SHARKSPAGE

Fear the Playoff Beard: Can the Sharks steal some of Brian Wilson’s playoff beard mojo?

BRIAN WILSON'S LEGENDARY BEARD VS SHARKS PLAYOFF BEARDS

SHARKS C TORREY MITCHELL'S RESPECTABLE 2010 PLAYOFF BEARD

The San Francisco Giants rode closer Brian Wilson and his Fear the Beard power to a World Series title last November. It broke a 56-year championship drought for the city by the bay. The ensuing celebration is only starting to die down 5 months later.

The San Jose Sharks entered their seventh straight postseason as a darkhorse second seed. While the Giants shocked the baseball world to put together a surprising World Series run, the Sharks have been Stanley Cup favorites or contenders for a number of years only to fall short. That changed this year. The Vancouver Canucks were the sexy pick out of the West, and any number of teams that couldn’t last a week in the Pacific Division grindhouse received most of the pub back East.

This year the Sharks are ralling around the playoff beard, and it has paid off. In regulation so far this postseason, San Jose is 2-2. In overtime, a perfect 4-0. Did some of Brian Wilson’s beard intimidation mojo make the trip down highway 101 to San Jose? “They had one big beard,” Torrey Mitchell told the Mercury News. “We’ve got a bunch of little beards.”

The attempt to bring to fruition the Chicago Blackhawks playoff mullet thankfully died an early death last year, but the playoff hockey beard has it’s own long and storied tradition. Utilized in the 80’s by a New York Islanders dynasty that won four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83 (and lost to Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals in 84), the tradition was reintroduced to modern hockey with the New Jersey Devils run in 1995. The Devils won three Stanley Cups over the next nine seasons (95, 00, 03). Hockey players are a particularly superstious lot, and based on those results the playoff beard became a defacto league standard. The Sharks adopted the tradition, and asked players and fans to join in an effort to raise money for local causes.

In the third annual beardathon, the team is asking fans to sponsor individual beards to raise money for the Sharks Foundation. The two main players on the beard leaderboard are right wing Devin Setoguchi and center Logan Couture. Setoguchi laid down the gauntlet at the start of the playoffs. “Its a beard-a-thon, not a mustache-a-thon or peach-fuzz-a-thon” Setoguchi said of the follically challenged 22-year old Couture. Fans back a long shot, and Logan leads Seto in pledges $1000 to $900.

In a random 10-player Sharks lockerroom sample, all 10 players agreed that veteran defenseman Niclas Wallin had the best playoff beard. A confident Wallin even voted for himself. “For sure, there’s no question about that,” he said. Eager may be a candidate down the stretch, but Wallin has done the best job to date of recapturing the vacationing pirate look Brian Wilson made popular last year.

There is only one question that remains. Will the actual Brian Wilson beard make an appearance at the Stanley Cup Playoffs in San Jose?

WCSF Game 2: Niclas ‘Secret Weapon’ Wallin and Ian ‘Secret Weapon ptII’ White score in 2-1 win, series tightens as Sharks take 2-0 lead

SHARKS RW #15 DANY HEATLEY DEFLECTS SHOT ON GOAL BETWEEN LEGS IN 2ND

DETROIT G #35 JIMMY HOWARD STOPPED 35 OF 37 SHOTS

DETROIT C #13 PAVEL DATSYUK FIRES SHOT OFF POST IN 1ST

The San Jose Sharks broke out their secret weapon in a 2-1 afternoon win over the Detroit Red Wings, earning a 2-0 series lead in the WCSF. Noted playoff sniper Niclas Wallin struck for his fourth career playoff goal, all of them game winners. In Carolina that lead to two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, a championship for the Hurricanes in 2006, and a ‘secret weapon’ nickname from fans as a result of his clutch big game success. In San Jose the 36-year old defenseman followed his best defensive game of the playoffs in game 5 against LA with even larger offensive performances in the first 2 games of the Western Conference Semifinals against Detroit. Taken along for the ride was Wallin’s defensive partner Ian White, who scored scored his first playoff goal on the power play with a blast through traffic on the point.

Up 1-0, Wallin blew by Todd Bertuzzi on the right wing before snapping a high shot on goaltender Jimmy Howard before Niklas Kronwall could come over. The puck deflected off of Howard’s glove, then quickly off his shoulder and face mask, and spun up in the air. It had enough english to carry it into the net for the second goal of the game. “It’s one of those things, you keep shooting,” Wallin said of his fourth game winning goal, the first not scored in overtime. “I usually get 3-4 shots a night, eventually one of them is going to go in. It is the whole team, it doesn’t matter who scores it.” Wallin and White combined for 11 shots on goal in the first game of the WCSF, but remained off the scoreboard despite creating a number of scoring chances. Sunday in game 2 Wallin and White combined for 2 shots and 8 blocked shots, yet each potted a goal against the regular season Central Divsion champs and last year’s Calder finalist Jimmy Howard.

White’s goal came on a first period power play after a give-and-go with Dany Heatley. Heatley drove down the right wing drawing 2 Wings to him. “He found a way to get it back to me,” Wallin said of Heatley’s feed on the play.

The Red Wings came out aggressive in game 1, challenging the puck carrier, getting bodies in front of the net and fighting for space near the blue paint. The Sharks doubled down with the same approach in the second period, kept their foot on the gas and broke the game open in the final 20 minutes. Prior to game 2, both teams stressed a need to keep potent power plays off the ice. That didn’t happen. “I had quite a bit of time up top and a lot of traffic, so I just made sure I put it in the corner. I saw a lot of net and it went in.” Howard had 4 Wings and 2 Sharks to contend with in front of the net. He was straining to look to his left, as the puck beat him cleanly on the right side.

The Sharks forward corps are divided into three solid scoring lines, and a fourth line that can add energy in critical moments. The SJ defense was described by one major pundit as “Dan Boyle, and a bunch of other guys.” The “other guys” were paired off with a left and right shot, and a defensive and offensive element on each unit. Sunday the alleged defensive defenseman created several scoring chances and made an impact on the score sheet as well. In the second period an offensive rush by Marc-Edouard Vlasic was followed the next shift by a dazzling offensive display by 250-pound blueliner Douglas Murray.

“Douglas Murray looked like (Sharks GM and former Norris Trophy winner) Douglas Wilson,” NBC rinkside analyst Darren Pang said of Murray from his perch on an elevated toolbox between both benches. Murray beat a Red Wing off the wall in the corner, drove the net to fire a backhand shot on goal, than tracked his rebound furthur out for a second shot on goal. His defensive partner, Dan Boyle, registered 8 shots on goal and usually keys the Sharks offense, but it is high time for the rest of the hockey media to start treating San Jose’s balanced defense with the same respect as it’s forward corps.

Special teams was the story of the first period on Sunday, and it became an increasingly important factor in the second period as well. The Sharks took 2 roughing minors in the first by Clowe and Vlasic, and Benn Ferriero took a 4-minute penalty on a questionable call. Justin Abdelkader checked Ferriero’s stick up, then fell face first into it. NHL players are expected to be responsible for their sticks at all times, but a player lifting a stick and face planting into it may be too much to ask at that high a speed.

“Obviously losing 2-1, we got a 4 minute power play early in the game and I didn’t think, with the exception of about 50 seconds of it, I don’t think we think that part of the power play was any good,” Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said in a post-game press conference. Friday in game 1 it was Detroit with a number of solid clears to run down the bulk of their 4-minute penalty kill. Sunday the Sharks did the same. The Sharks ran 1:40 off the clock before Detroit could even set up in the zone, but Niklas Kronwall created a great opportunity with a point shot late, and Pavel Datsyuk rang a shot high off the post (photo above).

There were a number of adjustments made in the game by Detroit. In addition to shuffling forward partners for Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, Lidstrom also had a new d-partner while Brad Stuart was in the locker room. The Wings also changed up a very aggressive penalty kill to one more similar to what Los Angeles used against San Jose in the first round. They utilized three players closer to the net, with one challenging the puck carrier. LA made a number of quality adjustments against San Jose, but the Sharks kept adapting and finding different ways to beat them. Detroit may suffer a similar fate.

The second period ignited hostilities between the teams, but San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan does not believe “hate” is the appropriate word. “I don’t even like that word. It is a competitive hard series between two very good teams,” McLellan said. “Hatred, everybody gets a little pissed off if you will at the opponent at certain times, for whatever reason. There is a ton of emotion in the game, and that is what makes it great. I don’t see that going away at all. They play a little different than LA did.”

Still, there was considerable emotion and tension on the ice in the second period. Joe Pavelski, one of the kindest players off the ice and San Jose’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy this season due to his work in the community, cross checked Johan Franzen early in the first period after a shot on Niemi. Holmstrom took a penalty for a half nelson on Murray in the offensive zone, then Pavelski took an interference penalty trying to hold up a rushing forward. Between those plays Antti Niemi closed the door on a Darren Helm shorthanded breakaway, bailing defenseman Jason Demers out for a turnover at his own blueline.

Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry took umbrage to a snow shower Pavelski sprayed Howard with in the first game, and he did it again on a subsequent shift in the second period. After a Wellwood shot on goal, Pavelski danced around Rafalski and came to a hockey stop directly in front of goalie Jimmy Howard. Friday Howard took a matching minor penalty cross checking Pavelski, Sunday it was Pavel Datsyuk wrapping him up from immediately from behind as Rafalski and Holmstrom got their gloves up in his face.

Neccessary or incindiary? Rinkside, NBC’s Darren Pang noted that Howard didn’t see it coming with his head down to make the save. But he added a question, “what happens if the puck squirts loose, you have to go there,” he said. In the post-game press conference Detroit head coach Mike Babcock said that his bench repeatedly ask the referees about snow showers, one by Pavelski and Thornton, and there were possibly others.

Asked about the incidents, Babcock reversed the question back on the media. “This is what I have found over the years. Any time I make a comment about any of this stuff, it just comes back to bite me in the butt,” Babcock said. “But I think that is a really good question.” San Jose head coach Todd McLellan again stood above the controversy, as he did in LA at least twice in the first and sixth game. “I have no time for gimmicks and that type of crap. If our players are doing that, they are going to hear from me first,” McLellan said. “But they are going to hear from me even more when they don’t go to the net and stop on a loose puck. If you go back and look at them, the pucks are bobbling around.” He added a final conclusion of his own. “They know it is not a circus, and it’s not about a clown show. We want them going to the blue paint just like the other team is,” McLellan said.

It is not about gimmicks, it is about gamesmanship, and it was on display clearly by both sides on Sunday. In the past, San Jose has taken what was given them without always fighting for their side of an argument. Hasek stopped play after one goal in San Jose, skated to center ice and had a 2 minute discussion with officials as all of the players on the ice looked on. It stopped the team in front of him from rolling with the momentum, gave his team time to rest, and put the focus on the officials instead of on himself or his team. Heatley may have drawn the ire of two Canadian franchises two summers ago, but one of his off scoresheet contributions is a regular dialouge with officials, regularly getting under the skin of opponents, sometimes offering a legal elbow sometimes illegal. It was needed.

Sunday in the second period the game started to unravel. Bertuzzi pasted Heatley up against the boards in front of his bench, then grappled with Ben Eager in front of his own. Bertuzzi got Eager in a headlock, then fell back onto his bench in a pile of bodies. Only Eager’s skates were visible in pileup. Both received matching roughing penalties. After yelling that he wanted to fight while in the penalty box, Eager jabbed and then dropped his gloves with Bertuzzi only to have the 6-foot-3, 225-pound forward stare at him blankly. Eager was given a 10-minute misconduct, but no additional 2-minute minor, a controversial move according to some in Detroit.

The play in front of the net, and the play along the boards heated up. Head coach Todd Mclellan was asked to point out a critical defensive play in the game, and he chose the last faceoff won by Joe Thornton. A more representive effort was a board battle earlier in the game. Two Sharks defenseman and a forward each one a positional battle below their own goal line, then helped move the puck to start the transition up ice.

1-on-1 battles, and success in the faceoff circle, improved in San Jose’s favor as the game went on. After a tough first period, the Sharks went 18-9 from the dot in the second according to McLellan. Gamesmanship by Detroit was on display in the faceoff circle and on a protracted icing too. After a scramble in front of Jimmy Howard, Pavel Datsyuk cleared the puck the length of the and head to his bench for a line change. On the ensuing faceoff, Valtteri Filppula took his place before he was summoned back to the bench by the officials. After a phone consultation, than a consultation with Babcock, the faceoff setup was let stand. The 3-4 minute delay started with Justin Abdelkader going to the locker room for an equipment problem. He was able to return to the bench before play resumed, in part due to Pavel Datsyuk’s feigned surprise, and his taking a considerable amount of time to skate to and back from the faceoff circle. It continued in the third, with Danny Cleary backing out of his faceoff draw to consult with a pair of linemates, while Logan Couture and the linesman were ready to restart action.

Through it all, the goaltenders on each side of the ice were exemplary. Niemi is regaining the lock-it-down style he perfected during a run of 34 starts, and goaltender Jimmy Howard is displaying a mental toughness that he was questioned for in 2010. “We needed him, in 6 of the first 10 minutes we were shorthanded,” McLellan said of Niemi. “He made some very good saves. The momentum swing there, the ability to play with a lead finally, was due in large part in his ability to stop the puck on the penalty kill.”

Asked if it was the best game the Sharks had played this postseason, McLellan grudgingly addmitted that it was. “Perhaps, it was the most consistent. We were happy with our game in game 1,” McLellan said. “It is hard to compare the intensity and the battle, battle ability if you will, for lack of a better word. It was a harder game to play tonight, so I would have to agree with you.” Now it is on to game 3 at the Joe in Detroit, a building where the Sharks have historically struggled. Recent regular season and postseason success aside, San Jose needs to convince itself that it is actually down 2-0 and come out like a house on fire. Give the Red Wings an inch, and they will take a Detroit mile (or in this blog’s case, an Otsego mile).

A photo gallery from the game is available here.

[Update] Sharks head to Hockeytown, playing at The Joe and even more on those snow showers – Mark Emmons for the Working the Corners blog.

[Update] Drew Sharp: Sharks’ Antti Niemi winning battle in goal vs. Red Wings – Detroit Free Press.

Niemi and Jimmy Howard have been equally brilliant in net through the first two games. These were two of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL during the regular season, but they have combined for only a total of six goals through two games. But the difference in these first two games is that the Wings wasted Howard’s sterling efforts, whereas the Sharks soared a little higher emotionally thanks to Niemi’s performance.

Nothing rattles a team more in a tightly contested playoff series than a goalie suddenly leaking oil. But Niemi was the biggest star of the first two games. “He was outstanding,” said San Jose defenseman Ian White, who tallied the game’s first goal in Sunday’s Game 2. “He made some huge saves. It boosts the confidence of the whole club. You can feel it out there. When your goalie’s hot, everybody rises up and plays that much better.”

[Update3] http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/7570/wings-sharks-lebruns-game-2-breakdown – Pierre LeBrun for ESPN.com.

[Update4] Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard vows he won’t be frustrated by Sharks’ tactics – MLive.com.

WCSF Game 2: Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock

Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

Ben (Eager) is an important part of our team. He has a role to fill. He is a big, physical guy. He gets in some scrums every now and then. He understands his job. We won the game and he was part of it.

We knew we had to turn up our game a little bit. We expected a much better night from them, and we got it. Obviously they were markedly better. They played very hard minutes in our zone. They only way you can defend them is by using 5 guys. If you get down to 4, or somebody is wandering out of position, you end up in trouble. I thought our guys did an admirable job. We did a good job around the blue paint. They came much harder tonight than they did the other night. At the end of the day, the two teams are pretty darn even. I think you are going to continue to see this. It is going to be a bounce or a break that goes one way, but if anybody should let their guard down, whether it is us or them, the other team is going to make them pay.

(Was it the best game of the playoffs to date for San Jose?) Perhaps, it was the most consistent. We were happy with our game in game 1. It is hard to compare the intensity and the battle, battle ability if you will, for lack of a better word. It was a harder game to play tonight, so I would have to agree with you.

