Round One: Anaheim @ San Jose

If the Sharks can pull off another effort like last game they should win and could turn this series around. I doubt it but you never know.

Really tough to say what happens...I thought originally that it would be more evenly matched than Anaheim running out to a 3-1 series lead, so who knows...I think if Anaheim wants to do it anywhere though, that home ice is the place.

Great point PK. That's why I'm really curious to see how Anaheim (and Washington for that matter) come out in what are pivotal games in both scenarios in front of their faithful supporters?

Either way, I think we will be treated to some fantastic, hard-nosed, edge-of-your-seat hockey!!

Cronie wrote:Great point PK. That's why I'm really curious to see how Anaheim (and Washington for that matter) come out in what are pivotal games in both scenarios in front of their faithful supporters?

Either way, I think we will be treated to some fantastic, hard-nosed, edge-of-your-seat hockey!!

Absolutely...although I failed to mention that Anaheim is light years ahead of San Jose in terms of recent big game experience and Stanley Cup experience, so I don't think the pressure will be that hard for them to handle with guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Pronger, Niedermayer, Whitney, Selanne, Beauchemin and Carlyle.

PKC wrote:

Cronie wrote:Great point PK. That's why I'm really curious to see how Anaheim (and Washington for that matter) come out in what are pivotal games in both scenarios in front of their faithful supporters?

Either way, I think we will be treated to some fantastic, hard-nosed, edge-of-your-seat hockey!!

Absolutely...although I failed to mention that Anaheim is light years ahead of San Jose in terms of recent big game experience and Stanley Cup experience, so I don't think the pressure will be that hard for them to handle with guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Pronger, Niedermayer, Whitney, Selanne, Beauchemin and Carlyle.

Yup! Anaheim, while seen as the underdog to the President Trophy Sharks, have a little bit more in terms of intangibles that could and will work for them; however, at the end of it, whoever wants it bad enough should prevail.

I think I'll need to take a quick nap so I can be ready to stay up for this one... Could be a long game with OT for added stress! LOL

I absolutely despise the Ducks and hearing what a genius Burke is for getting them in this position. They can't go away soon enough.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I absolutely despise the Ducks and hearing what a genius Burke is for getting them in this position. They can't go away soon enough.

Yeah, while i may be a hypocrite, as I too DESPISE the DUCKS (and I wasn't too happy hearing the constant remarks of how BRILLIANT Burke is and how lucky the Leafs are to have him, bla bla bla) I always like the role of spoiler.
AND, I really want to see another Anaheim - Detroit series!
That one will be AWESOME!!

Cronie wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I absolutely despise the Ducks and hearing what a genius Burke is for getting them in this position. They can't go away soon enough.

Yeah, while i may be a hypocrite, as I too DESPISE the DUCKS (and I wasn't too happy hearing the constant remarks of how BRILLIANT Burke is and how lucky the Leafs are to have him, bla bla bla) I always like the role of spoiler.
AND, I really want to see another Anaheim - Detroit series!
That one will be AWESOME!!

I've watched "That's Hockey" a total of twice in about a month and that shill Reda was bringing up Burkes geniusness on both separate occasions.

Detroit can go the hell home too and they can take Big Nose Chelios with them.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cronie wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I absolutely despise the Ducks and hearing what a genius Burke is for getting them in this position. They can't go away soon enough.

Yeah, while i may be a hypocrite, as I too DESPISE the DUCKS (and I wasn't too happy hearing the constant remarks of how BRILLIANT Burke is and how lucky the Leafs are to have him, bla bla bla) I always like the role of spoiler.
AND, I really want to see another Anaheim - Detroit series!
That one will be AWESOME!!

I've watched "That's Hockey" a total of twice in about a month and that shill Reda was bringing up Burkes geniusness on both separate occasions.

Detroit can go the hell home too and they can take Big Nose Chelios with them.

Who would you like to see in the Finals out of who's left SSF?

I wouldn't mind Vancouver and Washington.

New Jersey v. Detroit

I'll throw Vancouver and Boston as my SCF choice... What a fun Series that could be.
I want to see the Pens knocked out in the 2nd round... I'm tired of seeing Malkin's mug and Crosby doing that "look at me, I'm tough" smirk. LOL

I think whichever team makes it out of the NJ-Canes series will be in the Finals personally.

Cronie wrote:Does anyone think Anaheim will pull this one off tonight?

50/50.

Sharks showed some bite.

Anaheim has shown they can muzzle the Sharks, though.

And they pecked away SJ's lead.

The game in San Jose was so close, with Perry just missing one in OT, and this goal being as fluky as it was, that you would tend to give the Ducks the edge in their own pond at the Honda Center.

Should be another thriller. (Rhymes with Hiller LOL)

:##:

plus jumbo joe seemed to wake up last game if he can keep playing well then the sharks have a great shot....hoping for a shark win so this series goes to 7

i will be in the chat room for this one tonight so guys come join me there

I think if the Sharks take control of game six the way the Caps did in their game six then I think it's going to be a Sharks win and we could see two 3 games to 1 comebacks in the first round.

