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Horses to Mice?
What's up with the Sharks?
3/4/08 - By
Paul Krill
Is it now 1 a.m. and the Sharks are Cinderella? Have
the horses turned back into mice and the carriage back into a pumpkin? Based on
their recent dismal play (back-to-back losses, including a pasting at home
against Dallas), it might appear so. The Sharks have scored a grand total of
seven goals in their last five games as of March 3 and even Brian Boucher, the
Sharks SuperBackup goaltender, looks vulnerable.
As Sharks fans, we've
been spoiled all season watching the Sharks win game after game after game. But
perhaps the wheels have finally come off and at the worst time, too.
With the playoffs beginning about six weeks from now, can we say the Sharks are
getting stronger? No, they are getting weaker. Time will tell if this is just a
momentary slump but the Sharks' spot atop the league's points system certainly
does look deceiving right now. It's a long season and the team that was
invincible in the 2008 part of the season certainly looks underwhelming in the
2009 part.
A team that can't score goals anymore won't get far in the
playoffs. Meanwhile, Calgary, which almost finished off the Sharks in the
playoffs last year, just got stronger at the trade deadline with the addition
of Ollie Jokinen. Against the Red Wings, the Sharks have been outscored 10-1 in
the Motor City this year.
It might help if Rob Blake wasn't taking a
penalty when the Sharks were already playing short killing off a major
infraction. Or, if the Sharks played tougher around their own net. Scoring more
than one or two goals a game certainly would help, too.
Hopefully, the Sharks will get out of this funk. We
can't expect them to win every game in an 82-game season, but the travails of
late do seem to have that "Oh no, here we go again" look and feel that has had
the Sharks playing two-rounds-and-out in the playoffs the past three seasons
and usually losing to lower seeded teams.
It's time to snap out of it
Sharks!
Continuing in the fairy tale vein, we have to note that it all
worked out for Cinderella in the end. Let's hope the Sharks live happily ever
after this season, too.
Contact Paul at at pjkrillsharks@yahoo.com
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