That doesn’t surprise me as a coach (that Antti Niemi has had his third strong game in a row), or anyone in our organization, or anybody in our locker room. We come to expect that from him. I think because of his first series, we all got. Not we, but people outside our locker room got a little panicky about this guy. He is a solid, goaltender. He plays extremely well. We needed him, in 6 of the first 10 minutes we were shorthanded. He made some very good saves. The momentum swing there, the ability to play with a lead finally, was due in large part in his ability to stop the puck on the penalty kill.

I will tell you what. When it comes to snow showers, I have no time for gimmicks and that type of crap. If our players are doing that, they are going to hear from me first. But they are going to hear from me even more when they don’t go to the net and stop on a loose puck. If you go back and look at them, the pucks are bobbling around. They get to choose. They know it is not a circus, and it’s not about a clown show. We want them going to the blue paint just like the other team is.

Absolutely (performance in the faceoff circle was topic at first intermission). I thought we had a much better second period, I think we were 18-9 in the second period. I thought we had the puck a little bit more. Again, no secrets. You guys can figure all that out. They know it. We know it. Puck possession off faceoffs is very, very important. We were a little bit better in the power play area with faceoffs, we didn’t have to break out as much. It does make a difference at the end of the night.

Hatred, I don’t even like that word. It is a competitive hard series between two very good teams. Hatred, everybody gets a little pissed off if you will at the opponent at certain times, for whatever reason. There is a ton of emotion in the game, and that is what makes it great. I don’t see that going away at all. They play a little different than LA did. I think LA, there was a lot more crap after the whistle and whatnot. They don’t play like that. They play between the whistles. They expend all their energy there. That is the way it is going to continue.

Detroit (made game 2 harder). They played hard around the boards, they played hard around the net. They had more sustained time in our own end. You have to give them credit for that. They responded. It is a big challenge for our team as well. We went after them before the game. We talked about elevating our play to at least match theirs. We haven’t done a good job of that in series past. I thought tonight we had that.

Power play, Ian White. That is what we brought him here for, to shoot the puck. He did a very good job. Him and (Wallin) have been getting pucks through to the net an awful lot. That allows us to break them down a little bit. If you just cycle and roam around in the corners, eventually they are going to squash you and out they go. I am happy that our d is contributing. I am happy they are finding ways to get pucks to the net. That task is going to be even tougher when we get to Detroit.

We can work backwards, start with 13 seconds left or 12 seconsd left. Huge faceoff. We put our captain in that situation. He won it. The exection, Marc-Edouard Vlasic getting the puck out, and Patrick Marleau clearing the zone. There is a whole bunch of moments in games where you have to be sharp, and you have to be alert. As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t changing. If you let your guard down, somebody is going to make you pay. I know their team won’t. I don’t expect ours too.

Our penalty kill did a good job. As I mentioned earlier, 6 of the first 10 minutes we spent penalty killing. Nemo was a big factor. I thought we did some good things on the penalty kill with a few adjustments we made. If it gets away from you there, they get 2 or 3 goals now you are chasing the game and it takes the crowd out. It was very important early in the game for us to get that done.

Post-game comments from Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock:

I thought we were better, and yet we weren’t good enough. Obviously losing 2 -1, we got a 4 minute power play early in the game and I didn’t think, with the exception of about 50 seconds of it, I don’t think we think that part of the power play was any good. We hit a post. I didn’t think it was very good. If you score there, you score the first goal instead of them scoring the first goal. Then I thought we pressed and we had some opportunities. There goaltender was good, we hit a couple of posts, but I also think we gave up some opportunities down the stretch in the game when we were pressing. They have been better both nights than us in the second period for sure. Both nights it came after power plays, where they got momentum off the power play. They didn’t score, but then they wore us out for 4 or 5 shifts in our zone. Not getting your d off, long change. They got momentum from that.

The bottom line, I thought we came here to compete today. I thought we skated better and had more opportunities today, We just weren’t good enough. They won more battles that we did. By doing that they end up with the puck more than we did. They have held serve at home. We have to lick our wounds after the flight and have a day off, get freshened up and we will practice on Tuesday, and get ready to win the next game at home.

I still think we have to be harder for longer. I thought that in the second period, that is what they did. They were harder for longer. You pay a price if you play in your zone. It may not happen right at that moment, but it is going to happen over time. We just have to be harder on pucks. If we win d zone faceoffs, we have to be harder and execute. Harder on pucks in their zone. The more of those 50-50 battles you win, the more time you will have the puck. Both teams want the puck.

I think you are disappointed that you came here and you would like to steal a game. We still have to steal a game here to win the series. We understand that. Frustration is a waste of time. We all are frustrated at times, but that is a waste of energy. Just get on with it here.

When we engaged them in a scrum and knocked their helmet off, we went to the box. I would like to have seen there guy go to the box when that happened too. That is the way it is. You just have to keep battling, keep finding a way to get involved. Be as disciplined as you can. The penalties I don’t like that we take are the high sticking ones, the sticks on the hands. to me those are just freebies you give away. We can’t take any of those.

It was an opportunity for us. You get a 4-minute power play. We initially took a high sticking penalty, and then we got the high stick back. We got a 4-minute power play. We didn’t have much trouble in game 1 getting in the zone, tonight we did. We had the one good opportunity. We were in their zone and we zipped it around. Both penalty kills have been pretty good. Teams are battling, goaltenders have been good, blocking shots. If you don’t get in and get them under pressure, then suddenly you get nothing out of it. I don’t think we got anything out of that at all.

The good thing about it, I have a little bit of time to figure everything out. We got 5 hours on the flight tonight and then a full day. I might as well watch the tape without emotion and figure out (any lineup changes).

I don’t know about getting in your head, when they beat you they beat you. I think our belief in ourself and our plan, and the execution we have, I don’t question that whatsoever. The bottom line, we came into their building and they were able to win two games 2-1. I thought they were better than us (Friday), I thought they were better (Sunday). I thought they won more 50-50 pucks. Now we are going home. We will have our crowd. Now we have to do something with it.

I thought (Jimmy Howard) was excellent, but I thought both goalies were real good tonight. I didn’t think we test their goal last game. I thought we had some chances today, and I thought there goalie was good. There is not much to give there, they made some excellent, excellent saves.

(Your thoughts on the number of snow showers) This is what I have found over the years. Any time I make a comment about any of this stuff, it just comes back to bite me in the butt. But I think that is a really good question.

WCSF Game 1: San Jose Sharks earn come from behind 2-1 OT win against Detroit, Benn Ferriero steps into lineup and scores game winning goal on 24th birthday

#78 BENN FERRIERO BATTLES #23 BRAD STUART SHORTLY BEFORE OT GOAL

#78 FERRIERO IS MOBBED BY TEAMMATES AFTER OVERTIME GW GOAL IN GAME 1

#21 SCOTT NICHOL IS CHECKED ON TOP OF #35 JIMMY HOWARD IN 2ND

The San Jose Sharks sent a message with a come-from-behind 2-1 OT win over the Detroit Red Wings Friday night at HP Pavilion. A confident team where players are battling for each other, when on their game there are few obstacles they can not overcome. In game 1 of the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals, that obstacle was Detroit. On his 24th birthday checking winger Benn Ferriero was inserted into the playoff lineup for the first time. He delivered his own present. Shortly after a 4-minute overtime power play expired without conversion, Ferriero jumped on a loose puck in the offensive zone and fired a shot off traffic for the overtime game winner.

“For it to be his birthday and his first game in the postseason, what a birthday gift he gave us,” San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton said after the game. “We have to give him a birthday present, because that was a birthday present for us.”

With the game tied 1-1, Ferriero was reunited with Worcester Sharks linemate Logan Couture for a shift in overtime. Couture used body position to protect the puck in the corner, preventing left wing Justin Abdelkader from clearing the puck and allowing Detroit to reset at even strength after a successful 4-minute penalty kill. Abdelkader pinned Couture along the boards, but Ferriero gained possession with back support. “Couture poked it away a little bit, I was able to swing in there and grab it,” Ferriero said. “We tried to throw pucks to his feet all game long, get rebounds and stuff like that. Sprinted out of the corner, threw it to the net, and it hit a stick or a skate, I couldn’t really tell. It took a good bounce and ended up in the back of the net.” It was Ferriero’s first career NHL playoff game and his first career NHL playoff goal.

Was that the biggest goal he has scored in his career? “Yeah, I would say so,” Ferriero told reporters after the game. Asked about his second biggest goal, he noted a triple overtime game winner against UNH, “but that doesn’t compare to this one,” Ferriero said. The Massachusetts high school and Boston College product was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 7th round in 2006, but he was not signed after he finished his collegiate career. With deeps roots in the Northeastern hockey community, the Sharks scouting staff picked him up as a free agent in 2009. Ferriero made an impression for his intelligent two-way play during a number of NHL callups over the next two seasons. He played in 22 games for San Jose registering 5 points, and 33 games this season registering 5 goals and 9 points.

Ferriero’s insertion into the lineup was unexpected, his performance in OT was not. The Sharks development system takes players with strong offensive instincts, and churns out intelligent, defensively responsible 2-way players that can fill in when needed. Veteran or rookie, sometimes playoff emotions can lead to a player trying to do too much, as may have been the case with Jamie McGinn in game 6 of the WCQF. McGinn took a 5-minute major late in the game, and he was replaced in the lineup by Ferriero. While Detroit’s third and fourth line depth has been highly touted, the Sharks system has 4-5 young developing forwards that can come in and perform including Ferriero, Jamie McGinn, John McCarthy and Andrew Desjardins. A Tommy Wingels and Cam MacIntyre may be a little futhur along in the SJ development process, but both may be expected to make more of an impact down the line. While Detroit registered 10 different goal scorers in only 4 first round games, the fact that San Jose has a number of young players battling veterans Jamal Mayers and Ben Eager for an opportunity to play is a sign of San Jose’s depth.

The Sharks and Red Wings play a similar net front, grinding, shots on goal system, but the execution of that system in game 1 gave a clear advantage to San Jose. Detroit regained the services of Henrik Zetterberg (46 playoff goals, 7 game winning playoff goals) and Johan Franzen (37 playoff goals, 11 game winning playoff goals) after knee and ankle injuries limited their play against Phoenix. Both made an impact in the first period. Daniel Cleary, Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom all waged massive battles in front of San Jose Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi. Cleary and Holmstrom were particularly effective, with Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic being the defenseman tasked with wedging them from out in front of the crease. 6-foot-3, 225-pound Todd Bertuzzi played a little off the net, and on the bench head coach Mike Babcock could be seen over his shoulder after a couple of his shifts. Getting to the front of the net had to be a priority for #44.

The opening goal of the game came on a clean offensive zone faceoff win by Pavel Datsyuk against Scott Nichol. Datsyuk held on to the puck enough to give Zetterberg lead time down low, then he dumped it down in the corner. After a pair of Sharks overloaded on Zetterberg, Datsyuk picked up the loose puck and reversed up the wall. He lifted a saucer pass between the sticks of Nichol and Thornton, and hit a charging Nicklas Lidstrom in stride. Lidstrom wristed a quick shot that snuck just outside the glove of Niemi. The Datsyuk-Lidstrom combination may be one of the best in the history of the NHL, but unlike the highlight reel dekes it is the attention to detail on smaller routine plays that make them stand out among a league full of star players.

As the Sharks did against Los Angeles on several occasions, there was a switched flipped internally, and they dominated long stretches of the second period. “We had 3 minutes at the start of the second, and 3 minutes at the end, other than that they dominated the whole period,” Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said in a press conference. The second period adjustment San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan made had to be to get traffic in front of the net. If and when a goaltender stands on his head and makes 40-50 saves, which happens often against San Jose, then players may be directed to get in their head a little more, spray them with ice, make contact.

There are numerous complaints about a first round exit against Anaheim two years ago, the main culprit was allowing a technical Jonas Hiller to play his game without much of a disturbance. Devin Setoguchi only has 1 goal so far in the playoff (an OT GW vs LA in game 3), “ice cold” according to one national commentator, but Setoguchi alone has made more contact with goalies to date in this postseason than in the 2006 amd 2007 playoff runs combined. A partial list of the traffic in front of Jimmy Howard in the second period: Setoguchi, Setoguchi (tipped shot), Couture (tipped shot), Setoguchi (tipped shot), Thornton (tipped shot), Heatley, Mitchell (tipped shot) and Scott Nichol. The Sharks outshot Detroit 18-9 in the period, although a number of shots deflected off traffic, but were still unable to break through on the scoreboard.

A struggling post-season Sharks power play (2-for-23, 8.7%) met a struggling post-season Detroit penalty kill (12-for-18, 66.7%) in the third period. It was a controversial penalty as Bertuzzi was called for a hit on Pavelski, while two very heavy checks by Ryane Clowe were not. Howard, who had made highlight reel saves on Torrey Mitchell and Joe Pavelski in the second period, stopped a big point shot by Joe Thornton. The puck deflected into the air, and was batted home by Joe Pavelski to tie the game.

The turning point may have come before and after Justin Abdelkader took a 4-minute high sticking double minor against Niclas Wallin in overtime. The Sharks dodged a bullet on either side of the penalty. “Abdelkader comes down in overtime and has a 2-on-1, a great scoring opportunity. We get a blocked shot on a penaly off of it,” Todd McLellan said. The Sharks tried to bear down with the 4-minute advantage, but the Red Wings outworked them. An aggressive Detroit penalty kill, which cleared out in front of the net and challenged shooters a lot more than the Los Angeles penalty kill, made several clears and got bodies in front of Ryane Clowe and Dany Heatley early. The Sharks PP eased off a little, and was not sharp in the neutral zone or on entry into the offensive zone. Setoguchi made a slick cut between two players off the wall, and fired a quick shot on goal. Demers followed on the next shift with a point shot, but Howard easily made the save. Couture won three 1-on-1 battles as the penalty expired, and the execution between forwards and D was solid resulting in several point shots on net. The power play may not have been a success on the scoresheet, but it got things together enough to dominate the offensive zone for the final 20 seconds and set the table for the game winner.

Right now in the Stanley Cup Playoffs there is an intense focus on officiating. In the first round, the Sharks vs Kings series was sandwiched by controversial calls and non-calls. A non-call on a Jarret Stoll forearm to the head of Ian White, a subsequent 1- game suspension by the league, and Kings head coach Terry Murray’s pointed criticism of Jason Demers and Dany Heatley all raised the temperature of that series. It nearly boiled over when Wayne Simmonds lifted the stick of Joe Thornton, and Thornton was called for a 4-minute double minor in the eliination game 6. Later in the game, officials called a 5-minute major on Jason Demers. With the exception of two 10 minute majors in game 4, the Kings received the penalty advantage in every game of the series but one. Two blemishs for the Red Wings in their first round sweep of Phoenix were undisciplined penalties, and a struggling 12-for-16 (66.7%, 16th) penalty kill.

For the Sharks-Detroit second round series, the league assigned two of its most veteran officials for game 1 of the WCSF. Former Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom stepped down from his position to return to NHL ice in 2009. Walkom has officiated the Stanley Cup Finals, Olympics, the World Cup, and is one of the most respected referees in the sport. His partner on Friday night was Steve Kozari, head instructor of the Kozari Officiating School and a veteran official of hundreds of WHL, AHL and NHL games. Even given the experience, a matching minor call on Joe Pavelski and goaltender Jimmy Howard received a vocal rebuke from the boisterous sellout crowd inside HP Pavilion. After a replay showed Pavelski being checked into the goalie from behind, the crowd erupted with several thousand looking at the officials and pointing at the giant videoboard. Detroit fans, legendary for their at times onerous interpretations, objected to a late boarding call on Todd Bertuzzi when two similar hits by Ryane Clowe were not called. Joe Pavelski scored the game tying goal on a subsequent power play. Any overtime penalty in the playoffs is critical, but a 4 or 5 minute penalty is the nuclear option for an NHL official. Monday night in Los Angeles that happened against San Jose, Friday night in Northern California it was Detroit’s turn. Kozari called a 4-minute minor on Justin Abdelkader 2:43 into OT after he got a stick up on defenseman Niclas Wallin. The cut, “it’s somewhere in my beard,” Wallin said after the game, drew blood. Kozari went by the book and made the decision. The Wings killed off the 4-minute double minor, but could not reset at even strength before Benn Ferriero picked up a loose puck and fired a shot off traffic for the game winner. Morale of the story: even with the best officiating in the league, officials will get booed. It is as it always will be.

