Can the sharks legitimately win this year?
- Thread starter FunkyPhin
- Start date
The answer is quite simple…. not a realistic chance at winning the cup.
Among what others have posted, their road record is not good enough. If they do reach the conference finals, it will be due to Nemo becoming incredible hot, and the defense stops giveaways in their zone. We cannot blame this aspect of the Shark's game on injuries all that much.
The other, far more remote possibility, is the other competing teams sustain significant injuries.
Among what others have posted, their road record is not good enough. If they do reach the conference finals, it will be due to Nemo becoming incredible hot, and the defense stops giveaways in their zone. We cannot blame this aspect of the Shark's game on injuries all that much.
The other, far more remote possibility, is the other competing teams sustain significant injuries.
OrrNumber4
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I do think that Thornton's request is kind of forgotten as a reason for the Sharks having such a good second-half. True, the team did trade some of its anchors, but I wonder how much the improved play was the team being rested and looking to prove themselves to their coach.
OrrNumber4
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The Blackhawks, IMO, are just a really dominant team. They typically can play an up-tempo or shut-down game, can play North-South or East-West, have a checking line, a well above average fourth line, a great defense. In particular, I think that the mobility and puck-moving ability on the backend absolutely forces other teams's to adapt to them, and not the other way around....the Hawks are excellent at getting other teams to play the Chicago-style of hockey.
SJGoalie32
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Which pretty much sums up the Sharks teams of the last decade.
A dominant team when everything is going perfectly right for them (though most teams are pretty good when *every*thing--including injury luck--is going perfectly right for them), and perennially one of the four monsters in the West.
Which is great!!!........until the calendar once again turns to May and you get to the Conference Semifinals where the 4 teams that are left ARE all the monsters of the West.
Good enough to pretty consistently get into that final 4, not good enough (and/or not playing well enough) to beat the other three monsters in order to get to the Cup Finals. Occasionally they are good enough and play well enough to beat one of those other three, but usually not the two or all three needed to reach and win the Cup.
I actually do think a reasonably healthy Sharks roster (+Couture,Havlat,Torres; -Hertl) has a better chance at the Cup than in most past years, but whether or not they actually execute well enough to capitalize on those chances is unknowable until the Spring.
SJGoalie32
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The Hawks had their own 7-game battle with Detroit. They were just as fatigued as the Kings were. And had the Sharks found a way to prevail in their Game 7, they would have been just as tired as Chi and LA. Same goes for Detroit.
That's what happens when you reach the half-way point of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and hope to go beyond. Fatigue sets in. The battles of an 82-game season plus 2 rounds of playoffs take their toll. The winning teams--the teams who get their names etched on the Cup--overcome that and find ways to beat their opponents anyway.
Both the Kings and Hawks were tired from their previous series. The difference is that the tired Hawks flat-out dominated the tired Kings. They wore the Kings down even further, controlled the play, forced the Kings to play from behind. Even under lots of fatigue the Hawks executed well and made few mistakes.
Hmmm......so teams that are better at executing for a lengthy stretch of time and that make fewer mistakes under adverse conditions than their opponents tend to win more hockey games. Say what?! No, no.....let's just all agree to call it "puck luck."
Had the Sharks advanced to the WCF against Chicago, they would have been just as tired as the Kings were. Maybe Niemi wouldn't have buckled under the fatigue in the exact same way as Quick did, but the tired defense and tired secondary scoring lines probably would have faltered more than the Kings did under the same Chicago pressure, thus likely yielding the same effective results (Chi in 4 or 5 games over SJ).
Point was more aimed towards quick hot goaltenders against sharks. Of course Chicago is the better team and will sustain more pressure for longer moments of time. But quick wasn't even a shade of himself for Chicago point being is it seems like Sharks never catch a break with that goaltending like I said quick gave up more soft goals in one. First the Hawks then he did during the whole seven-game series with the verse the sharks. If the sharks are just had quick have one of those games they would've advanced sure who knows what would happen probably would've gotten knocked out in five or six Max. I understand you need to make your own breaks. But regardless Sharks always seem to be on the wrong end of them time after time I do believe they do have a bad puck luck a lot
OrrNumber4
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OrrNumber4
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If it appears that they "always" have "bad puck luck"...isn't it time to look at some underlying issue?
