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Maybe “Gutless” Was Spot-On..?

The Sharks are 1-5 since they opened strong against the Red Wings in Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs. 1 win, 5 losses. And they still have 2 losses to go until they are booted from the playoffs. So, the Sharks could finish at 1-7 which just looks funny for a team that made it to the Conference Finals.

Are they that bad? Were they ever that good? Who knows? But they are not a Stanley Cup caliber team. Vancouver is just better, and I am amused by the Sharks fans that state that a strong 2-game home-stand can turn this thing around. Because it won’t.

Look, sometimes the best team doesn’t always win. The Rangers beat the Yankees last year in the playoffs. The New York Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl a few years back. The Anaheim Ducks tore through the NHL playoffs a few years ago on great goaltending, and the Warriors once beat the top-seeded Mavs in the NBA playoffs. But what did all those teams have? Gritty, unheralded determination. David Tyree caught a ball off his helmet after Eli Manning escaped 5 tackles, an iconic play that won a Super Bowl. Baron Davis put a team on his back and KO’d the beast in 6 games. Giguere stood on his head to make every save no one ever expected could be made, stopping 63 shots in a triple-overtime win against Detroit.

The Sharks have none of this. Who is taking this team and leading the charge? Who is playing with an all-out effort that inspires others? Who is making a legendary performance that fans can rally behind and recall for years to come? No one. In Game 2, we saw a half-ass fight out of Patrick Marleau and Ben Eager play so out of his mind that it was stupid.

IMG_3765.jpgBut you’re fooling yourself and other bandwagon fans around you if you think the Sharks will knot this up at 2-2 and go to Vancouver and steal a win to help them win the series. That can’t happen without players that skate all 60 minutes, fight for every puck, check the snot out of players, fight, spit, swear, and have a look in their eye that borderlines crazy. And if you think something like that doesn’t exist, go watch Game 2 of the Boston-Tampa Bay series and see both teams’ performance. It was everything listed above and then some.

The finesse style of the Sharks continues to fail them in the playoffs. The Kings took them to 6 games. The Red Wings took them to 7 games, and now there is a headline on SI.com that says the Canucks “throttled” the Sharks. Not good PR. Their season-long recipe doesn’t compete with a skilled AND tough team like Vancouver. There is no spark from the Sharks, and without a spark there is no fire.

Last year we saw some indication of a local legend with Pavelski’s play. Had the Sharks gone on to win the Cup, Pavelski would have been at the top of Sharks lore, a player never traded away because of the pace he was scoring goals and rescuing games in what would have been an epic run. This year, there is no hint of something like that from Pavelski or otherwise – just some dramatic wins in the first round against the Kings that fired up the bandwagon. And so I ask all the optimistic teal-wearing fans, why do we have anything to hope for in the next two games in San Jose? What, other than the home crowd, will be the difference? Who do you see stepping up and separating themselves from the tepid pack of Sharks?

And if there is someone out there, where have they been?

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