The CBC’s Jeff Marek posted a list of NHL officials that will be working the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not on the list, Steve Miller, an 11-year linseman who worked the final game of the Stanley Cup Finals last year. After an EPSN investigation into Patrick Kane’s missing 2010 Stanley Cup winning puck, Miller was pulled when video clips apparently surfaced that may have shown him picking up an object up after the game. The league has called the matter closed, but an NHL official confirmed to ESPN that Miller was temporarily on hold from working the playoffs. “There are lots of questions out there and to have any potential distraction while our playoffs are going on is not fair,” NHL SVP of public relations Gary Meagher told ESPN Friday. The league can ill afford to have any quality officials out of the rotation, and Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada Pierre LeBrun noted that Miller will return for 2 games in Tampa Bay.. According to ESPN’s Wayne Drehs, the NHL drops from 20 (out of 34 total) linesman in the first round to 12 in the second round, then 8 in the Conference Final and 4 for the Stanley Cup Finals. Friday night in San Jose, Jay Sharrers and Brad Lazarowich were the linesman supporting referees Steve Kozari and Stephen Walkim. Brian Pochmara was the standby official.

Game Notes:

Game Notes: San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan noted that his team will be geared up for it’s first afternoon start of the season (not including two European games in Sweden). “The good thing is that we practice at 11 or 12 every day,”McLellan said. “Our bodies and our minds are prepared to show up and think hockey, and play hockey at that time. Leadership will be important. Coaches will have to prepare the team properly. We are both going to play at noon, we have to play the game irregardless of what time it is at.” The game will be a national NBC broadcast at 12 noon.

16 different Sharks players registered a shot on goal for San Jose, only 13 for Detroit. A key element of both teams offensive philosophies is shots on goal from the defense. San Jose had 20 shots on goal by defenseman, Detroit had 8. Combined shots on goal, blocked shots, missed shot attempts: SJ 92, DET 57. The Sharks are 4-0 in playoff overtime games in 2011, 14-16 all-time in postseason OT games. Antti Niemi finished with 24 saves on 25 shots, earning his 4th win of the postseason. A strong performance against Detroit also lowered his GAA from 3.99 to 3.40, and raised his save percentage from .863 to .878. Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard was strong in net, stopping 44 of 46 shots against including several of the point blank variety. The Sharks power play finished 1-for-6, and penalty kill finished 2-for-2.

Of 31 players tied or above Patrick Marleau on the NHL’s career playoff game winning goal scoring list, 16 are in the Hall of Fame. Marleau (tied for 18th at 12 GWPOG with Mark Messier, Sergei Fedorov, J.R. and Luc Robitaille), is 31 years old, with 3 years left after this one on a 4-year, $27.6M contract extention signed this offseason. Marleau leads the NHL with 12 game winning playoff goals since 2000-2001. Detroit’s Johan Franzen is second with 11. Tied for 8th on the all-time list at 15 GWPOG (along with Jaromir Jagr), is 40 years old Red Wings forward Mike Modano. The greatest U.S. born player in the stateside history of the sport was a healthy scratch by Detroit head coach Mike Babcock for game 1. Derek Meech, Kris Draper and Chris Osgood were also scratched by Detroit. Jamal Mayers, Kent Huskins, Justin Braun, Jamie McGinn and Andrew Desjardins were scratched by San Jose. 11 other AHL Worcester Sharks players and goaltender Thomas Greiss have also been called up to get a taste of the playoff experience and to help with goaltending in practice.

A photo gallery from the game is available here.

WCSF Game 1: Post-game comments by San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock

SAN JOSE SHARKS HEAD COACH TODD MCLELLAN AT START OF OVERTIME

Post-game comments by San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

It was great to see Benny (Ferriero) find a way to get the puck to the net. Didn’t use him a lot in the game. As it wore on and it felt like overtime was looming as we scored, we talked between that intermission and overtime about getting more people involved. Benny (Ferriero) was one of them. Fortunately his first shift out there in overtime, he ended it. We didn’t have to continue to tax three and a bit lines.

First of all, (adding Ferriero to the lineup) wasn’t a genius move. I can tell you that. We just felt looking at their lineup, and the way their third and fourth lines played, we needed certain ingredients in. We have really liked Benny Ferriero’s game, when he has come up and contributed. Ben Eager is a physical guy that can really skate. He can get after defenseman. I think both teams are talking about wearing down the blueline. He can do that as well.

Last shot wins. We have been fortunate. Abdelkader comes down in overtime and has a 2-on- 1, a great scoring opportunity. We get a blocked shot on a penaly off of it. You go back to the games against LA. They had their chances, we had ours. Sometimes the bounces go your way. You can’t always count on them. We have been fortunate thusfar.

The good things (about San Jose first noon game on Sunday) is that we practice at 11 or 12 every day. Our bodies and our minds are prepared to show up and think hockey, and play hockey at that time. Leadership will be important. Coaches will have to prepare the team properly. We are both going to play at noon, we have to play the game irregardless of what time it is at.

They did a tremendous job in penalty killing. 4 minutes, you are counting on winning the game during those 4 minutes. It could have been a huge momentum swing against us. We are lucky enough to get two or three of their players tired enough, win a battle, and then just get the puck to the net. Had it not gone in at that point, we would have had to come up with some composure. The experience would have had to come up at that point. We would have to settle the team down, and settle in for a longer game because the momentum would have been in their favor.

They are a very good puck protection team. They get an opportunity to get their asses out and they do a tremendous job with that. Our play along the boards is going to be very important to counter that. To contain them. Then vice versa. Once we get into their zone we would like to hold on to pucks and protect it. I think as the series goes on, you will see in the 7 games, that some people will eventually get worn out because of it. It will either be there team or our team. I thought we did a pretty good job of it, especially in the second period today.

When Benny (Ferriero) showed up, we didn’t know much about him. He was a late signing on our behalf. I think late August he came to camp. Sometimes it is a good thing not to be talked about. You just get to come in and perform. Your expectations of this individual aren’t too high or too low. He earned an opportunity to start the year with us. Then he needed a little more time in the minors. Every time he comes up he continues to play well. Sometimes he is a victim of circumstances when it comes to contracts and waivers. They understand that, they have to put there time in the minors. When he is up here, he has played well and given us everything he had. (What was he told when he was sent to Worcester of the AHL) Just to do what he is told to do. He gets more ice time there. It is part of the development. He gets to play on the power play a lot. He gets a lot more there. He plays in every important situation both offensively and defensively. Instead of being here playing 3 or 4 minutes, he is there playing 14 or 15, developing and having the ability to come in and play against a team like Detroit in the second round.

I thought Nemo (Antti Niemi) settled in well. There was a lot of pucks clanging in around the feet, and he found it. He was able to see the puck a little bit more and he settled in. It is nice for him to only have 1 against. Nice for him to get the win. I am sure his confidence will grow from there.

(Joe Pavelski) was pretty darn good. That line (Wellwood-Pavelski-Mitchell), once again had the puck a lot, controlled it. Everything about Pavs game we liked tonight. A little more command at the power play at the top. Not as many turnovers. Him and Dan Boyle both had good nights in that area. Faceoffs I think he would like to have more wins. He was a very key piece in tonight’s win.

DETROIT RED WINGS HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK SURVEYS ICE IN OT

Post-game comments by Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock:

I thought they were better than us. I thought that we looked like a team, that upfront, I don’t think we skated very good. I thought they were quicker than we were. I actually thought the first period would be our worst period of the game. I didn’t think that was the case. We had 3 minutes at the start of the second, and 3 minutes at the end, other than that they dominated the whole period. We took too many penalties. You can’t be in the penalty box and expect to survive. They had 14 power play shots. I thought that was a huge factor in the game, even though at the end they didn’t score there on the power play. They wear you out on the power play for 4-minutes, and then end up getting the game winner.

The bottom line is that we needed (the 9 day) layoff with the injuries we had in our lineup. There are no excuses for anything, you just got to come back and play better. We weren’t good enough.

Our guy came out of the box. We had killed the penalty off. Abdelkader was along the wall there with the guy. The guy turned and shot it. It hit (stuart’s) stick and deflected back or down or something and through Howie.

I thought Howie was good tonight period. I thought our penalty kill, one goal was unfortunate there where Miller fell down on the entry. They just shot it and it bounced up, then it was banged in the net. I thought our penalty kill was good. A huge part of your penalty kill is your goaltending. I thought he gave us a chance. I didn’t mind my back end at all, but they had way too much wear and tear on them. Their D had a night off. We didn’t touch them. We never got into them. We never got into the o-zone. It was a night off for them. We have to be way better than that.

When we have the puck in their zone (is when you create traffic). Traffic comes off of the cycle, off of a grind. Traffic doesn’t come as much when you are on the rush. If you don’t spend any time in the o-zone, you aren’t going to have any traffic. To me that is being physical, hanging on to pucks down low, that is working on their D. That didn’t happen for us tonight. It looked to me like up front we were legless.

(Did you have a problem with penalties called tonight?) I had problems with lots of penalties. We shouldn’t have took ’em. They’re penalties. What are you going to do. You can’t take penalties. You have to look after your stick. Could they have had a couple more? Maybe, but they didn’t get a couple more. The team that has the puck the most, is going to take the least penalties.

Q-and-A with Detroit blogger George James Malik on the San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings WCSF series

FLASHBACK TO A SHARKS-WINGS BATTLE DOWN LOW IN THE 2010 WCSF

George James Malik, formerly of Mlive.com and currently editing the prolific Malik Report on Kukla’s Korner, is a respected blogger in the traditional mould. Editing and compiling information from a wide number of sources, the Malik Report is a one stop shop to quickly gain your bearings regarding the Detroit Red Wings. Four years ago Mlive beat writer Ansar Khan answered a few questions during the 2007 Sharks-Wings series. This afternoon Malik offered his thoughts on what is expected to be a hotly contested second round affair in 2011. For Malik’s recent reports on Sharks-Wings media coverage, visit here, here and here.

[Q] Do you think the San Jose Sharks are still a Red Wings modeled team, or are there too many differences now to draw that kind of comparison? How are the Wings different now than when McLellan and Woodcroft were on the Detroit staff?

[GM] I think that the Red Wings and Sharks are still teams that employ incredibly simple styles of play — the teams are puck-possession machines which utilize puck-moving defensemen to start their rush and jump up into play to neutralize trapping defenses, they believe in cycling the puck down low and pumping the puck either back to the point or to the front of the net to generate secondary scoring chances via rebound retrieval, and their defensive postures involve playing man-on-man defense and employing a 2-1-and-2 posture instead of simply trapping, but after two seasons, the Sharks and Wings’ special teams approaches have changed significantly, the Sharks have adjusted to the loss of Rob Blake and the Wings have attempted to bolster their ability to bump-and-grind in the offensive zone as Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader have matured. Add in the fact that the teams have made numerous personnel changes, and I think you’re looking at two teams that follow the same general blueprint, but because of personnel changes and the simple fact that their coaches are learning/teaching coaches who constantly refine their teams’ games based upon the old “R&D” constant of hockey — rob-and-do — these teams are no longer mirror images by any stretch of the imagination.

[Q] Zetterberg missed the entire first round, but will return with a knee brace on his left knee. Franzen may or may not return after missing a game with a left ankle injury? How critical are both to the lineup, and how well do you think both will be able to compete in the series?

[GM] Zetterberg says that he’s adjusted to his knee brace, but he’s obviously not going to be in tip-top game shape conditioning-wise, which is why Babcock will probably employ Zetterberg alongside Pavel Datsyuk as he gets back into game shape. As for Franzen, he wanted to play in Game 4 but was unable to go, and if his ankle is indeed completely healed and ready to go, he should exhibit no more rust than any of his teammates. Franzen went full-out over the last two practices and says that he’s good to go, and I believe him. He’s not at 100% given his facial injuries, but I expect him to do just fine in the series.

[Q] Ilya Bryzgalov was phenomenal in the final home-at-home series with San Jose to end the regular season. He looked like a different person in the first round. What do you think happened? How much do you think the potential sale and reloction of the Phoenix Coyotes played a part, and how much was the grinding 4 line Red Wings offense?

[GM] I think that Bryzgalov may have been somewhat distracted by the situation in Phoenix, but I also don’t know whether he was injured, which is a possibility, and I think that his defense didn’t do a particularly fantastic job of keeping the Coyotes’ slot clear of Wings players pouncing on rebounds, and, put simply, the Wings found a way to get to Bryzgalov early and shake his confidence, and for whatever reason, Bryzgalov didn’t adapt to the fact that the Wings were victimizing him by shooting at his high blocker side and finding holes in his technique which could be exploited. That being said, again, I think that has a lot to do with the fact that his defense’s insistence that Bryzgalov would be the best player in the series almost seemed to excuse them from helping him out. I still think that the Coyotes played very, very well, however, and that while the Wings swept Phoenix, it was probably the closest sweep I’ve ever witnessed.

[Q] A question from a former University of Michigan graduate: Is there any hesitation or fear from Detroit in having to face the Sharks? In San Jose, Detroit has been dominant for nearly 2 decades, and has had individual and collective success across the board. After a couple of strong regular season performances, and a strong playoff performance in 2010, is the shoe on the other foot for the 2011 WCSF?

[GM] I don’t think that there’s any fear on either side this time around. the Sharks vanquished their playoff bugaboo and the Wings’ mystique last season, they’ve adapted, changed and grown over the course of the past year, and at this point, the “underdog” label seems to apply to one team or another based upon which “expert” you believe. Crappy regular season record included, the Wings aren’t intimidated by the Sharks, and whether they’re willing to admit it or not, they want to earn a measure of redemption here, and whether they’re willing to admit it or not, I get the feeling that the Sharks believe that they’re the kings of the hill now, and that they’ll successfully kick the Wings off that hill. This series is going to come down to discipline, execution and sustaining possession and control of the puck in the offensive zone. I think that arguing as to whether one team has an edge over the other shows one’s bias more than anything else, and all I can politely say in that regard is that I’m a Red Wings fan.

DOH Podcast #146: 2011 Wings same as the 2010 edition, Sharks a much different club, second round NHL Stanley Cup Playoff predictions

[audio:http://dudesonhockey.com/podcast/doh_2011_0428.mp3]

Mike Peattie and Doug Santana try to pierce the Detroit Red Wings mystique, note the Sharks have won 7 of the last 9 regular season contests in addition to ousting Detroit in 5 games last year, compare a remarkably similar 2010 Wings to the 2011 Wings, and note the significant changes for San Jose this time around, take a look at forward and defensive matchups for each team, make their second round predictions, and examine the wreckage of their first round picks among other topics on the 146th episode of the Dudes on Hockey podcast.

This Sharks podcast is posted here with permission. Visit dudesonhockey.com for more coverage of the team or download the MP3 file directly here.

WCSF Game 1: San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings series preview, a changing of the guard?

SHARKS CENTER #8 JOE PAVELSKI VS ENTIRE LA TEAM IN ROUND 1

SHARKS WILL TEST DETROIT RED WINGS G #35 JIMMY HOWARD

DETROIT RED WINGS 1ST ROUND WCQF VIDEO:

Game 1: 4/13 @Detroit 4, Phoenix 2
Game 2: 4/16 @Detroit 4, Phoenix 3
Game 3: 4/18 Detroit 4, @Phoenix 2
Game 4: 4/20 Detroit 6, @Phoenix 3

PROJECTED SAN JOSE LINEUP:

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi
Clowe-Couture-Heatley
Mitchell-Pavelski-Wellwood
Eager-Nichol-Mayers

Murray (L) – Boyle (R)
Wallin (L) – White (R)
Vlasic (L) – Demers (R)

Niemi-Niittymaki (reserve: McGinn, Desjardins, Ferriero, Braun, Huskins).

