fans.

Then, with about five minutes left in the second, Alexander Semin found thirty-eight-year-old Sergei Fedorov--who was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings at the end of the Sharks' famous 1994 playoff upset--in open ice with a Thorntonesque pass. Fedorov wound up and blasted an absolute bullet past Panthers goalie Craig Anderson and the Caps were ahead to stay.

Fedorov, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade-deadline deal this February, will likely never approach even twenty goals in a season again, let alone the 56 he scored in 1993-94. But he still has an enormous amount to contribute. He has always been an excellent defensive player, his hockey IQ is probably unsurpassed amongst active players, and as he showed tonight he still has that intangible something that inspires the greatest athletes to play their best at the most critical times. And now he Semin and Alexander Ovechkin and Cristobal Huet and Mike Green and head coach Bruce Boudreau and all the rest of this motley bunch are headed for the playoffs. It's a feel-good, Cinderella story of a type the NHL has not seen for a long time.


A little love for the Panthers, please...

I think some kudos need to go out the Florida Panthers for a couple of gutsy performances over the last couple of nights. Without any postseason of their own to look forward to, the Panthers, in a position to play a major role in the final Eastern Conference playoff picture, provided difficult opposition for both the Canes and the Caps. Especially after an exhausting, skin-of-their-teeth win over Carolina last night, the Panthers had every excuse to collapse in the face of all of the energy and emotion that had built behind the Capitals. But they played hard...even after Alexander Semin scored early in the third to put Washington up 3-1, Florida never gave up. Laurels in particular to goalie Craig Anderson, who played courageously and well, facing 66 shots over five periods of work. It was an honorable performance the Panthers can be proud of.


Yes, I know this isn't supposed to be a Capitals blog!

But it's an exciting story! And an important one for the league! But, yes, Team Teal in the Twin Towns will now return to being a blog dedicated to the most awesomest team ever, the San Jose Sharks.

Go, Los Tiburones!

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!

Can it be a Tie?

For a while, this post was going to be entitled, "Why Joe Thornton Should Win the Hart".

For a more or less equal amount of time, this post was going to be entitled, "I Feel Like a Traitor For Writing This, But..."

The race for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded each year to the NHL's MVP, is wide-open this season. Candidates have to include Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, Calgary's Jarome Iginla, and even Evgeni Nabokov. But once the votes are counted, it should come down to a two-man race between Washington's Alexander Ovechkin and San Jose's own Joe Thornton.

The case for Big Joe is extremely strong, and of course I have a deeply ingrained teal bias. For the first half of the season (at least) watching the Sharks was an exercise in frustration. (This post from January pretty much captures my feeling at the time). They were an immensely talented but inconsistent bunch unable to get any production from the two guys who were supposed to be their leading goal scorers (Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau). Yet somehow the team won games. A big part of this was a generally high level of defensive play, led by Nabokov in goal, and this is why Nabby deserves Hart consideration himself. But most of all, Thornton seemed to bring his best every night, and his best is very very good. There were times when he almost literally carried the San Jose offense on his own and led the Sharks to victory.

The Sharks weathered the rough times at the start of the season, somehow managing to stay within shouting distance of the top of the Western Conference despite the struggles of Cheechoo and Marleau and a seeming inability to win at home. Then, starting that night in Philadelphia, things started to go right. A few days later Brian Campbell joined the team and the puzzle seemed to be complete. No team has been able to beat the Sharks in regulation since, and as of this writing (the Blackhawks lead the Wings 5-2, early in the third) the President's Trophy is still a possibility.

The outstanding performances of Nabokov and Thornton provided the shelter that allowed this year's edition of the San Jose Sharks to struggle, err, learn, and grow, finding their game and their heart and their intensity in time to turn what looked like a potentially deeply disappointing team into the best Sharks squad ever. Nabby should get the Vezina (if he doesn't it's a dreadful injustice) so it seems only right to recognize Thornton's contribution to this extraordinary season with the Hart.


Except there's this guy in Washington...

As much as I love Joe, I cannot deny that the Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin also has a very strong claim to the Hart. First, just look at the numbers...63 goals, 110 points as of this writing. Ovechkin is the first player to top 60 goals since Mario Lemieux in the 1995-96 season. For a league that has struggled--and sometimes failed--in recent years to find even a single fifty-goal scorer, this is of immense importance. Never mind his value to the Capitals, which is of course enormous--he has led a back-from-the-dead charge which may or may not take the Caps to the playoffs, but which nevertheless has enchanted the hockey world and even captured the attention of casual fans. Ovechkin, taking obvious delight in everything that has to do with hockey, is of tremendous value to the league.

I reject the notion that Ovechkin should not be considered for the Hart unless the Caps make the playoffs. If we're going to set some sort of standard of team performance for Hart consideration, it ought to be hoisting the Cup, because nothing else matters. A team that makes the playoffs but loses in the first round is not more successful than a team that barely misses the playoffs in any meaningful way...if you're looking for yardsticks to measure the development of a franchise, enormous improvement of the type the Capitals have shown over the course of this season ought to count. If Washington had continued to be an easily beatable team despite Ovechkin's best efforts, that would be one thing. But win or lose the team has been the central actor in a captivating playoff race, and they are scary hot. (Should the Capitals squeak in to the last playoff position, the top seed in the East suddenly doesn't look like such a good deal).

I suppose only one guy can win it, and I have to admit I'm rooting for Joe--there's probably some bias at work here, but hey, that's sports. I'm a fan, dangit. Hopefully, though, Ovechkin will get the consideration he deserves, regardless of the success or failure of the Capitals' current mad sprint for the finish line.