San Jose Sharks: Heartless, Gutless, Spineless

They say you cannot win a game in the first few minutes, but you can lose one.  This never made sense to me in a one-on-one competition--if one team can lose it, ergo the other must be able to win it.

Now I understand the phrase and they are correct: they were talking about the San Jose Sharks.

In game one, the Sharks came out flat and were down 2-0 before the six minute mark.  It was a hole they could not dig themselves out of.

In game three, they jumped all over the Flames and the goalie who had been frustrating them, running him out of the game in less than four minutes with a 3-0 lead.  But they were unable to close the deal and the Flames came back to win, 4-3.

They managed to lose game one in the opening minutes, but could not win game three in the same fashion.

It all started with two hits.  First, Dion Phaneuf let Patrick Marleau go by him on a touch-up so he could splat him to the boards.  This was a cheap ploy and cheap shot, but there is no way it was a penalty.  You have to expect this, and Marleau got to the bench, got a butterfly bandage beneath his eye, and got back into the game.

I felt that was a victory for the Sharks' toughness, and perhaps so did Keenan's squad of thugs.  So they dialed it up a notch.

Just a couple shifts later, Marleau was coming up the boards and Cory Sarich absolutely blew him up with an elbow to the face.  It could have been elbowing, roughing, or charging (the overhead camera clearly showed he left his feet), but nothing was called.

Score one point for Mike Keenan's whining over what was actually taking place on the ice (see Saturday's article).  Score another one when the Sharks' response actually resulted in a Calgary power play.

Calgary's power play came into the playoffs ranked in the bottom half of the league, and San Jose's penalty kill finished as the league's best.  But Calgary has three power play goals to San Jose's two with half the chances.

Let me say, however, that unlike Keenan I am not whining.  For one thing, the Sharks response did dictate a penalty be called on them.  And while if only one of the two penalties was going to get called it should have been Sarich's, that was the only truly bad call of the game.

The bottom line is the Sharks have had their fortitude questioned before, and their lack of response on the ice last night proved they still should be.  It is not whether you have a tough guy in the playoffs, it's whether you respond by playing tough.

The Flames tried this against Detroit last year, a team that lacked tough guys.  It failed, because the Red Wings kept playing their game and they were just better than Calgary.

So are the Sharks, but they fold up the tent when something goes wrong, and the Flames know them well enough to take advantage of this.  It is a simple game plan: if you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up.  They will stop playing like they did last night in allowing four unanswered goals. 

This team is too talented to be out in the first round.  If they lose this series, Ron Wilson is to blame for his team quitting.  

Bob Hartley has won two Cups and is available.