PROJECTED DETROIT LINEUP:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Filppula-Franzen
Cleary-Abdelkader-Bertuzzi
Miller-Helm-Eaves

Lidstrom (L) – Stuart (L)
Ericsson (L) – Rafalski (R)
Kronwall (L) – Salei (L)

Howard-MacDonald (reserve: Modano, Draper, Kindl, questionable: Osgood).

On a recent episode of the Discovery Channel’s ‘Deadliest Catch’, a grizzled captain explained the right of succession on a crab boat. “Sometimes old guys don’t go down gracefully,” he said. “You have to take them down with a hammer.” If last year’s Western Conference Semifinal defeat of the Detroit Red Wings was an actual changing of the guard, now the San Jose Sharks have to make sure they stay down.

The series will be won or lost in the trenches. Detroit pioneered the net front strategy that San Jose took as their own and adapted, but it is a game of smoke and mirrors. While blue collar forwards set up in the NHL’s version of the red zone in front of the net, it is the Wings skill players that intelligently slice and dice opponents at critical moments of a game. “Your best players need to be your best players,” and in the Western Conference it has been tough for other teams to match up with a Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Nicklas Lidstrom or Brian Rafalski.

This is not the same Sharks team from 2010, the same team that ousted Detroit in 5 games. Somewhat under the radar this season despite a league leading 27-6-4 run down the stretch, San Jose now has something they have never had before — three lines that can score in any situation. The depth on the roster, developed internally and bolstered with key additions before the trade deadline, allowed head coach Todd McLellan to drop Dany Heatley down to the second line with Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe, and drop Joe Pavelski to a shifty third line with Kyle Wellwood and Torrey Mitchell. Trying to overload on the top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi is not going to work. On any night all three of the top lines can take over a game. Now it is opponents that have problems matching up with San Jose, Detroit included.

The Sharks would be rolling a 4th line, but a 20-game injury absense for checking center Scott Nichol hindered it’s cohesion. Given San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan’s philosophy of building up his players instead of tearing them down, they should receive a full opportunity to contribute in the second round. The Los Angeles Kings, without leading scorer and leading 2-way forward Anze Kopitar, tried to adjust to San Jose by rolling 4 lines. Detroit will take that one step furthur. The Red Wings will bring more speed and more veteran experience than LA, but wearing down San Jose over the course of a game or over the course of a series has not worked as of yet.

The gameplan against San Jose has to be to play them tight, wait for them to make mistakes and let them beat themselves. Against Los Angeles, the bulk of their offense early was created on San Jose turnovers and undisciplined penalties. Playing Detroit that simply can not happen. If the Sharks can deliver more of a playoff style execution, then the game will boil down to details, net front battles, special teams. If San Jose continues to play with fire, tries to force plays and score themselves out of problems, eventually the track meet offense will come to an end. Detroit’s stated intention is to play a smart series. “We have to minimize our mistakes, and not give them anything for free,” Henrik Zetterberg said on Wednesday.

“We have our foundation, something that we believe in. We are not going to stray from that,” Todd Mclellan told reporters after practice Thursday. “We are going to look at a different penalty kill, we are going to look a power play that operates a little differently. Every team has their own set of faceoff plans. Detroit has that. The goaltending tendancies are different. There are a lot of adjustments that are made from team to team, and series to series.” The Sharks have a significant edge over most teams when it comes to the faceoff circle, but against Detroit it will be a more of a strength on strength competition. Matchups in the faceoff circle will be critical. Marleau likes to win draws clean, Thornton can occasionally bull rush forward, Datsyuk likes to dig in and win hard on his backhand. Gaining 15-20 seconds of possession at key times will build momentum. Trends and adjustments made as play goes on could decide a game or a series.

“I was saying yesterday that you basically close the book and you start over. Your power play, your penalty kill percentages, your faceoff percentages, it’s over. You start at zero again,” McLellan said. “You try to build them and be the better team in the series. Those will be goals for us as the series goes on, to be better in specific areas.”

Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock noted the depth up front for San Jose, but also credited their blueline. “Their back end has improved. I was saying yesterday, you don’t really know who there 5-6 guys are, you know who their 3-4 guys are. They have good depth there,” Babcock said recently after practice. In the first round, the Sharks defense played with seven 3-4 defenseman, Dan Boyle, Douglas Murray, Ian White, Niclas Wallin, Jason Demers, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun included. White’s absence in game 2 after a Jarret Stoll forearm to the head was concerning. His aggressive play and heavy point shot add a dangerous element on the backend to complement Dan Boyle on the first unit. Jason Demers, with goals in game 4 and game 6, also displays an abundance of confidence in his second season. Playing with a steady Vlasic, Demers has shown better decision making to take chances offensively, but at times he can take too many liberties trying to lay someone out. “Last year is last year, this is a different team. A healthier team. Probably a more motivated team than it was last year,” Dan Boyle said Thursday. “The room for error is very slim. We saw what they did to Phoenix, which was a very good hockey team. We will need to be even better than we were last year.”

Goaltending may be the bottom line for the series. With the expectation that Johan Franzen returns fully from a left ankle injury that forced him to miss a game, and the expectation that Henrik Zetterberg will return from a left knee injury that forced him to miss the entire first round, this Western Conference Semifinal may boil down to which second year goaltender plays better: Antti Niemi or Jimmy Howard. After a strong performance in game 1, Niemi struggled in game 2 and was pulled from game 3 in Los Angeles. San Jose went to their middle reliever on the bench, and Antero Niittymaki made 11 saves on 12 shots as the Sharks erased a 4-0 deficit. After another win, Niemi was pulled again in game 5. Similar to how the Sharks abandoned their defensively responsible second half play, Niemi started to get away from some of the things that helped him to an enormous second half run. As a team, the Sharks have confidence in him. Despite a number of questions from the media, it could take all of one game for the former Zamboni driver to lock it down and flummox shooters as he did against as a Blackhawk against Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose last year.

Niemi is not alone in the goaltending question mark area. Unlike the defending Stanley Cup netminder, Jimmy Howard does not have an experienced veteran on the bench to back him up. Chris Osgood has been practicing for weeks trying to return from a January sports hernia surgery, a dreaded injury for goaltenders. An untested Joey MacDonald will fill the backup role. Howard was a perfect 4-0 in the opening round (2.50GAA, .920SV%) against Phoenix, but he was beaten by a number of pucks down low that deflected off traffic. Last year Logan Couture caught Howard cheating with a hard angle shot from the goal line, and the Wings netminder never looked the same after. If a goaltender starts questioning his play too much, at times he can get away from what made him successful. Howard has another year of experience under his belt, but the Sharks will be looking to crack him in net for the second consecutive season. Scouting report says 5-hole and high blocker side on the left catching Howard.

History part 1:

The 2011 WCQF round should give the Sharks pause. Detroit dismantled a Phoenix Coyotes team that split the home-at-home regular season finale with San Jose. In that series the goaltending duel between Ilya Bryzgalov and Antti Niemi was one of the best of the year, but that level of play was not maintained by either through the first round. In Bryzgalov’s case, his upcoming free agency and the potential free agency of the Phoenix Coyotes franchise itself was swirling around their WCQF series. Putting distractions, past results, or a past goal against are keys for playoff goaltending, but few goaltenders have to live with the fact that their last save could be the last one made for a city. The league recently billed Phoenix $25 million for losses incurred this season. The city has until Monday to pay. One way or another, make the 2 year nightmare end.

An easy first round playoff series can cut both ways. The Sharks dispatched Nashville matter of factly in 5 games in 2007 and 2008, and subsequently lost in the next round to Detroit and Dallas in 6 games apiece. Detroit is an experienced, veteran lineup that knows how to take advantage of teams and almost make them beat themselves, but the Coyotes did not put up much in the form of resistance. The Red Wings put up 4-0 and 3-0 leads in games 2 and 3. A window dressing comeback attempt by Phoenix in game 2 did not paper over the fact that the defense and goaltending was a shadow of what it was down the stretch. Pavel Datsyuk’s poke around Keith Yandle, and through the legs shot on goal was eventually punched in by Darren Helm. It was a demoralizing circus goal, one the Coyotes never recovered from. The Wings scored from long point shots twice in the first 3 minutes of game 3, and Dany Cleary scored late in game 4 on a near impossible angle from the goal line. Bryzgalov cheated towards the center of the ice, and Cleary banked it off his blocker. Bryzgalov’s head was clearly somewhere other than a playoff game and given the circumstances it would be hard to blame him.

According to The Hockey News, the Red Wings were shorthanded an uncharacteristic 18 times in the first round. A penalty kill that operated at 82.3% in the regular season (17th), allowed 6 goals on 18 opportunties in the first round for a playoff worst 66.7%. “I didn’t like what we did and felt we didn’t have the same kind of puck pressure that we’ve had when we’ve been real good,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “We’ve worked a lot on it the last few days. We’re going to be ready to go and we’re going to be very aggressive.” It would be a departure from Los Angeles, who blocked shots and sagged back into a homeplate formation around Jonathan Quick. They played the body hard to prevent and second and third opportunities. An aggressive penalty kill could open up a 2nd ranked regular season Sharks power play that scored on just 2 of 23 chances in the first round. 6-time Norris trophy winning defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was not a fixture on the Wings penalty kill in the first round. It could be one of the first adjustments made by head coach Mike Babcock should San Jose start to heat up with the man advantage.

History part 2:

Fans in San Jose can be forgiven for wanting to put the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals out of their minds, but they have a more recent run-in with Detroit to draw on. The Sharks dispatched the Red Wings from the Semifinals in 5 games last year. Instead of coming off a relatively easy series sweep, Detroit had to battle Phoenix to a 7th game in 2010. San Jose snapped a streak of four straight game 1 losses on pair of big goals by Joe Pavelski. In game 2 (after an Oceans11-esque Shark toss), the Team Canada line of Thornton, Marleau and Heatley were reunited in a come from behind 4-3 win. A line of scrimmage battle emerged in front of both nets. The Sharks defense fronted a rotating cast of forwards looking to set up in front of the net. A cast that included Tomas Holmstrom, Todd Bertuzzi, Darren Helm and Dan Cleary. Then they would mix it up challenging the shooter, blocking shots and clearing the crease. Without a heavyweight defensive lineman like Rob Blake in front, it will be on a Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Douglas Murray and Niclas Wallin to step up to that role.

From the Sharkspage recap of last year’s game 2:

At the line of scrimmage in front of Evgeni Nabokov, a fascinating battle in the trenches is being waged by both coaches. At times during the first game the Sharks defense fronted the Red Wings several feet out from the net. They would mix up challenging the shooter and trying to block shots, along with the physical crease clearing duty. Sunday night the Sharks were getting a better edge on one-on-one battles. Rob Blake pasted Tomas Holmstrom as he tried to release around him to get to the net in the first. Douglas Murray lost a heavyweight battle for body position with Todd Bertuzzi. In a 30 second span in the second period, Blake hammered Cleary to the ice after he set up in front. It took 3-4 cross checks before Marc-Edouard Vlasic could send him to the ice again. After a quick change, Boyle won a battle for position inside of Tomas Holmstrom before the Sharks moved the puck up ice.

After Colorado scored 3 goals on 3 deflections off Sharks players in the opening round, San Jose started to get the bounces against Detroit in the semis. Nicklas Lidstrom’s stick disintegrated and allowed a goal in game 2, and an errant shot by Jason Williams set up Joe Thornton for a 2-on-1. The Sharks overcame a 3-1 deficit, and took a 3-0 lead in the series. Franzen scored 4 goals, and was briefly credited with 5, in an epic 7-1 win at Detroit in game 4, but this was not 2007. Joe Thornton scored a goal, and set up Patrick Marleau for another game winner to close out the Wings in 5 games. After the win current San Jose head coach and former Detroit assistant coach Todd McLellan sidestepped questions about whether it was a changing of the guard for the Western Conference. Soon to be captain Joe Thornton revealed just how big the win was for the Sharks as a team. “They have been the best hockey team in the last five years, in my opinion. They’ve dominated this whole League. They’ve gone to conference final after conference final and Stanley Cup appearances. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve been great for the last 20 years, actually,” Thornton said.

[Update] Red Wings-Sharks series and Game 1 set-up: which team’s more highly evolved? – The Malik Report on Kukla’s Korner.

[Update2] Red Wings better than last season’s team that lost to Sharks in second round – Ansar Kahn for Mlive.com.

The lineup for the Detroit Red Wings tonight in Game 1 against San Jose will be nearly identical to the one they dressed while losing to the Sharks in five games in the second round of the playoffs a year ago. Their two most notable changes are the additions of forwards Jiri Hudler and Mike Modano. Neither had the impact they anticipated. Modano likely will be a healthy scratch. Hudler’s spot is not secure…

The biggest difference is their third and fourth lines. Darren Helm has become an impact player with his speed and physicality, his ability to wear down defenses and create scoring chances. Young Justin Abdelkader has improved with experience, as have veterans Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves. That prompted Babcock to say this team forechecks as hard as it did during its 2008 Cup championship run with Dallas Drake. Detroit’s fourth line plays 10-12 minutes a game. San Jose’s plays about 5 minutes a game.

[Update3] Previewing the Sharks-Red Wings series – Jake Leonard for the SF Chronicle.

Shark Notes – April 27th

SAN JOSE WILL FACE DETROIT FOR 2ND STRAIGHT POSTSEASON IN 2011 WCSF

SAN JOSE SHARKS VS DETROIT RED WINGS
2011 WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Game 1: Friday, April 29 – Detroit at San Jose, 7PM, CSNCA/TSN/FSD
Game 2: Sunday, May 1 – Detroit at San Jose, 12PM, NBC/TSN
Game 3: Wednesday, May 4 – San Jose at Detroit, 5PM, CSNCA/TSN/FSD
Game 4: Friday, May 6- San Jose at Detroit, 4PM, VERSUS/TSN
Game 5: Sunday, May 8 – Detroit at San Jose, 5PM, VERSUS/TSN
Game 6: Tuesday, May 10 – San Jose at Detroit, CSNCA/TSN/FSD
Game 7: Thursday, May 12 – Detroit at San Jose, CSNCA/TSN/FSD

*if necessary. All times PST.

– The San Jose Sharks may have won the opening round playoff war against Pacific Division rival Los Angeles, but they lost the first round celebrity battle by a wide margin. In addition to the Late Show monologue on CBS by talkshow host Craig Ferguson at the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL’s all-time goal scoring, assist, and point leader Wayne Gretzky was rinkside for the deciding game 6. Fox Sports West’s Hiedi Androl asked #99 what it would take to make the Kings successful in the oversaturated entertainment capital of Los Angeles. “Winning makes a team in LA successful,” Gretzky said. Los Angeles battled back from three 1-goal deficits, but they could not capitalize on a 5-minute power play that stretched into overtime and were eliminated 4-2 in game 6 Monday night.

After a 7-year playoff drought, the Kings have made the postseason in back-to-back years earning 92 wins and 199 points in that span. Without their leading offensive weapon Anze Kopitar, they leaned heavily on young talent and pushed the second best team in the NHL to the brink. There were other celebrities that came out to watch the WCQF. David and Victoria Beckham came out for game 4 in LA. Cuba Gooding Jr., Will Ferrell, Kevin Connolly, and Taylor Kitsch among others came out for game 3. More than the celebrity appearances, a divergent fan base with feet in a number of different pools all peaked for the playoffs.

After being trolled by San Jose Mercury News opinion columnist Mark Purdy, southern California hockey fans inside the Staples Center acquitted themselves well during the series. Prodded along by former Cow Palace and San Jose Arena organist Dieter Ruehle (also the NHL 94, 95 and 96 keyboardist), the wild momentum swings on the ice were complimented by an exceptional playoff atmosphere. There were several rounds of “Sharks suck” chants that would not have been out of place on Long Island. The long procession of fans headed to a normally vacated downtown at night for playoff games was inspiring to many jaded post-Gretzky era followers. It could be a sign of better things on the horizon.

