NHL Playoffs: San Jose Lucky To Earn Home Split with Colorado

In Game One of the first-round matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche, Evgeni Nabokov played well in net. In 30 Colorado shots, he allowed only a screened power play goal and a freak goal off the skate of defenseman Rob Blake.

In Game Two, he had arguably his worst playoff performance ever, giving up five goals on 18 shots in regulation.

Granted, one was shot off his defenseman's chest by his other defenseman (can we just keep Rob Blake away from our own net, please?), another was a breakaway and a third an unstoppable one-timer off an odd-man rush.

But a world-class goalie should make at least one of those saves. And even if you take away those shots, he gave up two in 15 shots, a save percentage of .867.

Plus, one of the goals he gave up was short side from point blank range, making it actually harder to get past him, and would not have happened had he not turned over the puck behind the net.

Even the fifth goal was avoidable, as my wife, a novice to hockey-watching, could even see he was leaning too far to the left and giving up space to his blocker side; Milan Hejduk will beat guys who are in position, much less out of it.

Yet despite all of his failings, the Sharks won. Who says you win with good goaltending?

The mark of a competitor is being able to fight through a bad game and make the plays when needed. Nabby did that in overtime, saving all four shots his way, including two good scoring chances.

And the good news is that the Sharks offense got going: The only players remaining who were with this team when it last scored six goals in a playoff game are Nabby and Patrick Marleau.

They also battled through a questionable-at-best interference call that wiped out a game-tying goal and led to the Sharks having to kill two penalties, including 37 seconds of five-on-three.

There are many reasons (for mine, see here ) that can be cited why this team did not play well in the first two games, but there should be no question had they been playing a better team—or even had this team been healthy—they would be looking at an 2-0 deficit.

With the pressure of playoff failures past mounting, such a hole would be impossible to escape.

Instead, the Sharks found a way to win, and have a chance at redemption for the past four years. But they will have to play better.

They cannot be timid around the net on both ends of the ice like they were in Game One, missing wide and not getting to rebounds on the offensive end and not blocking shots at the defensive end.

They cannot be sloppy like they were in Game Two, putting a struggling goalie on the spot with bad turnovers and defensive positioning.

They cannot even afford to be unlucky, giving up two goals off their own players.

But if you are going to have this happen, at least let it be done against an inferior team missing a couple players—a team you can beat despite these issues.

Because when the second round comes along, the Sharks will have to play their best or be labeled chokers once more.