Why are the Anaheim Ducks leading the San Jose Sharks 3-1, out-scoring them 12-6, in a year where virtually everyone outside of Anaheim thought the Sharks were a lock to make it to the Western Conference Finals? 

Let’s toss out the sour grapes reasons regularly heard from Sharks fans and analyze the reality of the situation. (i.e, the Ducks have no class, are just lucky, are thugs, goons, cheaters, ad nauseum.)

The answer comes as no surprise to Anaheim fans.

The Anaheim Ducks, quite simply, are a better hockey team than the San Jose Sharks. To quote Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times, the Ducks are giving the Sharks "a lesson in ferocity."

In fact, if not for a phantom hooking call on Corey Perry in the third period of Game 3, this series would already be over in four games with the Ducks dominating the Sharks as easily as the Redwings took out the Blue Jackets.

Sportswriters and fans continually repeat the same delusional nonsense in explaining Anaheim's “unlikely” 3-1 lead: 

Namely:

1. The Sharks are the better team but Jonas Hiller’s otherworldly play has saved the eighth seeded Ducks against the superior Sharks offensive onslaught.
2. The Sharks are the better team but, for some unexplainable reason, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton haven’t shown up yet.
3. The Sharks are the better team, but the Ducks are just too dirty for the Sharks to deal with. The league should suspend Pronger, Perry, and the rest of the Ducks because they are too physical and the Sharks should be granted a second round berth by default.  
4. The Sharks are the better team and its just one loss (I mean two losses, I mean three losses,...) and the Sharks superior skills will eventually win out over the pugnacious style of the Ducks.

These reasons, of course, are not true.

The reasons the Ducks are leading 3-1 in the series are as concrete and explainable as why tears of disappoinment freeze on a Sharks fans face when the temperature drops below 32 degrees F.

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