– In end of season exit interviews, Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi took an objective talent level assessment with regards to his team and San Jose. From MayorsManor.com: “The personnel side, the coaching side, the players side – we all have to look at ourselves. So, when you see San Jose enter in the zone with possession all the time, there’s a level of skill there – that I have to help them get on the rink,” Lombardi said.

The Kings famously missed out on the arms race for free agent winger Ilya Kovalchuk this offseason. After a 17-year, $102 million contract was rejected by the NHL, Kovalchuk signed a 15-year, $100 million deal to remain with the New Jersey Devils and promptly record near career lows in goals (31), points (60) and +/- (-26). In late February the Kings put Marco Sturm on waivers where he was picked up in a depth move by the Washington Capitals. Sturm finished the regular season with a goal and 4 assists in his last 6 games. Almost a month after the Sturm transaction, leading scorer Anze Kopitar and second leading scorer Justin Williams both went down with injuries. Lombardi paid a steep price for deadline pickup Dustin Penner (Colten Teubert, 1st 2011, 2nd 2012), but Penner alone was not enough in the playoffs. He was demoted to a makeshift 4th line in game 6 with Jarret Stoll and enforcer Kevin Westgarth. More front line talent needs to be added in the offseason. Forward prospects Brayden Schenn, Andrei Loktionov, Tyler Toffoli all have the skill to be impact players, but their talent will be staggered additions into the lineup long term.

– After Joe Thornton sparked a wild team celebration with his game winner in OT, there was a non-controversy controversy regarding the handshake line and twitter responses from players after the game. Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray shook hands with the Sharks coaching staff after the series loss, but Murray did not join assistant coaches John Stevens or Jamie Kompon in the handshake line to shake the hands of Sharks players. Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi asked via twitter why Terry Murray did not join the handshake line. “Too bad Murray didn’t have class to shake hands like players (who bled) and asst coaches,” Jamal Mayers also said on twitter.

In a response on Tuesday to Darren Dreger, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray said his intention was to compliment the players through the media. “It has always been about the players, my opportunity to complement the opponent is through the media which I did several times in the series,” Murray told Dreger. “Last night I said that they were good enough to win four series in this year’s playoffs. That’s high praise coming from me.” Dreger quickly moved on to the twitter responses by Setoguchi and Mayers, and asked if they had crossed the line. Today, Devin Setoguchi told David Pollak of the Mercury News that he regretted asking a legitimate question, but Mayers stood firm with his criticism. “I think that you have to be responsible in what you say and you have to be prepared to back whatever you do say… It was meant as a question,” Mayers said.

Respected TSN analyst Bob McKenzie noted Tuesday that many NHL coaches do not take part in the handshake line tradition. “Some do shake but say no obligation,” McKenzie noted via twitter. In a subsequent tweet to Sharks rookie Logan Couture, McKenzie also wrote that many coaches belived it was a player only ritual. “Tortorella didn’t, Carlyle didn’t. Lots do. Lots don’t,” McKenzie said of coaches participation. A night earlier after being eliminated, Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle congratulated the Nashville coaching staff and left the ice.

The entire NHL is going through a transition, the San Jose Sharks have been ahead of the curve and adjusted to changes better than most. Mistakes will be made, but this was not one of those times. Crossing the line in this instance would be limiting the players ability to express themselves and interact with fans if they chose to do so. It would be a departure from several of the fundamental post-lockout changes that lead to the NHL’s current grassroots popularity and support.

With regards to Terry Murray choosing not to shake hands with players, even if it was not a public or personal obligation, it should have been done. Murray had made pointed criticisms towards individual Sharks players during the series, notabley Jason Demers and Dany Heatley. A look in the eye and a handshake means the players and teams can move forward. When you meet 2 or 3 times in the pre-season, 6 times in divisional play, and 6 times in the postseason, the next game is always around the corner. Things can build quickly. The Los Angeles Kings also developed the top youth hockey development system in the state, followed closely by the San Jose Jr Sharks system. What happens on NHL ice sometimes flows pretty quickly to youth hockey rinks. Respect for the opponent, and respect for the game are core principals a lot of younger hockey players are taught. That is embodied by the handshake line between players and coaching staffs that just slugged it out through a bitter playoff series.

“I think that’s what our sport is all about. It looks like we’re battling for every inch and we are, but at the end of day, it’s about how much respect you have for your opponent and how hard they battled,” center Scott Nichol told SJsharks.com of the longstanding NHL tradition. Nichol, and his play against Kings defeneman Drew Doughty and Matt Greene, was cited by Murray as the reason the Sharks game 4. “It’s great to look the guys in the eye and shake their hand and they tell you good luck and keep going. You tell them how great the series was and that it could have gone either way. That’s what’s so special about our sport,” Nichol said.

– In pre SJ-LA mainstream media prognostications, 8 of 8 ESPN analysts correctly predicted the Sharks over LA. TSN’s Ray Ferraro predicted that the Sharks would take advantage of their underground second half campaign, and build on the experience they had going to the Western Conference Finals a year earlier. “Nobody has really spoken about the Sharks… this is a very confident, very healthy team heading into the playoffs.” Last year the Sharks top two right wings were hobbled by injuries, Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi. Two years earlier Patrick Marleau remained on the ice despite looking about 60% after suffering the first knee injury of his career. Every team deals with injuries in the post season, but the fact that a lot of media assessments were made about all three players without acknowledging the stark difference in their performance was unsettling. Ferraro noted the Sharks achilles heel as being the defense’s ability to move the puck. They are “Dan Boyle and a lot of other guys”, Ferraro said.

“The other guys” made an impact in the first round. Above and beyond his 2 goals and assist in the series, second year defenseman Jason Demers made an impact literally and figuratively. He registered 12 hits in the series, and nearly earned a suspension for a high elbow on Ryan Smyth. Demers ability to line up players for open ice checks has been fairly consistent, but this year his decision making has improved in all areas. A result was a complete defenseman registering 20 minutes of ice time throughout the series, an increase over his 11:10 average last year when he was an offensive and power play specialist in the postseason. The loss of Ian White in game 2 after a head shot was a critical one. On a second unit with Niclas Wallin, White was able to keep the pressure up when Boyle was off the ice. He gets a heavy point shot on net almost at will. The underrated part of the Sharks this second half may just be the defense.

The host of the Versus playoff preview special, Liam McHugh, noted that the Sharks have been a top two seed in 4 of its last 7 straight playoff appearances. Not noted, in each of those seasons the Sharks won a Pacific Division title. Former Sharks forward Jeremy Roenick added that the pressure is “absolutely not” off of San Jose. “This team is so heavily, heavily stacked up front, my only concern is on the defensive end,” Roenick said. He said the Presidents Trophy campaign of Vancouver took a few eyes off the Sharks, but that the pressure is a constant. “In that locker room, I was in there 2 years ago, I can’t even imagine the pressure that is going on in that locker room right now with the team that they have, and as well as they played in the second half.”

One of the reasons for the Sharks success in the second half and in the postseason is that they have played more for each other than trying to satisfy any expectations or outside pressure. “They are no longer the team to beat, but the team most likely to beat Vancouver,” Keith Jones said. In a subsequent Hockey Central broadcast later in the series, they pointed to Joe Thornton’s career statistics after a split on home ice: +135 in 995 NHL regular season games, -23 in 96 NHL playoff games. Thornton’s offensive production was down almost 20 points from a year earlier in the regular season. A sign of the change in his game, he finished leading the NHL in takeaways with 114, 21 more than next best player Jonathan Toews. In the first round playoff series against Los Angeles, Thornton registered 2 game winning goals, including the series clincher in game 6, 3 assists, 7 blocked shots and 11 shots on goal. Thornton was a matchup problem for a strong Kings defense, and his aggressive and consistent backcheck set the tone for the entire bench.

– NHL’s long-term business plan pays off, Media rights fee nearly triples in new deal with NBC, Versus – Sports Business Daily.

Though the two are friends, Bettman had a tough message to deliver: Days earlier, ESPN told the league that it would make an aggressive bid on the NHL’s media package. Bettman told Roberts that ESPN’s planned bid of $160 million to $170 million per year would test NBC’s and Versus’ right-to-match clause, which several media executives described as the tightest such clause they had ever seen. The clause gave NBC the right to match any deal the NHL signed with another network.

The NBC Sports Group came back with an offer the league eventually accepted, $187 million per year over 10 years. The Stanley Cup Finals would get broadcast channel placement. There would be a new Thanksgiving holiday game to supplement the Winter Classic and Hertiage Classics. 100 games would be aired, up from 60 according to SBJ’s John Ourand, on NBC, Versus and at least one other national cable channel. The NHL still has it’s international broadcast rights available for sale. It is an enormous step forward for the league.

The new deal may result in an additional $3-4M per year according to St. Louis reporter Andy Strickland. $7M a year for national broadcast rights is less than what STL receives from FSN Midwest, but it could help a team already maxed out on attendance with the 6th lowest payroll in place for 2011-12. For the San Jose Sharks, it will be an additional boost for the franchise after the March 11th sale of Strikeforce to UFC parent company Zuffa LLC. The Sharks parent company, Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment, sold its 50% stake in the second largest mixed martial arts promotion for an undisclosed sum.

– NHL playoffs could have their own madness next year – Bruce Dowbiggin for the Globe and Mail.

With double overtimes and improbable comebacks, the 2011 playoffs have staggered a lot of people. Usual Suspects has learned that, if the NHL has its way, the 2012 playoffs may be staggered. With the new U.S. broadcast contract allowing NBC and partner Comcast exclusivity over the playoffs, the league wants to take a page from NCAA March Madness and stagger the start times of the games so they don’t all go to intermission at the same time.

– The San Jose Sharks learned who their second round opponent would be after the Vancouver Canucks bounced the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night in overtime. San Jose will face a rested Detroit Red Wings squad for the fouth time in franchise history. The Sharks have a 2-2 record against Detroit, with 4-3 and 4-1 series wins in 1994 and 2010, and 4-0 and 4-2 series losses in 1995 and 2007. The Red Wings enter the second round after a 4-0 sweep of Phoenix. The Sharks finished with a 3-1 regular season record against Detroit, outscoring them 15-11 in the process.

A couple of playoff statables: The Sharks and Wings each have two players in the top 10 for faceoffs taken in the playoffs: 2nd – Joe Thornton (70-39, 64.2%, 8-4PP), 4th – Justin Abdelkader (33-21, 61.1%), 6th – Joe Pavelski (53-39, 57.6%, 9-5PP, 6-4SH), 8th – Pavel Datsyuk (43-33, 56.6%, 9-4PP). Both teams use a number of set plays on the faceoff, which increase significantly on special teams.

Pavel Datsyuk earned a nomination for the Selke Trophy Wednesday along with Ryan Kesler and Jonathan Toews. If he wins the award June 22th in Las Vegas, it would be the fourth consecutive year he was honored as the top defensive forward in the game. This is the first of the 4 years Sharkspage would not give him the vote. An injury limited season (56 games played), and increased special teams roles for Kesler and Toews would give one of them the nod. The Red Wings lost Johan Franzen for game 4 with a reported lower body injury, and center Henrik Zetterberg missed the entire first round with a sprained left knee. Both are expected back for the second round.

Up front, it should be a little bit of a mirror image between the Sharks-LA series. The Red Wings will role 4 forward lines with more experience and more speed than Los Angeles, but the Sharks will have the talent edge rolling 3 scoring lines firing on all cylinders. If Todd McLellan can get useable minutes from a fourth line of Scott Nichol, Jamal Mayers, Ben Eager and Jamie McGinn, it can be a factor late in games or late in the series. All 4 forwards earned undisciplined penalties in the first round. Getting the puck deep, keeping proper position between the opponent and the crease has to be see as a successful shift from them. Goals will come from the top 3 lines. Any message that needs to be sent will be on the scoreboard. In their defense, Nichol missed 20 games at the end of the season while the top 3 lines had plenty of opportunity to gel. The fourth line will only get better the more they play together.

In goal, Detroit’s Jimmy Howard (4-0, 2.50GAA, .920SV%) has the playoff edge in 2011 over Antti Niemi (3-2, 4GAA, .860SV%) and Antero Niittymaki (1-0, 0.66GAA, .970SV%), but Howard cracked in the 2010 WCQF series against San Jose. After a couple of technical mistakes, he questioned and second guessed himself until it snowballed. If Niemi can build on a game 6 clinching win in LA and regain his regular season form (35-18-6, 2.38GAA, .920SV%), he will make the difference in the series. He has been pulled twice so far. The Sharks need strong forward and defensive support to set the tone early. On defense, both teams are similar with puck moving and defensive elements on all three units. Veterans Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski have a game breaking edge over Dan Boyle and Ian White, but it will not be for a lack of effort. On the contrary, if the Sharks defense takes what is given more than trying to press and create, they will be more successful. Detroit and San Jose will both test defenses with a battle for net front position.

According to Yahoo, for the first time in recorded history (or 12 years), a defenseman other than Lidstrom leads the team in ice time. That would be Niklas Kronwall. Playoff time on ice leaders for SJ: Dan Boyle 27:10, Joe Thornton 21:41, Marc-Edouard Vlasic 21:26, Patrick Marleau 21:06, Joe Pavelski 20:06, Douglas Murray 20:01, Jason Demers 20:00 (11:10 avg last year).

– SB Nation Copper and Blue blogger Derek Zona tracked scoring chances throughout the Sharks vs Los Angeles playoff series. An index of his results is available here.

SAN JOSE SHARKS-LOS ANGELES KINGS SCORING CHANCES
(EV, PP, 5-ON-3 PP, 5-on-3 SH, NOT 4-on-4)
Game1: 24-15
Game2: 9-9
Game3: 22-8
Game4: 15-20
Game5: 23-8
Game6: 17-14

Total: 110-74

SJ-LA POWER PLAY SCORING CHANCES
Game1: 2-2
Game2: 5-2
Game3: 4-1
Game4: 4-3
Game5: 5-0
Game6: 2-8

Total: 22-16

– San Jose Sharks EVP/GM Doug Wilson was interviewed by KNBR’s Rob Brooks today (sans Fitz). An mp3 of the interview is available here. Wilson discussed Joe Thornton’s series winning goal, a team first attitude, the fact that both teams are very familiar with each other, and special teams among other topics.

Joe is so respected within the game. He is one of the great players within the game. Our players look up to him and do have that respect. I think Joe, a lot of the emotions were coming off killing a 5 minute major and winning the game. Joe is a guy that is a team first guy. He was playing his best hockey, all 3 zone hockey, in that game. I think he was 12-5 on winning faceoffs, winning battles. That is what he has done this year. The coaching staff believes in him immensly. He would have been just as happy if Logan Couture or Devin Setogchi scored that goal. That was a team first celebration. Overcoming a challenge just prior to that on the PK.

We do (both teams know a lot about each other). Playoff history last year, and the games this year. Our players know about their team. Our coaches know a lot about their team, and vice versa. I think as always it will be played out on the ice. I think as always our team will be looking forward to the challenge that is ahead of them. I think we have played well as a team. We have 7 guys that have scored over 20 goals, and 5 guys that are 60 points plus. I think we have got more depth, but it will be a heck of a series with two very good hockey teams.

Just like goaltender, (special teams) is about making the right save at the right time. A big power play goal is as much the right goal at the right time, taking advantage of your opportunity. Penalty killing, which we weren’t pleased with most of the season this year, they came up big when it mattered (in the playoffs). Particularly in the last game. And our power play was top 2 in the league. We know what our capabilities are. Now it is just being efficient and executing up to the levels we expect.

