Sharks Going Down Like 92-93 Bruins

I'm not a San Jose Sharks fan, but I can sure understand the pain the supporters of that franchise are going through.

The Sharks, thought to be the Western Conference's representative in the Stanley Cup Finals this year, are now trailing their conference semi-final series three games to none, thanks to yet another overtime defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars.

Unlikely hero Mattias Norstrom's game-winner 4:37 into the extra period gave the Stars a 2-1 triumph in Game Three.

No one gave the Stars a shot going into the playoffs this season. Not with the way the team had struggled a month before the playoffs, and the way that the other Western contenders were playing as well.

After all, Dallas went through a dismal 2-7-2 stretch in March to fall from the conference's second seed all the way to the middle of the pack. The acquisition of Brad Richards from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline seemingly had no impact on the team from the Lone Star State.

The Stars, however, upset the defending Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in the first round and before winning the first three against the Sharks, and are now one win away from advancing to the conference finals.

And the Sharks?

San Jose made headlines by going on an 18-0-2 run which ended in early April, and had also picked up all-star defenseman Brian Campbell during the streak. Many were picking the Sharks, led by the clutch goaltending of Evgeni Nabokov, to go all the way in the 2008 playoffs.

So, when the Stars-Sharks series started, many thought Dallas' run would come to an end.

On the one hand, you have a team going into the playoffs on a roll (Sharks), and on the other, you have one going in the opposite direction (Stars). If I'd told you someone would be up three-zip after the first three, you'd all be thinking it was San Jose.

Reminds me of the 1992-93 Boston Bruins, a team that won 51 games during the season and ended the regular campaign on a ridiculous 19-4-0 streak. The Bruins were facing the Buffalo Sabres, an outfit that had lost the last seven games heading in.

Boston lost two of the first three in overtime, and ultimately fell again in extra time in the fourth game, getting ousted in humiliating fashion.

As a Bruins fan 15 years earlier, it was definitely a devastating blow the way the team got swept especially given the high expectations surrounding the black and gold.

Surely, it's understandable to see how Sharks fans are similarly devasted, in the wake of Tuesday night's Game Three loss.

Yes, the Sharks were robbed when they had a goal called back in the first period. Still, amazingly, for the third straight game, San Jose scored first, and yet lost for the third straight time.

In fact, every single game in the series has been difficult to swallow for the Sharks, to be sure. After the heart-breaking 3-2 OT loss in Game One, a game in which San Jose outshot the visitors 27-18, the Sharks suffered a major meltdown in Game Two. Incredibly, the men in teal took a 2-1 lead into the third period only to surrender four unanswered goals to Dallas.

Like the '92-93 Bruins, the '07-08 Sharks have lost two of the first three in an extra period.

The Bruins never recovered after that disaster that spring, and changes will surely take place in San Jose this off-season as well.

Head coach Ron Wilson surely will be the first to go, and who will follow him?