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Three Sharks Teams in the Same
Game
Which one will show up for Game 2 and
beyond?
| 4/18/14 - By Paul Krill -
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For a while, Game 1 was everything a Sharks fan
could dream of. The Sharks were pummeling the Kings, who looked more like a
minor league team out there. Did anybody think the Sharks would run up a 5-0
lead, including two goals very late in the first period? Everybody was getting
into the act: Raffi Torres, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Marc-Eduoard Vlasic
and, with his first career playoff goal, Tomas Hertl. Through the first two
periods, the Sharks looked invincible. Kings star goalie Jonathan Quick was
chased.
Then, bad habits took over. The Sharks spent most of the third
period in their own end watching the Kings control the puck. That once-gigantic
lead suddenly dwindled to only 5-3 before Brent Burns put the puck in the empty
net via a long distance shot, sealing a 6-3 victory.
What we saw were
three Sharks teams in the same game. The dominant first period Sharks, if we
can get that team again, will win the Stanley Cup. The second-period Sharks,
not quite as dominant as the first period team, has a good chance to contend
for a long playoff run. The third-period Sharks? Well, if they return, the
Sharks will finish out their season next Saturday in San Jose and lose this
series to the Kings in five games.
We've all heard for years about how
the Sharks can't get it done in the playoffs and of course we haven't really
seen much evidence to contradict this. But if we can ice that first-period team
again, those statements about Sharks playoff failures might finally be
obsolete.
The Sharks, of course, absolutely cannot rely on
racking up early 5-0 leads and staving off a desperate opponent in the third
period. Kudos to the Kings for making a game of it and not figuring Game 1 was
already a lost cause after the second period. Without some good saves by Sharks
goalie Antti Niemi in the third period, the Sharks might have actually lost the
game in historically humiliating fashion.
Now, the Sharks are going to
have to bring back that first period team to make this playoff run a long one.
Contact Paul at at
paulkrill@letsgosharks.com
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