After any series-ending game during the NHL playoffs, it is easy for many observers, “experts”, and just plain old fans to start pointing fingers at what went wrong for said team.
Example: “The star of this team, Big Joe Thornton, didn’t perform to the level he had performed all during the regular season, especially since his arrival from Boston. He became a shadow of himself during the playoffs, as in years past, hence why this team is headed to the golf course.”
Example: “The goaltending of Marty Turco for much of the series by not stopping shots he could have easily stopped. Too many soft goals are why this team is headed to the golf course.”
Example: “John Muckler, the GM of the Ottawa Senators, didn’t do enough at the trade deadline to really meet this club’s needs, especially without the services of Dominic Hasek, hence why this team is headed to the golf course.”
Is it just me, or is anyone else spotting a trend here?
Pointing the finger at just one or two people when the TEAM lost TOGETHER seems rather inconsistent with what the sport of hockey is all about. And the loss by the San Jose Sharks to the Edmonton Oilers is no exception.
Yes, it is true that Joe Thornton, winner of the Art Ross Trophy, didn’t really perform to the level he had since being acquired in that trade with Boston. It’s true; maybe he didn’t shoot the puck enough and looked for too many cute passes to his line mates.
But what about Jonathan “With my third hat-trick against the Ducks this season I stole the Rocket Richard Trophy right out from underneath Jaromir Jagr” Cheechoo? With 9 points during the post-season, he seemed virtually invisible against Edmonton.
And what happened to San Jose’s defense in this series? Scott Hannan and Kyle McLaren, the only veterans on the defensive squad, were a combined +2 during the entire playoffs. Compare that to Chris Pronger and Jaroslav Spacek, who are a combined +5 during the playoffs while playing against San Jose’s and Detroit’s top lines night in and night out. The young corps withered after taking some punishing hits by Edmonton. Had they faced the same type of team in Nashville, it is possible San Jose wouldn’t have won that series, but speculation at this point means nothing.
Vesa Toskala? Save for his Game 4 brain cramp on that third goal by Sergei Samsonov and his less than stellar play in game 5, he gave San Jose a chance to win. That the team didn’t capitalize can’t be solely blamed on him.
No, what did this team in during the second round is very simple: save for just twice, they failed to convert on the power play 33 times. 2 for 35 will almost surely lose you the series every time.
Want proof? Ask the Colorado Avalanche how important a team’s power play is to them. After going 5 for 28 against the Dallas Stars, they were 0 for 24 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. And they hadn’t scored a power play goal since game 3 of that opening round series. Failure to convert on your power play is a surefire way to lose confidence.
As such, those same Mighty Ducks were only 2 for 19 against the Avalanche, and just 6 for 44 against the Calgary Flames. Noticeable differences between the Ducks and the Sharks on the power play are this: while the Ducks haven’t scored much, they are able to keep themselves in the offensive zone during most of the 2 minutes. The Sharks had a hard time both gaining entry into the zone (3 offside calls on the power play last night alone), and keeping the puck moving. Wearing out penalty killers will eventually help your teams cause. What helped the Ducks, however, was the penalty killing unit has killed off 36 straight penalties, and haven‘t allowed a power play goal since game 4 of the opening round vs. Calgary.
The Sharks mere 80.7 penalty killing percentage didn‘t help their cause to advance either. Not blocking many shots and ready to sacrifice everything to win is just another of the many reasons why San Jose headed home today.
Coach Ron Wilson, at some point during this series, stopped making adjustments on the fly, and the opportunistic Oilers took advantage of that, using their speed and confidence to take over after that triple overtime game 3 of this series.
In all, there is to be a lot of blame floating around the Sharks dressing room today. Pointing fingers at the big man or the goaltender is too easy. Blame the power play units. Blame the defensive corps. Blame the penalty killing units. Blame the coaching staff.
But it is no matter. In today’s world of sports, pointing fingers and finding scapegoats are the easiest way out for all involved, as it then absolves them of all criticism when they pick the wrong team to win a series.
Fantastic read. I like the questions and I pause to see what I would write in answer and we are dead on in our passion for the game of the NHL. And a few of my answers were similar.
And pointing at Joe Thornton makes no sense.
On the Red Wings v Edmonton, before you came here, to Foxsports; a few blogs pointed at Datsyuk and Legace. Give me a break, however the playoffs are the proving ground for any team in any sport and the Red Wings have a USA leading total of 10 Cups.
That is nothing to frown at. Legace is more than likely finished in Detroit.
There will be inevitable changes in store for the Red Wings, Sharks, Avs and Senators--I have heard rumors rippling about the Ducks to, for example JS Gigeure will going some where else as Bryzgalov is now the number 1. We will see whathappnd. I like deadline day alot, but I really like the offseason moves and shifts in the retooling process just as much.
real terrific read.
-lgrw
Last edited by letsgoredwings on May 19th at 1:56 AM.
redwing: thanks for the words, again.
As for Giguere, I'm curious to find out what is going to happen as well. I'm pretty sure he will be moved, but Bryzy needs to further prove himself. Plus, it will not be the easiest thing for Burke to move Giggy's (almost) 4 mil salary for next year...but then again, if he was able to move Fedorov for Wright and Beauchemin, I'm sure he will move him too. Maybe not. We shall see.
I'm pretty certain Legace will be gone as well, not that he was entirely to blame. I really think the problem in Detroit during the first round was not being able to adapt to Edmontons on the fly moves during that series, and maybe a bit of overconfidence on their part. I still see that as their undoing the last few years in the playoffs.
I will be certain to comment on your pages when I read them, as you do the same for me.
You got it buddy. I really like the fact that you did not have reshape your bio section and blog right away either like a new blogger had to at the suggestion of a seasoned blogger. I gained readership and did not change my bio at all as it was already low key. Now my blog is known for entertaining my new and loyal readership and a alot of bloggers have told me back that they went to Barnes and Noble and bought books after reading my blog and articles. For me that is a great compliment--why? I have remained consistent and steady and not overly persuasive with my readership. Example, DrCrab and Gcoach--among the others on my favorites list. I will always leave comments here-- the best new blogger besides sabresmeetstanley.
Your pal,
-lgrw
Last edited by letsgoredwings on May 19th at 2:09 PM.
A woman with a love and passion for all things hockey, baseball and writing. Ergo, here I am. I will primarily be focusing on hockey and baseball, but if another sport so warrants my attention, I will put my thoughts and opinions here, in this space. Well, it would actually be in the space to the left, but you know what I mean.
Allow me to apologize up front if some of my blogs are long...I'm working on that. For the record, should you see any slanted articles towards the following teams: New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of Southern California of the United States of America, or the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, that would be cause those are the teams I'm truly a fan of. But I will try to be as fair and unbiased as possible.Than ks in advance for reading!