Purdy: Sharks hurting, but win would ease pain

By Mark Purdy

San Jose Mercury News Sports Columnist, 04/27/2009 06:18:10 AM PDT

It hurts to do what the Sharks did Saturday night.

But they need to hurt some more tonight.

It hurts to go where the Sharks went Saturday, sending their bodies toward the net where they know sticks and body checks are waiting, or skating to exhaustion on every shift, or taking a painful hit to make a pass that might lead to nothing but also might lead to a goal.

But the Sharks need to go there again tonight for 60 minutes or more.

Otherwise, the Sharks will go straight from hurt to home. The Anaheim Ducks will win the series.

"This next game is going to be the hardest we've had all year," said Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle, who knows hard.

In 2004 with Tampa Bay, Boyle broke his right thumb in the first game of Round 2 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He played with the broken thumb the rest of the way as the Lightning went on to win the Cup.

It's a good example of playing beyond hurt, of going until you can't go further and then going some more. Over the years, the Sharks have been accused of lacking that quality. Their record of maddening early playoff exits has made the finger-pointing more difficult to refute.

And the fingers are out in force, even after Saturday's meat-grinder victory, because our beloved Los Tiburones still trail the Ducks three games to two. It means the Sharks remain in better position to be eliminated than to eliminate the accusation.

However, if you were looking for a sign —no matter how small — that this could be a different Sharks team, the dressing room after Saturday's game was instructive.

Joe Thornton looked utterly spent after the best playoff game of his life. Other Sharks moved with sore deliberation. They were plainly drained. It resembled an NFL postgame locker room — except that in hockey, the next game is two days later, not seven days later.

But what do you know? Sunday morning, every Sharks player was back on the ice for a practice session, skating drills and firing pucks. It made you wonder if the cliché really is true, about how the best athletes in any sport find a way to push through a wall to the next level before they can win a championship.

"I don't know about hitting a wall," Boyle said. "But for every team at some point, you probably get to a place where it's easier to give up than to fight for it. "...
Your body is telling you it doesn't want to go, and you've got to convince your body to get past it."

A chunk of that job belongs to the coach, as well. And in trying to move his team's needle past you-have-more-in-the-tank-than-you-think, Todd McLellan is not mincing words with his Sharks.

"Right now, maybe it's not as hard to do as it was two weeks ago," McLellan said, "because people are questioning their character."

Not just questioning it. Insulting it. Canadian television analyst Mike Milbury even predicted that after Thornton's performance in the first four games against Anaheim, it was quite possible that Team Canada General Manager Steve Yzerman would leave Thornton off the roster in Vancouver next winter.

"I don't see how Steve can pick him for the Canadian Olympic team — not off what he's shown in the postseason," Milbury said. "My bottom line is effort. If a guy doesn't use effort, all bets are off."

Hmm. Maybe it was no coincidence that after Milbury uttered those words before Game 5, Thornton hurled himself fiercely onto the ice for the opening faceoff and barked out words to Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf along with some shoves and pokes.

Thornton was asked about the conversation later and joked — here is the interesting part — that he could have been talking with Getzlaf about "maybe being on Team Canada together."

Thornton surely is nursing some injury this morning. Patrick Marleau has an undisclosed injury. Mike Grier probably came back too soon from his late-season "lower-body" issue and can't be pain-free. Without revealing too much, let's just say there are a lot of knee braces in the locker room. Does it matter? If it does, the Sharks already are defeated.

There is a famous hockey story: In 1983, the Edmonton Oilers were in the dawn of their dynasty. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey were young players with terrific potential. They reached their first Stanley Cup finals that spring and ran into the veteran New York Islanders, who had won three straight Cups.

After four games, the Islanders had made it four championships in a row. The Oilers were disappointed but happy about how hard they had played. They felt they had given it all they had, had taken their best shot. But then, on the way out of the arena, some Oilers walked past the Islanders' dressing room. They decided to peek inside.

In his autobiography, Edmonton defenseman Kevin Lowe later recounted the scene.

The Oilers expected to see a group of happy Islanders, sharing champagne and cigars and backslaps. Instead, Lowe wrote, he and his teammates saw men hooked up to IV units, men with ice packs all over their bodies, men limping in and out of the trainer's room.

By comparison, Lowe realized, the Oilers had emerged from the series in relatively good health and were leaving the arena with little pain. Then and only then, Lowe said, did he and his Edmonton teammates understand what it took to become a Cup champion.

The Sharks aren't within a mile of there yet. But as long as they keep hurting, they have a chance.

Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com.

Umm... WTF? Is this game not being televised? It appears CBC has their regular programming for tonight and TSN is airing the Calgary-Chicago game. Dung.


EDIT: Oops... my bad. I checked CBC's website and it's listed. Oddly when I check the Rogers guide it's not listed.