Sharks-Stars: San Jose Sharks Are Stayin' Alive

Tonight is the night. In Dallas, Game Six.

If the Sharks can find the drive and determination to win, they can do it. They’ll be stayin’ alive (sorry, today I was listening to the song because of my friend), hopefully sans bell bottoms and John Travolta.

I told myself I wouldn’t get my hopes up until the Sharks won a Game Six, but hell. After Friday night’s 3-2 OT win, it’s hard not to be excited. I even did laps around my house shouting, and now my voice is completely gone.

Here’s some thoughts I have lingering around in my head to satisfy you all before game time:

Brian Campbell couldn’t have scored a goal at a better time. I still feel like he has a lot of trouble getting through to the Stars’ zone (but then again, which Shark doesn’t have trouble getting through to the Stars’ zone?), but I’m glad to see him score one to force the overtime.

I swear, once he scored that goal, I feel like I instantly forgave all of his past hockey sins. Now I don’t feel like I have to take down the “We Love Brian Campbell…He’s a Redhead!” sign that my friend made for me.

Another great player worth mentioning is Joe Pavelski, who scored the OT winner. Management needs to sign him. Now. As I’m writing this. The guy’s been a complete savage all year.

I’ve got to mention that “distinct kicking motion” on Brenden Morrow’s would-be goal. Watching it live, I for sure thought that it was a good goal, and that it could have possibly deflected off of Matt Carle’s skate.

How many times have the Sharks screwed themselves over by having a Shark player right in front of the net deflect the puck in past Nabby? It’s an all too-familiar song and dance for the team.

Then, watching it again, I still can’t get a clear angle. It looked like Morrow was just driving to the net, and the puck just went in. I don’t really want to give an opinion on it, or even say that the Stars got ripped off.

But you know what? They still had another period to lock it up and eliminate the Sharks, and they didn’t.

Milan Michalek scored off a feed from Joe Thornton. Brian Campbell scored off a sweet, long pass from Jeremy Roenick. Joe Pavelski scored in overtime.

I think most Sharks fans can agree with me that the Sharks don’t normally catch any breaks, and it’s about time they did.

The Sharks still need to improve getting out of their zone and to stop turning over the puck! I swear, I feel like I should have taken a tally to see how many times they turned the puck over to Dallas on the break out, bad passes, or just not realizing where the puck was.

I was also a little tired of our “power play.” It’s annoying to watch them pass the puck back and forth, throw it to the net maybe once or twice, and then make a bad pass, only then to see the Stars intercept the puck and throw it back into our zone.

They need to get creative, because it’s sad that I can pretty much predict what they’ll do next. The Sharks need to stop waiting for Thornton to pass them the puck and be a whole lot more creative than they normally are.

I decided to mute the game, and that’s something I haven’t done since the Sharks-Edmonton series. Why did I decide to mute the game? Because I really couldn’t stand to hear the Versus announcers anymore. Anyone else get annoyed by them?

I really respect Morrow. Sure, as a Sharks fan, the guy’s a pain in the ass to play against.

But he’s the type of guy you’d want on your team because he’s going to bring it every game, and he’s going to annoy the hell out of the other team.

I guess you could say the same for Sean Avery (I don’t like the guy, anyone that listened to Sharksbuzz a few nights ago knows this), but Morrow is just a beast on the ice. 

We said, 'Let's go out and throw out everything we have in the third period. Let's just empty the tanks and put out every effort we possibly have. If we do that, we'll have a shot.'''

Good to see Roenick say this in reference to Game Five. Now, if only the Sharks can follow it for all three periods. 

If the Sharks want to win Game Six, here’s what they need to do:

• Stop making bad turnovers
• Win more faceoffs
• Be more creative on the Power Play
• Don’t take any dumb penalties (*cough…Ehrhoff and his last delay of game penalty…*cough*)!
• Play for a full 60 minutes.   

I just took the SAT. The essay question was about whether or not our society places too much of a value on winning. What was the central focus of my essay? The San Jose Sharks.

-Danielle

daniellemarchell@yahoo.com