– Speaking of late night comedians, the third episode of Norm MacDonald’s new Sports Show featured the youtube highlight reel goal by Bobby Ryan against the Nashville Predators. Ryan deked it between the legs of Predators forward David Legwand. Deked it in the other direction, then made a hard move to backhand a shot under the crossbar. Nashville defenseman Shea Weber and goaltender Pekke Rinne were stunned. “Oh for crying outside, that is some crazy stuff,” MacDonald said of the play. MacDonald’s new show is a continuation of the savage comedy he used to lay waste to ESPN’s 1998 ESPY awards. The ESPY’s have never been the same, or watchable, since.

[Update] Jamie Samuelsen’s blog: Wings’ series with Sharks won’t be the same as last year – Jamie Samuelsen for the Detroit Free Press.

[Update2] Eulogy: Remembering the 2010-11 Los Angeles Kings – Yahoo Puck Daddy.

[Update3] Hungry Red Wings out for revenge against tough Sharks – Detroit News.

[Update4] Boylen: Too much whining and why Cory Schneider was still the right call – Rory Boylen for The Hockey News.

But we should hear something about it because the Sharks displayed why series are decided by teams and not referees. Despite being put in a hole late in the game, the Sharks fought through the penalty kill and managed to win it themselves in overtime. It’s good to see a team put up a fight like that to win a series – especially one that has failed in the playoffs so many times before. Winning like that is always better than winning off a power play goal. Remember, it isn’t the referee’s fault your team lost. Everyone has calls go against them at some point, but what separates the contenders from the pretenders is their ability to overcome.

The 5-minute major late in an elimination game tied 3-to-3 was not the only bad call, and not the only borderline call for each team. The Jason Demers (interference) and Drew Doughty (high sticking) calls could have gone either way. The second period high sticking double minor on Joe Thornton was a different story. Kings forward Wayne Simmonds lifted Thornton’s stick until the blade hit Brad Richardson in the face. Getting the call right has to be a priority for officiating in the playoffs. Bottom line.

A different result was referees Tim Peel and Marc Joanette Saturday game 5 in San Jose, won by the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. The Sharks put a whithering offensive attack on net registering 52 shots on goal, 14 missed shots on goal, and 23 shots that were recorded as blocked (89 total). San Jose drove the net hard, and the Los Angeles defense regularly put players down. There were nearly a dozen checks to the ice, or hooked players to the ice in front of the Kings net in the third period alone. No calls until Matt Greene progressively escalated the intensity of his checks and he crossed the line, twice. The officials were consistent in what was and was not allowed, and all of the players on the ice understood it except for Matt Greene.

WCQF Game 6: Joe Thornton’s slip-and-slide OT game winning goal celebration signals a berth in the second round

#19 JOE THORNTON CELEBRATES OVERTIME GW GOAL IN GAME 6 - TSN

Grizzled veterans often tell young rookies to act like you have been there before. Four Sharks scored their first career NHL goals this season (Andrew Desjardins, John McCarthy, Derek Joslin and Justin Braun) and nearly twice that many opposing rookies scored their first NHL goal against San Jose. Each time the rookie calmly skated back to the bench after nonchalanting the celebration, except in a few cases where they could not keep it in.

After a critical 5-minute major penalty kill in the third period and overtime, Joe Thornton sprung Devin Setoguchi into the offensive zone. Tying up Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell, Thornton drove to the side of the net and also peeled Rob Scuderi off of Setoguchi. Setoguchi threaded a seeing eye pass to Patrick Marleau, and Thornton spun off of Mitchell to sweep the bouncing puck around goaltender Jonathan Quick. The Sharks earned a 4-3 OT win to knock Los Angeles out of the first round 4 games to 2. Thornton skated to center ice and slid on his back until he was mobbed by his teammates.

“I didn’t know what to do (with the celebration),” Thornton told TSN’s Ray Ferraro. “Usually I am on the other end, I like to pass the puck. The ice was pretty slick so I didn’t know what I was doing.” It was Joe Thornton’s seventh career game winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, second in this series. It was also his first registered game winning goal in overtime. He had not been there before. Magnanimous in victory, Thornton immediately praised his soCal rivals for an intense and colorful all-California playoff series. “They threw everything at us,” Thornton told CSN California’s Brodie Brazil. “The goaltender played great. They just have a great team defense. I said earlier, this is not a 7 seed, this is a very good team.” One glance in the corners or in front of the net late in games 5 and 6, and you could tell this was an intense Western Conference playoff game. Among bitter Pacific Division rivals, the competition was even more heightened.

Thornton’s series winning goal also capped a string of wild momentum swings late in the game. The Sharks have never made it easy on themselves in the playoffs. Last year against Colorado they scored 3 own goal deflections off of 3 different players, but they still managed to bear down and win the series. That trend would continue on Monday night. Dany Heatley’s alleged third period game winner was followed by an ill advised Jason Demers penalty and subsequent Trevor Lewis power play goal. Then an even more ill advised Drew Doughty two handed cross check to the head of Setoguchi was followed by a 5-minute charging major and 10-minute game misconduct to Jamie McGinn. McGinn’s hit on the puck carrying Brad Richardson was flagged at 16:37 in the third period of a tied playoff elimination game.

It was a gift from the hockey gods (and referee Dan O’Halloran) to Los Angeles, but the Kings could not convert. Asked how the Sharks would approach a 3 and a half minute penalty kill at the end of the third period, and a minute and a half penalty kill to start overtime, Joe Thornton was circumspect. “Minute by minute, shift by shift. Win little battles and stay in the moment,” Thornton told TSN. “Don’t think about what is going to happen next, just stay in the moment.” The moments were excruciatingly protracted for San Jose and Los Angeles fans. A 6-player scrum in the corner was actually whistled dead, but the best scoring chances in regulation came on a heeled Williams shot wide, and a pair of rebounds sent into a mass of bodies by Ryan Smyth and Drew Doughty. Smyth actually raised his arms in celebration, but the mass of bodies and Antti Niemi made the save.

“It was pretty positive (on the bench after the 5 minute penalty call) to be honest with you,” Thornton told CSNCA. After allowing a pair of earlier power play goals against, Thornton said the Sharks special teams remained positive. “Our penalty kill wasn’t too sharp until that, so we felt that we had to redeem ourselves. With 3 and a half left in the period we felt we could kill that off, and then get a good push for the minute and a half and go from there. We did a great job.”

In overtime, the Sharks penalty kill was able to challenge Los Angeles entering the blueline and keep them on the perimeter of the offensive zone. The last two critical penalty kill saves may have actually come when Douglas Murray froze Drew Doughty’s shot, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic blocked a shot with his body at the end of regulation. Either way, goaltender Antti Niemi was big in a rebound performance one game after being pulled. “(Niemi) is the backbone of our team,” Thornton said. Pointing to the team’s mid-season turnaround, Thornton praised Antti Niemi for helping lead the Sharks to the postseason. “If we don’t have Nemo, we are not in this position right now. We are probably sitting in the 9th or 10th spot because weren’t finding our way early on in the year. He is the backbone, and we love playing in front of him.” Niemi stopped 26 of 29 shots for his third win of the postseason, his second in overtime.

Asked how long the Sharks could enjoy the first round win, Thornton gave them 60 minutes. That would be 2 minutes and 22 seconds less than it took to knock the Kings out of the playoffs. “You enjoy it for an hour or so, then you get ready,” Thornton said. “We don’t know who we play yet. This is just the start. We have a lot of work to do still.” That work will continue in the second round against either the Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Red Wings.

DOH Podcast #145: Series win over Los Angeles, controversial 5 minute major on Jamie McGinn late in the third period of a tied game, penalty kill, goaltender Antti Niemi

[audio:http://dudesonhockey.com/podcast/doh_2011_0425.mp3]

Mike Peattie and Doug Santana discuss/celebrate the game 6 and opening round series win over the Los Angeles Kings, level harsh criticism at referee Dan O’Halloran for calling a 5-minute major on Jason Demers in the waning minutes of a 3-3 hockey game, describe the Sharks critical third period and overtime penalty kill as one of the best in recent memory, discuss the return of goaltender Antti Niemi and breakdown whether the Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Red Wings would be a better playoff opponent in round 2 among other topics on the 145th episode of the Dudes on Hockey podcast.

This Sharks podcast is posted here with permission. Visit dudesonhockey.com for more coverage of the team or download the MP3 file directly here.

[Update] FTF Podcast: The House That Jumbo Built – FearTheFin.com.

WCQF Game 6: Post-series comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray

Post-series comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

You could think about it from that perspective (the 5 minute penalty kill being the turning point), but we also had a number of power plays that we weren’t very successful on. Probably at the end of the night it balanced out. It is magnified at the end of the night when you have to kill the last 3 and a half, and the last minute and a half in overtime. It balances out because our power play wasn’t very effective again. Probably at the end of the night that was a trade off.

(What did you think of the call) You know what, lets move on to the next series.

We weren’t please with the result in game 5. We weren’t very happy with the start in game 5, but once we made the change and got going we liked a lot of the things we did. It is a little reminiscent of game 1 and game 2. They liked their play in game 1 and lost, and they came back in game 2. I thought our start tonight was exactly what we needed. We needed that for the goaltender so he can feel comfortable. We needed that for the backend so they could feel good about breaking out pucks against a very good forecheck. We needed that for the forwards sake. We won a lot of faceoffs, we had some poise coming out of our own end. It backed off the forecheck, and took the crowd out of it just a little bit.

What did we learn about ourselves, we don’t do anything easy. But I am saying that with all due respect to LA. They played extremely hard, they were very well prepared. Their staff did an exceptional job in preparing their team to play against us. They did a lot of good things against us, you have to give them credit. We don’t do anything easy. There is some resiliency in the locker room. The leadership shone through when it had to. The belief in the goaltenders we have is important. We learned a lot about each other, just a part of what we hope is a long journey.

It was definitley back and forth. Just when you thought you had it, you lose it. I thought tonight we had a full 20 minute period that set us up going into period two. The game evened out a little bit, and then they had the momentum in the third. Really that is how the series went, tonight was no different.

We don’t know who is going to win the Chicago Vancouver game. There is no sense even speculating. If you ever find a coach who will tell you what his preference is, make sure you introduce him to me.

When you are a player of (Joe Thornton’s) stature, it doesn’t matter what team you are on. You are a focal point. He accepted the leadership role that we gave him. To see him battle through the year that we had, the turnaround that we had, and then to score the winner. We are proud of him. We are very lucky to have that in our organization. He cares as much as anybody in our organization. Not only about his players as teammates, but about the community, that a lot of people outside our locker room don’t see. For him to get the winning goal, to have the C on, to settle the team down. Keep in mind he is known for offense, but he was a hell of a penalty killer tonight. Blocked a lot of shots in the series, won a lot of key faceoffs. He broke up plays on the back check. He is doing a lot of things away from the puck that he needs to do to make him a successful player.

Nemo is our goto guy. We really believe in him. There was no hesitation to put him back in. I feel very comfortable with Nitty there, and his experiences. The guys firmly believe in Nemo. They have played against him. He has stoned them, and he went on to win the Stanley Cup. Now they are playing with him. They have seen the effect he has in the last 3 months. They want him in the pipes, they believe in him.

No (I am not surprised at Demers offensive output). That is his game. He is very creative. He is a riskier dman, if you will, so he has to be paired with the right guy. He has great vision, and he is prepared to turn that risk into offense. It was nice to see him score a big goal.

Without a doubt (the game 3 comeback was the turning point in the series). I mentioned it that night, we used our mulligan up 4-0 in the opponents first home game of the series. You don’t know what you could get in game 4. It could be 3-1 and then you are scrambling. That was a huge turning point for us. I think we woke up a little bit and decided that we needed to play a certain way. It still wasn’t smooth, but that definitley was.

Post-series comments from Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray:

I don’t think so (that Kings were still reeling from game 3 comeback). The difference was our own play with managing the puck. That was again here tonight, it goes back to the loses we had in the series. Three overtime losses, three games here at home are losses. That is why I called the timeout. I called the timeout midway through the first period because we probably had 15 turnovers till that point. That loss, that second period where they scored 5 goals really had no effect on us emotionally or mentally. We go back up there and we play a real hard game and came away with a win. That is not tied in, not related.

That is the critical moment in the game. A chance to put it away. I thought we did with 17 seconds left. There was celebration going on, people were throwing their arms in the air. I thought it was over. Again that is a missed opportunity.

It is hard to talk about (successful power plays) when you talk about a power play at the end of regulation going into overtime for about two minutes and you don’t capitalize on it to finish the game off and take it to a game 7. We are happy about what we did, but at the end of the day this is still the critical point of the game.

Going back over the year, it was a great start. You actually have a tremendous start to the year. You have a tough time in a homestand in January, and you bring it back together at a critical time post-ASG. You really get the job done. Guys dug in, the leadership, the players. Every player played outstanding and we got ourselves into the playoffs. We could have finished, we were talking about winning our division at one point this year. I look at it as a very good year, a very successful year. We have grown a lot, the culture is really pushing along the right way. Losing in 6 games to me, it is disappointing for sure, you would like to go furthur. If we could have just managed the puck a little better, that probably comes along with experience. It was lacking at critical times. We could have pushed that team furhtur. I am very pleased with the growth of the individuals, the growth of the team. Again with what we talked about when we first got here to start this thing off. Just to change the culture, I really like the direction it is heading.

You got to welcome frustration at times. There are a lot of young players playing on the power play. They are going to be better at the end of the day because of the experience they went through this year. Certainly just looking at the playoffs against one of the premiere teams. Things did not work out the way we want. They were put in positions where they have an opportunity to excel. It doesn’t happen right now. There is some lag time. It will happen next year. Players will be better. We will have better execution on that power play.

San Jose came out to me and play as good a hockey game in the first period as they have all year long. Mind you I haven’t seen all their games. Just on their pace, their attitude, their intensity. Lets get after it. We don’t want to go into a game 7. They played a real intense tempo game to start the game off. We responded. Quick was good. We killed off a power play, we were real good on the penalty kill again. We got things settled out. We came back in the second, and better in the third. Then you get to an overtime. You battle back, getting a couple goals at important times to tie the game up. That is what you are looking for. Guys dug in. Guys cared as much as everyone, everyone in that room cares about this organization, cares about this team, cares about their teammates. That is what I really love about this group of guys. There is a very big emotional attachment going on to what is happening with the Los Angeles Kings. From ownership, who have been tremendous, right down through our training staff. The guys worked hard for each other tonight.

The fans were tremendous, weren’t they? They give us everything we needed to come out and play the right way, settle it out after the first period. There was support. There was chanting for us. The guys appreciate that. You hear that on the bench. It is very loud when you got that glass in around behind you. You are in a chamber almost. Fans were great.

There you go. You are talking about youth. They have great games, they are having a hell of a series, they are scoring huge goals. Now you get into extending the series to 6, you are trying to get it to 7. Maybe there is a little too much coming at them, too intense, trying to sort things out and you get caught. That is another learning moment. You are going to see a better group of guys next year.

It was (their best game of the series). They had a good first game. They played good there right at the start, but this game overall for me for San Jose was their best game. Their first period was as good as I have ever seen them play. I bet if they were candid they would say that is the best we have played all season long. They carried the mail, they were on top of us. They did the right things getting pucks deep. They were physical, hard going to the net. We whethered the storm, and that is what you have to do. That is the one thing I really liked about this group here tonight. You have to get through the hard times, the big push. Now you got to get your opportunity to push back. We did, we responded very well.

That is because of Quick, we found that way (to hang in there). There was a lot of blocked shots. We have a lot of veterans that helped settle it out but there were far too many turnovers when we had the opportunity to get it deep. We were already over the red line, we were already in the neutral zone and we tried to make that one extra play which you just can’t do in the early part of the game. When they are revved up like that it comes right back at you. You end up spending an extended time trying to defend. It makes it a long night when you are playing with that kind of an attitude.

I don’t know that right now, there will be. You are right about that. When will it be, maybe in a month I will take a look back at it and try to sort this whole thing out. The thing that bothers me the most right now is that it was our own play. That was very out of character the way we played a couple of games. Why does that happen? I am talking about the fundamentals you have been practicing the last 3 years. On breakouts, counters, puck possession plays that should be executed 99% of the time. We just failed to do it.

