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The Loser Point
Two Losses = One Win for Nearly Goal-Free Sharks
| 3/11/13 - By Paul Krill -
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Thanks to what is known as the "loser point," the
point awarded to OT and shootout losers, the Sharks' 0-2 weekend doesn't look
so bad. It really works out to the equivalent of one win and one loss, when you
factor in the two points.
And these two points keep the Sharks hanging
on for dear life among the top 8 spots - either 7th or 8th, depending on how
you look at it. Of course, it's amazing the Sharks are still in the hunt at all
- it is difficult to win hockey games when you cannot score goals. The Sharks
have only scored three goals (and no more than that) twice in the last 15
games. And the Sharks lost both of those games.
The Sharks have
sputtered seriously since starting out 7-0. It looks like other teams have
either figured out the Sharks or simply caught up to them. And the wins have
stopped coming. So now, the Sharks are just 4-7-7 since that 7-0 start. Yikes -
that's a lot of losses and just four wins in that span.
While goalie
Antti Niemi has been great, except for about 90 seconds this past Saturday (How
often have the Sharks blown two-goal leads in the past couple of seasons?), the
rest of the team has failed to put the puck in the net. We look at the
standings and see Chicago and Anaheim light years ahead of the Sharks. Can we
even take the Sharks seriously if they even make the playoffs? Does anybody
really believe the Sharks would even get out of the first round?
Well, we only need to look about 375 miles south for
inspiration: Your defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. After
finishing eighth last season, the Kings got hot, hot, hot in the playoffs and
steamrolled over all their opponents. This again showed how meaningless the NHL
regular season can be: Just get one of the top eight spots and anything can
happen.
But do we really want to make a bet that the Sharks can get
that hot in May like the Kings did last year? At the rate the Sharks are going,
they may not even be playing in May. Since first taking the ice in 1991, the
Sharks have never once played a game in June (as in, a Stanley Cup Finals
game). Given how this season is unfolding, I don't think anyone can have much
confidence that this will be the magic year for the Sharks.
Contact Paul at at pjkrillsharks@yahoo.com
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