This isn't American football. It is a 7 game series...and it hasn't happened once or twice where the Sharks lost to teams they "should" have beaten.
I'm not oblivious to there shortcomings. And understand at the end if the day as I said eArlier. You have to make your own breaks etc. but quick was just not the same that series and I don't believe the hawks are any better then the sharks scoring 3 goals in a period from almost the blue line. There is a deeper issue but hard to put a ginger on it as I said earlier. Quick gave up some ugly ones which he did not do all series from the sharks.
True. Hawks used the Ducks strength against them. They caught the Ducks defensemen pinching too tight. Hossa's goal was a great example.
Their mobility comes from not just passing, but passing to the right person and existing the defensive zone quickly and efficiently. That is in sharp contrast with the Sharks.
The tape to that game will serve as the "how to beat the Ducks" recipe for the rest of the season and playoffs.
In my mind, the Sharks play a very similar game to the Hawks. I don't believe there is a more similar team to the Hawks in the western conference. It is just the Hawks have better depth and defense. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Audio Outlaw
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CanadienShark
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CanadienShark
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I'd like to see:
Hertl - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Nieto
Torres - Pavelski - Wingels
Sheppard/Havlat - Desjardins - Kennedy
Hertl - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Nieto
Torres - Pavelski - Wingels
Sheppard/Havlat - Desjardins - Kennedy
The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Breaking news: The San Jose Sharks have been awarded the Stanley Cup after all 15 other teams that qualified for the playoffs were felled simultaneously by congenital heart defects!
hohosaregood
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I want 4 consecutive controversial game winning "goals" in the Stanley Cup final.
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
Levie
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Only if the finals screw job is against Buffalo. After the Bills get cheated the February before.
Plowevelski
wuts this SCF thing?
Leidi J
Registered User
You know… I was looking at the rest of our schedule and it's really not bad at all. We've definitely had the more difficult portion to this point.
For one thing, of our last 33 games, 20 are at home, only 13 on the road. And a ton of those road games shouldn't be super formidable. They travel to Edmonton and Calgary, then after the break with hopefully everyone except Hertl back Philly, Buffalo, New Jersey, Columbus, New York (Islanders and Rangers), Colorado, Anaheim, Phoenix and Edmonton and Calgary again. Most of their remaining tough opponents are at home and after the olympic break.
Their opponents left:
3 each against Edmonton and Calgary
2 vs. Anaheim, LA, Colorado, Winnipeg, Philly, Columbus
1 vs. Phoenix, Chicago, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, Montreal, NJ, NYI, NYR, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington
Done with Vancouver, St Louis, Boston, Detroit, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay.
Also, the Ducks and Kings still have to play each other 4 more times. Plus we get two vs. both. I think we could still catch Anaheim if things roll our way a bit...
For one thing, of our last 33 games, 20 are at home, only 13 on the road. And a ton of those road games shouldn't be super formidable. They travel to Edmonton and Calgary, then after the break with hopefully everyone except Hertl back Philly, Buffalo, New Jersey, Columbus, New York (Islanders and Rangers), Colorado, Anaheim, Phoenix and Edmonton and Calgary again. Most of their remaining tough opponents are at home and after the olympic break.
Their opponents left:
3 each against Edmonton and Calgary
2 vs. Anaheim, LA, Colorado, Winnipeg, Philly, Columbus
1 vs. Phoenix, Chicago, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, Montreal, NJ, NYI, NYR, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Washington
Done with Vancouver, St Louis, Boston, Detroit, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay.
Also, the Ducks and Kings still have to play each other 4 more times. Plus we get two vs. both. I think we could still catch Anaheim if things roll our way a bit...
hockeyball
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Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
We definitely have one of the easier schedules for the rest of the season... The Kings and Ducks are the only good teams we face more than once and the majority of our games are at home.
Also, we've been the 8th or 9th (depending on how you wanna measure it) most injured team. As we get healthy, start playing worse teams, and start playing more at home, we should start picking it up.
Also, we've been the 8th or 9th (depending on how you wanna measure it) most injured team. As we get healthy, start playing worse teams, and start playing more at home, we should start picking it up.
Stickmata
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I like this team a lot, especially when healthy, but I don't think Niemi is playing well enough right now to backstop a team to a Cup and I think secondary scoring will be an issue once again come playoff time. Who knows, maybe Stalock carries us to a Cup, but I doubt it.