That is just part of the game (overcoming injuries). That is the way it is. You are going to lose players. It is going to be key guys, role players hurt. You are going to have to find a way to get it done. That is what we have to figure out. You have to move by that kind of stuff. If you start to feel sorry for yourself when it comes to injuries, you might never break through as a pro team. There is no sympathy there, nothing is needed from anybody to say it is too bad. To hell with that. Guys needed to step up a little bit higher to do the job. That I hope will come now that we have gone through it.

Sure they can (go four rounds), absolutely they can. They got premiere playes in the world. They have three lines that are outstanding. They have guys on the back end that are very active, very experienced hockey players. Sure they can. You play like they did in the first period, they can go pretty deep.

San Jose head coach Todd McLellan’s decision to go with goaltender Antti Niemi for game 6 is a critical one for series

SAN JOSE SHARKS GOALTENDER #31 ANTTI NIEMI WILL START GAME 6 IN LA

SHARKS GOALTENDER #31 ANTTI NIEMI
27 years old, glove: left, 6-foot-2, 210-pounds

2009-2010 PLAYOFFS: 22GP, 16-6, .910SV%, 2.63GAA, 2SO
2010-2011 REGULAR SEASON: 60GP, 35-18-6, .920SV%, 2.38GAA, 6SO
2010-2011 PLAYOFFS: 5GP, 2-2, .855SV%, 4.30GAA, 0SO

Goaltender Antti Niemi will get the call for the San Jose Sharks in game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in Los Angeles Monday night. After giving up 3 goals on the first 4 shots Saturday night in San Jose, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said that his team believes in last year’s Stanley Cup winning netminder.

“(Pride) is a part of it,” McLellan said about the decision to go with Niemi today after practice. “There is a real strong belief in Nemo… I truely believe that guys want to play for this guy. It is a powerful thing in a locker room. As much as we are showing confidence in the goaltender in putting him back in, we also believe the 18 skaters will respond appropriately.”

A number of teams have already dealt with goaltending issues this postseason. Boston’s early struggles had fans calling for Tuukka Rask over Tim Thomas. The team kept faith in Thomas and he responded with three straight wins. Philadelphia did not hesitate to make the switch from rookie Sergei Bobrovsky after pulling him in game 2, using Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher. Vancouver went with Cory Schneider over Roberto Luongo in game 6, only to have their seldom used but talented backup get injured on a penalty shot. Despite pulling Antti Niemi twice in the last 3 games McLellan is sticking with his starting netminder, one of the bedrock players that helped the team engineer a remarkable in-season turnaround.

The Sharks collectively had a gut check moment of their own at the start of 2011. After an up and down start to the regular season, a 4-game winning streak before the Christmas break created the feeling San Jose was starting to turn its fortunes around. That was followed promptly with a pair of demoralizing losses. Then the Sharks started the 2011 calender year with a 6-game losing streak, in addition to 6 consecutive losses at home. It was the longest losing streak in 15 years.

Instead of finger pointing or second guessing, the team bought into Todd McLellan’s process even more while leaning heavily on Antti Niemi. The Finnish netminder responded with 34 straight starts in goal, second only to Evgeni Nabokov, while registering a 26-4-4 record (.927 SV%, 2.05GAA in that span). Then came the post-season and the Sharks second all-California playoff series in three years. After a tight game 1 against Los Angeles where Niemi stopped 33 of 35 shots for an overtime win, both goaltender and team started to veer off from the course they had established in the regular season.

As a team, mistakes by San Jose created the bulk of Los Angeles scoring opportunities in game 2. Niemi struggled with basics in game 3, and was pulled after 4 goals against in 41+ minutes. He responded with a workmanlike effort 35-save performance in game 4. Early turnovers and mistakes were costly in game 5, but Niemi did not bail the team out like he did repeatedly over the second half of the regular season. Instead the Sharks got on their horse and tried a furious comeback attempt with waves of sustained offensive pressure in front of Antero Niiittymaki.

“I don’t think we did a lot to help him,” McLellan said after Easter practice Sunday. “Last year and this year, any time he has had a bad game he has come back. He hasn’t had 2 in a row, or 2 in a 5-game span in a long time. He will need to polish it up like the rest of us do.”

Niemi will need a cleaner breakout from the defense, better management of the puck, and more forward support. High percentage clears off the glass in their own zone, and dump ins down low will be the order of the day. High turnovers, and beating players 1- on-1 or 1-on-2 will not. Either way, McLellan expects Niemi to bring the same confidence and performance he has game-after-game over the last 2 and a half months. “The last thing we are going to do is to start tinkering with that at this point.”

Sunday Niemi said he will focus on challenging the shooters more when they have the puck, staying on top of the crease instead of playing deep. Otherwise putting game 3 and game 5 out of his mind will be automatic. “Nemo came in and played real well down the stretch. he has been our guy the last couple of months. We feel confident in him,” Dany Heatley said. “When Nitty has gone in, he has done a great job for us. We have confidence in both guys.”

Last year in the playoffs for Chicago, when Niemi was hot he had shooters for Nashville and Vancouver second guessing themselves. Scoring down low was off the table, and forwards were making extra dekes and extra passes trying to set up shots high. It gave more time for the Chicago defense to close off scoring chances, and force plays to the perimeter. San Jose had more of a net front presence than Vancouver or Nashville, but with only 7 goals to work with offensively, they were swept in 4 games.

According to his former goaltending coach in Chicago Stephane Waite, Niemi made similar adjustments in the first round last year coming out of the net more and using his stick. “The Predators weren’t shooting to score, but rather to play the rebound,” Waite told Goalie’s World Magazine. “He did a better job preventing rebounds in that series.” In the second round Niemi was more patient against Vancouver, offering less shooting area up high, similar to the style he used against San Jose.

For game 6 against Los Angeles, Niemi almost has to turn off his brain and use what has worked for him over the last 2 months of the season. Sometimes thinking about making changes while you are making them results in the puck finding the back of the net. Building on the success he had last year after being pulled against Vancouver, and on earning a win in game 4 after being pulled a game earlier, Niemi expressed confidence in himself and in his preperation. “It is always a new time when you have to come back,” Niemi said. “It takes careful preperation, just getting ready and not thinking about it too much.”

The Sharks can take a lot off of Niemi’s mind, and off his shoulders, by trying to crack Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick on home ice. After surrendering 6 goals against in back-to-back games, including a failure to hold a 4-goal lead, the Kings doubled down on their top goaltender for game 5 and it paid off. Quick tied a franchise playoff record with 51 saves. Facing elimination, the pressure on a team to come from behind can mount exponentially. Against Los Angeles it would take them out of their defense-first game plan and force them to open things up offensively.

Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray downplayed the quality of a number of San Jose shots and scoring chances in game 5, but the reality was that Quick was forced to make diving stops outside of the blue paint at least 8-10 times. There were a half dozen hard collisions in net with San Jose forwards, and nearly a dozen scrums out in front of his goal. San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said he wanted more. Logan Couture alone hit the post on a point blank forehand from 10 feet out, and failed to convert a 3rd period turnover while alone in front a second time. The Kings can not count on those type of breaks going their way the remainder of the series.

After game 4, Joe Thornton noted Jonathan Quick’s inclination to sprawl out in order to make saves. The Sharks captain noted that they had to try to lift pucks over him. One game earlier, San Jose had success with dekes and misdirection, especially on the power play. That forced the aggressive Quick to overplay pucks and get out of position, a historical problem for the netminder dating back to college and the AHL. With the Sharks intention to get more bodies and more traffic in front on Monday night, one thing from the scouting report is clear: San Jose forwards have to be quicker to loose pucks in front of the net than Quick is. Over and over on Saturday night Quick was able to freeze loose pucks or clear them out of harms way with his stick. Evidence of his reaction time are also evident with his glove. He is often positioned to make a glove save well before a shot is made. A deke or a hesitation play could help the Sharks be successful on road ice for the third straight game in the 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

[Update] Kings Coach Terry Murray will stick with same lineup for Game 6 – Los Angeles Times.

[Update2] Niittymaki on his role tonight as back-up: ‘I don’t expect to jump in there and start in the playoffs’ – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.

[Update3] Weekend wrap: Nabokov’s contract, Richards’ options, Kings’ goalies – Pierre LeBrun for ESPN.com.

Some observers wondered if the Kings would start rookie Jonathan Bernier for Saturday night’s game against the Sharks, but truth is they gave it very little thought. From the Kings’ perspective, I think the concern is if Jonathan Quick would suffer any emotional damage if San Jose knocked out L.A. with him on the bench. My HNIC colleague Ron MacLean made a good point during our Hot Stove segment Saturday night when he pointed to Carey Price being pulled out of the Philadelphia series a few years ago and how that affected him the following season.

Having said that, Quick needs to expect a serious push next season from Bernier. The feeling in and around the Kings is, while Quick has been very good for them the past two seasons, Bernier is also a great goalie in the making and he’ll get more of a shot next season.

WCQF Game 5: Kings withstand withering assault for 3-1 win, 51-save effort by Jonathan Quick brings series to 3-2

#31 ANTTI NIEMI WAS PULLED AFTER ALLOWING 3 GOALS IN 1ST

#32 JONATHAN QUICK MADE 51 SAVES SATURDAY NIGHT IN SJ

#29 RYANE CLOWE ENTERED THE ZONE WITH PASS UP THE LEFT WING

The Sharks are playing an entertaining brand of hockey, but it is not playoff hockey. San Jose allowed 3 first period goals by the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night at HP Pavilion, and for the second time in the last three games starting goaltender Antti Niemi was pulled in favor of Antero Niittymaki. The Sharks waged a whithering comeback attempt over the final 50 minutes of play, but a standout 51-save performance by goaltender Jonathan Quick earned a 3-1 win for Los Angeles and sent the WCQF opening round series back to Southern California.

Prior to the drop of the puck on Saturday night San Jose head coach Todd McLellan noted that his team used an earlier game as motivation. “We were watching Tampa play Pittsburgh this morning. It is a warning to everybody that if you are not prepared to go, you can get blown out of the water.” Facing elimination, the Tampa Bay Lighting dropped the hammer on Pittsburgh 8-2.

Elimination games are the toughest a team will face in a playoff series, but the Sharks had girded themselves since mid-January for a playoff-style atmosphere. With scoring down among the premiere forwards, an emphasis on responsible defensive hockey and a more balanced offensive attack carried the Sharks to a 27-6-4 record over the second half of the season. In 37 games since a 6-game losing streak ended on January 13th, the Sharks allowed an average of 2.32 goals against. That was down from a 2.59 goals against average over the regular season.

In the last 4 games against Los Angeles, the Sharks allowed 3.25 goals against in the first 2 periods alone. Saturday night that came in the form of first period goals from Wayne Simmonds (3:36), Kyle Clifford (7:14) and Dustin Penner (8:42). Simmonds battled hard to earn the first goal, disrupting Niemi from handling the puck on the forecheck. As the Sharks overloaded 4 players to one side, Simmonds made a b-line to the net and finished the business end of a double deflection. The second goal came on an individual play. Dan Boyle tried to beat two players with a move to his backhand. One day after being called out defensively by head coach Terry Murray, Richardson stick checked Boyle to create a turnover. He spun and sparked a 2-on-1 rush up ice with Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford. Clifford was originally credited with the first goal of the game, but he earned his mark on the =scoresheet punching home a Simmonds rebound off the pads. The Kings have told the Los Angeles media they are trying to shoot low, and create rebounds off the pads against Niemi.

The third goal against came on a simple bad bounce for San Jose. After an intial backhand attempt to clear the puck out of his own zone under pressure was disrupted by Jarret Stoll, Wallin tried a second pass up the wall to Jamie McGinn. McGinn is a forward with solid offensive instincts, but he used a focus on two-way play to earn 49 starts this season. In the lineup for the first time in place of veteran Ben Eager, the puck bounced off of McGinn’s skate directly to Kevin Wesgarth. Wesgarth slid a pass to Dustin Penner, and Penner scored on a long wrist shot off the glove of Niemi.

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan immediately called for Antero Niittymaki to come off the bench. McLellan has stressed that three goals is the benchmark for his team. In the regular season, the Sharks earned a 14-29 record when allowing three or more goals. They registered a 34-5 record when allowing 2 or fewer goals against. Instead of giving Niemi a 4-goal margin like he did prior to Tuesday’s spectacular comeback in LA, McLellan made the switch in time to give his team a better chance to get back into the game. They would have to get past a Kings defense that sagged behind the redline in a third period 1-2-2 in three of the first four contests, and dropped 5 players deep around the net for a “homeplate” in front of Quick on scoring chances down low.

The move to insert Niemi in place of Niittymaki was as much to spark the players on the bench as it was to make a change in goal. “I was going to make a change and I wasn’t going to change 18 other guys, so that left the goalie,” the Sharks coach said. The lineup from top to bottom appeared to take the move personally. To their credit, they didn’t wait until the waning minutes of the third period to do so. The onslaught began immediately with Patrick Marleau cutting into the offensive zone and sparking a Setoguchi rush up the left wing. Instead of taking the puck to the center of the ice, Devin Setoguchi deked defenseman Drew Doughty and took the high percentage route down low for a shot on goal through traffic. Setoguchi continued his foreward momentum and got reversed clotheslined into the goal by 6-foot-4, 245 pounds Dustin Penner. At times in the past, opposing goaltenders could be comfortable in net facing San Jose. Setoguchi has made more contact with goalies in the last two playoff runs than the entire Sharks lineup did in the last three playoff appearances combined.

The Kings killed off a penalty on Dustin Brown for interference, but after it expired the Mitchell-Pavelski- Wellwood line created a quality scoring chance. Wellwood fired a quick shot on net down low, and a pair of Kings bodied up Torrey Mitchell as he battled for a rebound. Pavelski took the puck from the wall to the front of the net, but a mass of sticks and Jonathan Quick smothered his point blank shot. Later in the period after an excellent keep in at the point by Thornton and a tip just wide by Marleau, Dan Boyle dropped a spin-o-rama around Simmonds and flung a quick wrister on goal. Devin Setoguchi battled for the loose puck as time expired. The Sharks finished the first period outshooting LA 19-6.

“(San Jose’s) shots on goal, I liked our attitude in that we had a pretty good home plate,” Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray said after the game. “There was a lot of C shots, what we categorize as C shots from the perimeter. They still count on the shot clock.” Game-to-game momentum is something that has been talked down recently by a number of players and coaches, but in-game momentum shift-to-shift and period-to-period is real. The Sharks carried over their momentum to the second period, and kept the foot on the gas trying to get back in the game.

The second began Logan Couture carrying the puck into the zone and dumping it off the wall. As he tried to jump around the hip check of Jack Johnson, he ran square into an oncoming Dustin Brown. Some players place their bodies against boards when expecting a hit, using momentum and recoil to fling a hitter to the ice. Couture used the Johnson-Brown sandwich in the same fashion. Brown lost his footing but Couture remained on his feet, albeit without the puck.

Board battles were heavy in the second, and in a 4th line against 4th line duel Wesgarth and defenseman Matt Greene each took a shot up high against Jamie McGinn along the wall. McGinn got his retaliation with a shot up high to Wesgarth away from the play on the other side of the ice. As the Kings moved the puck on transition Wesgarth dumped the puck deep and narrowly missed a McGinn elbow up high. Wesgarth finished his shift putting Niclas Wallin through the glass with a hit in the corner. The pane of plexiglass came out of its stanchion but did not break. The Sharks picked up where they left off. A point shot by a defenseman left a rebound in front of Quick with Couture alone in front. Couture ringed a wide open forehand off the post and 10-feet into the air. It was one of a pair of can’t miss opportunities for the Calder finalist, and he uncharacteristically missed both. The second came in the final period after a Richardson turnover led to a quick up pass to a lone Couture in front of the net. A stick check by Quick stopped his second point blank opportunity of the game.

