Sharks-Flames: Has the Sun Set on San Jose?

The San Jose Sharks spent the entire night trying to find themselves.

Calgary knew where it was: facing elimination. Now the Sharks better realize they are in the same place Tuesday night at HP Pavillion, or this series will cement them as a team that cannot win in the postseason unless they are playing Nashville.

The Sharks had actually dominated the first four games, out-shooting the Flames by a dozen shots per game, beating them consistently in the face-off circle, and staying even with them in hits. Yet they narrowly escaped with a split because of lapses in intensity and judgment.

The image that will forever define this Sharks team and determine both their future and that of this coaching staff is the way they responded to Calgary's hard checking after taking a 3-0 lead in the Saddledome in the first three-plus minutes of game three.

Perhaps they were doing what one can see the lineman in the above picture is doing: watching and admiring the Flames' intensity. It was what they lacked for the first five-plus minutes of Game 1, and they lost. It was what they lacked in the last 56-plus minutes of Game 3 three, and they lost.

Not that they have, but they cannot blame tonight's loss on officiating. I counted only two calls that did not go the Sharks' way and at least twice that many that did not go the Flames' way.

The Sharks appear to have worn down. In Game 5, they relied on great goaltending to steal the game, being out-shot for the first time in the series. In Game 6, they were out-shot 25-21, and beaten like a rented mule in the face-off circle.

It is far from over. I expected each of the six games to this point to be won by the team that did win them, and I picked San Jose to win Game 7. But it is how the Sharks are losing that is troubling: they gave two away and now look overmatched.

They are not progressing, they are regressing. 

Ron Wilson already has to be held accountable for their lack of preparation in Game 1 and their quitting in Game 3. If he cannot figure a way to counter the momentum Calgary has established, well, strike three—you're outta here!

He should start with the defenseman handling the forecheck. Brian Campbell looks like a wasted trade right now; he and Thornton had more turnovers tonight than Hostess, and they were at least as sugar-coated.

Milan Michalek has been totally absent, and he took away the team's best scoring chance in the second period by playing with the puck on a three-on-one. This is the same modus operandi that has plagued the league's second-best power play over the last two years as soon as they hit the playoffs. STOP PASSING THE PUCK AND GET IT TO THE NET!

That play by Michalek is the Sharks' play in this series in a nutshell: they display skill but get no results. 

If the latter does not change, the look of the team and coaching staff will this offseason.