Patrick Marleau finally put the Sharks on the scoreboard at 5:43. After Thornton lifted the stick of Drew Doughty and created a turnover deep in the offensive zone, Thornton dropped a pass for a driving Wallin. From the corner, Wallin quickly sent a hard shot along the goal line with Marleau and Setoguchi each marked in front. Quick guessed far side, but the puck sat to his right and Marleau beat him to it. 3-1 Kings.

The first shift after a goal is important for in-game momentum. The Sharks let in a goal 15 seconds after Couture scored in game 3, and for a few minutes it blunted the comeback effort. Saturday night McLellan threw out his newly constructed 4th line for a critical shift, and they answered the bell. Scott Nichol carried the puck deep and hammered defenseman Alec Martinez on the forecheck. In the other corner Jamal Mayers offered a heavy shoulder to Matt Greene as he played the puck at the wall. At the same time defenseman Douglas Murray knocked Kevin Wesgarth to the ice at the point. With the puck in limbo at Wesgarth’s feet, Murray stepped forward to make a play on the puck. Scott Nichol skated in from center ice to throw his body into the pile like a bowling ball. The puck squirted free up high, and Dustin Penner came in from the neutral zone and carried the puck up ice.

The Sharks came close again later in the second as Ryane Clowe and Dany Heatley broke in on a 2-on-2. Clowe feathered a pass through traffic onto the stick of Heatley. Heatley took it to his backhand but was stick checked off the play. The Sharks outshot Los Angeles 15-12 in the second period. According to ESPN’s Gamecast, 9 of the 15 shots including Marleau’s goal came from the faceoff circles in. Several came on the rush, or with traffic in front. Inconsistancy has been a problem for San Jose in the past, but the 2010-11 regular season built up confidence in 60 minute efforts, and the ability to comeback late in games. The comeback from 4-0 on Tuesday only built on that confidence. The Kings sagged back into a 1-2-2 formation behind the red line in three of four previous games. With the same solid defensive core around Quick, the Kings also delivered several late hits after scoring chances in the third.

After a slick between the legs pass by Pavelski set up Kyle Wellwood on the doorstep, Matt Greene launched the Sharks forward to the ice. Wellwood slid up against the endboards like he was coming into home plate. There was no call by referees Tim Peel or Marc Joannette, who were consistent up until that point and let the players decide the game on the ice instead of in the penalty box. Then Kings defenseman Matt Greene had a mini meltdown late in the third. After hitting Mitchell up high at the side of the net on one shift, he got his stick up to the face of the Sharks forward and took a high sticking call on a later shift. San Jose pressured on the man advantage but a lost stick by Setoguchi allowed a clear. After the Kings successful penalty kill, Greene took a second penalty after he cross checked Joe Thornton on the other side of the defensive zone. Thornton created another turnover, and was simultaneously slashed to the leg by Jarret Stoll and cross checked high against the glass by Greene. The Sharks best chance on that man advantage came when Pavelski took two whacks at a puck in front of Couture. He then had his legs levered out from under him from behind by the stick of Willie Mitchell. Demers, Couture and Thornton were also taken down in the offensive zone without a call. Give credit to Los Angeles for realizing what the referees would allow, and for taking advantage of it fully.

Jonathan Quick surpassed his previous career best 42 save performance in game 1 with a 51-save performance on 52 shots for a win in game 5. “All that matters is that we get to play another game. We’re focused on game 6 right now. That’s all we’re worried about,” Quick said. “At times you get lucky and the puck hits you. You find yourself in the right place at the right time. That was the case a few times where it hits your pad instead of going off the post like it was the past couple nights.” Jarret Stoll, suspended for game 2 after a high forearm to the head of Ian White, finished 15-of-17 from the faceoff circle. “I was just feeling it,” he told reporters after the game. “Some games you can’t lose and you are just riding it. You try to get out for as many faceoffs as you can.”

Joe Thornton looked past the performance by Quick, and chose instead to focus on game 6. “We just have to bear down, that is the bottom line,” Thornton said. “We did a good job down in LA with bearing down. Tonight (Quick) was better than our forwards. We have to refocus, go and win game 6 in LA.”

A photo gallery from the game is available here.

WCQF Game 5: Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray

Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

No. They are trying to play that way throughout the season. I don’t think we let up at all at any point tonight as far as energy level goes. We still had a lot of jump in our legs. We were getting to pucks in the offensive zone. That is why they give you days off between games is to recover. I still like the way our 3 lines are going. I thought Jamie McGinn came in and gave us a lot of energy. Scotty (Nichol) would have been a little more usable had he won more faceoffs. Jammer was on the ice for a goal. So they all found ways to contribute individually, not neccessarily collectively.

We get tomorrow to decide that (Niemi or Niittymaki). We will spend time discussing that as a staff. We will make sure they are both feeling good, then we will make a decision.

I don’t think we just focus on tonight, we have to look at the series. When you look at the series, the team that is sloppy coming through the neutral zone is paying the price for it. I listened to Terry talk about his team. We are saying the same thing. You make mistakes, you turn the puck over and it is in your net. You can’t expect goaltenders to stand on their head every night. We will focus on that. We have played in their building, we have won some games. We know the atmosphere. We will go down there, buckle them up and see what we can do.

(Outscored 8-to-1 in first period, which is more concerning) The 8. Realistically 7 of those came in 2 games, or 6 of those came in 2 games I guess. We have got to start better. When you look at their team, they have a real strong belief that they can win with 2, maybe 3. I will have to remind our group of that tomorrow. Hopefully we will be off to a better start that we were here tonight.

I don’t have an idea (why we have only 1 first period goal). We will have to look at it. I am not so concerned about the 1, I am more concerned about the 8.

The 6 players that dressed tonight on the back end, and it is not only the dmen when you talk about coming out of your own zone. The 6 of them are all better than they showed tonight. They know that. I probably don’t even have to tell that to them tomorrow but I will gently remind them. We have handled heavy forechecks throughout the year, we have handled size throughout the year. We have to get together as a group of 5 and make sure we are coming out a lot cleaner than we have.

Post-game comments from Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray:

Going into the game, all the conversations we had with the team were about the checking part of the game. There is no question they were going to come out with a lot of energy, a lot of emotion to try to close this series out tonight. We knew that. We were prepared for that kind of attitude. I thought we were ok at the start of the game. Quick was of course good at the start, as he was all game long. You do settle it out. You do get your opportunity. Whenever you get a team that is pressing a lot, you can show the defensive part of the game. You are going to recover the puck, your are going to be able to attack, a lot of the time it ends up being an oddman rush the other way. You whether the storm in the early going, you get your opportunity and you cash in.

Jonathan Quick has always had the ability to come back with a real solid game. He bounced back after goals he wish he could do over again, or even a game. He has always had that since the first time I have had him here in the NHL. We needed him here tonight, there is no question. They were going to come out with emotion and energy, they were going to put a lot of pucks to the net to try to close this out. At the end of the day he is the difference. He is the reason we are still alive in this series.

(The Clifford-Richardson-Simmonds line) has been good. They are young, they are energized, they are enthusiastic. They really like to play with each other. When I first put that line together, after they played a few games together I had a meeting and that was the topic of conversation. How much they enjoyed to play the speed, the tempo game. To play hard for each other. It has been a good series for them. I am confident, they have my trust. I put them out there against any line. They are pretty responsible on the checking part of it, but really high energy on the offensive side, recovering pucks, moving, creating opportunities for everybody. It was a solid game by them. It is great to see your young guys step up in a pressure situation like this.

Coming in it was time to get back to the basics. We have been very disappointed as a coaching staff, even our players, we are all disappointed with how we played in the two games back at the Staples Center. Totally out of character, we are chasing the puck, leaving the front of the net wide open for tap-in goals, great scoring chances. Even tonight we had one in the third period. Overall, I thought the attitude was good here tonight. We take pride in the red line back into our d-zone. Guys worked hard, checked hard. Quick was good. Our specialty teams, our penalty kill came up very big in the third period with two big kills. That is just all tied in to the attitude we had here tonight.

We still showed a bit of a composure issue for me (Game 5 lead vs Game 3 lead). They come in waves that team. They are very powerful. They have three lines that really can move the puck and get after you. There were opportunities for us to calm things down, I thought it will be something we have to talk about tomorrow in practice. Hey guys, working hard for each other when you do recover the puck is what it is all about. Communication goes a long way. Just yelling and shouting at each other to give everybody a heads up with a young hockey club right now. Bottom line, we got the job done in a not very friendly environment against a team that was very hungry to close this down. They did not want to come back to our building. We are going to be ready to play. We will be a better team back home.

Yes (I am concerned about being outchanced and outshot). Here I am talking about the checking part of the game. It can be better still. Shots on goal. I liked our attitude in that we had a pretty good home plate. There was a lot of C shots, what we categorize as C shots from the perimeter. They still count on the shot clock. We will break it down even furthur as we get back home. There was about a dozen great scoring chances where the goaltender came up big. You know what, when you get into this type of scenario with us, when you get to this time of year in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, your goaltender is going to have to win you a game. That is all there is to it. It is not any big deal, it has been going on for 50 years. This is the way it is. Now we got to bounce back in front of him. We have to be better in front of him for the next game.

WCQF Game 5: Sharkspage Fans of the Game

SHARKSPAGE FANS OF THE GAME GET CREATIVE WITH SHARK-ATTACK-KING COSTUME

THE TRIO WERE POPULAR WITH FANS AS THEY GIRDED UP FOR THE 3RD PERIOD

Any time a Southern California team visits Northern California during the regular season you can expect unusual fan displays. During the playoffs, all bets are off. The most elaborate costume in the stands on Saturday night was a full bodied Shark-eating-King ensemble, complete with a blood red undershirt and Crown Royal sash. Two catering employees nearby could not keep it in as he used an arm hole to wiggle the dorsal fin.

On the way back to the parking lot after the game, two large groups of Los Angeles Kings fans intermingled with San Jose regulars. After a few good natured taunts, one Los Angeles Kings fan expressed concern for the fate of Giants fan Bryan Stow. Stow is in a medically induced coma after being beaten at the Dodgers home opener vs San Francisco. The incident has had a significant impact on all sporting events in California. A number of fans, teams and organizations have rallied around the south bay paramedic, who remains in critical condition in a medically induced coma at the USC Medical Center in Southern California. Members of the Sharks organization had visited Stow previously to express their support, Stow had worked at HP Pavilion in the past as part of the EMT support crew. Thursday in Los Angeles the team invited the family to game 4 of the playoff series.

WCQF Game 4: Sharks power to 6-3 win in LA, Kings on the brink trailing 3-1 in series

SHARKSPAGE FANS OF THE GAME CELEBRATE GAME 4 WIN IN LA - TSN

The San Jose Sharks took control of game 4 with a burst of offense in the second and third periods, and took control of their opening round series with a 6-3 win at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Ryane Clowe scored two goals for the second straight game, Antti Niemi returned from being pulled to stop 35 of 38 shots against, and the Sharks won the special teams battle on both ends of the ice. Clowe scored the only power play goal of the game in the second period, and a clean sheet 6-for-6 performance shorthanded including a pair of 5-on-3’s against stifled the Kings offense. The #2 seed Sharks lead the #7 seed Kings 3-1 in the WCQF playoff series, with game 5 returning to San Jose on Saturday night.

Jonathan Quick’s perseverance was touted in the first game of the series after he gave up a goal to Dany Heatley 28 seconds in. Quick maintained his composure, and locked down the crease to give his side an opportunity to win in overtime. Two nights after being pulled in Los Angeles, Antti Niemi rebounded with a solid effort in goal during the first period. He shut the door on a quality scoring chance by Wayne Simmonds, and kept his stick on the ice to block a Drew Doughty stuff attempt on the rush. Niemi was forced to make a desperation glove save again on Simmonds, diving to his left after a turnover by Boyle lead to an odd-man rush against.

It was a goaltending duel early, and Quick was also forced to make several critical saves while shorthanded. Kings captain Dustin Brown got his stick into the midsection of Joe Thornton while coming off the ice. Matt Greene took a slashing penalty 38 seconds later to give the Sharks a 5-on-3 opportunity. Quick came up with the possibly the save of the game on the ensuing penalty kill. Down one player, a seeing eye Thornton pass forced Quick to make a huge left-to-right push in order to stop Joe Pavelski’s one-timer at the top of the crease. Down two players, Quick squared up to block a quick release Dany Heatley one-timer from the center of the slot. The Sharks outshot Los Angeles 13-9 in the first period, and Quick finished off the first 20 with a right-to-left push and a sprawling glove save on Patrick Marleau.

Then came the second period and a turning point in the game for Scott Nichol and the San Jose Sharks. 3:14 in Nichol challenged Kings defenseman Drew Doughty in front of his own net. Doughty moved the puck before the pressure, but Nichol collided into him with an awkward knee-on-knee collision. As Doughty skated up ice, he stared holes into the back of Nichol’s head as he skated up ice to meet him. After a series of cross checks by each player, both were sent off for 2 minutes. With more open ice to make plays, the Sharks quickly scored two goals 4-on-4. Ryane Clowe entered the zone on the rush, then dropped a pass to Vlasic. Vlasic faked a shot, forcing Quick to drop down as the Pavelski-Johnson net front battle spilled over into his crease. Clowe tracked down a rebound that deflected into the corner, spun and fired a shot that banked off of a Kings skate and a Kings stick and in.

“I was going to shoot it, when Pickles passed it back to me I knew he kind of froze Quick,” Clowe said. “I was trying to turn and throw it in the net. I guess when you throw it in that area you look for a pass, I thought Pavelski tipped it first but I guess it went off a skate.” The Sharks added another 4-on-4 goal as Couture drove the center of the ice and fired from the slot. The puck deflected off of defenseman Alec Martinez, and Couture slid the rebound to an open Jason Demers in the left wing for a tap-in goal.

Nichol left the box, and quickly drew a 4-minute double minor on defenseman Matt Greene for high sticking. Greene took Nichol down hard in front of his own net, and the blade of his stick cut Nichol above the left eye while he was on the ice. Clowe scored his second goal of the game on a power play that utilized plenty of misdirection. With the Kings agressively pressuring puck carriers and blocking shots, Couture opened up room at the point with a no look pass to Ian White. White faked a shot, then fired a shot/pass to Couture who shoveled the puck on net. Jonathan Quick got a piece of the puck, but as it was trickling towards the goal line Clowe punched it home. 3-0 Sharks. “It was just creeping over the goal line and I got a stick on it. Both (of my goals) were greasy ones, but I will take them,” Clowe said.

“Give Nichol credit, he is the reason they won tonight. Because they scored two goals on it, then they score a goal on the double minor with Greene in the box. Three goals directly responsible for Nichol’s play,” Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray said after the game. But the Kings would battle back. Ryane Smyth fired a shot from the left wing that deflected off of Niemi’s glove. This time the puck was trickling wide right, but Brad Richardson tracked it down from behind the net and tapped it home. A little over 5 minutes later, a similar rush down the left wing resulted in another goal for the Kings. Justin Williams got his stick around a defenseman to drill a hard pass across the crease to a driving Smyth. Marc-Edouard Vlasic bodied up Smyth and kept his stick off the deflection, but Vlasic deflected the puck into his own net trying to poke it wide. “At the end of the night if you look at the offensive zone play we had, especially coming back 2-3, there was some great play there. Putting pucks to the net, some great playoff kind of goals. It is there. It is without the puck that is a concern,” Kings head coach Terry Murray said.

After one reporter described the Kings defense as eating the Sharks (top forwards) lunch in the second game of the series, the reverse was true for the first 10 minutes of the third period in game 4. Patrick Marleau fired a hard angle pass from behind the net to Joe Thornton. With his skates on the blue paint, Thornton lifted the puck over an extended Quick. “We were talking about how Quick sprawls out, so just get it over the top,” Thornton told CSNCA after the game. In the more populated post-game media scrum, Thornton looked ahead at game 5. “We have a good challenge ahead of us. They played very, very well at home. They have great fans,” Thornton said. “It was a great opportunity for us. With the last game coming back, I think we had a little more confidence and it showed.”

Offensive zone faceoffs were critical, and the Sharks finished the game winning 10 of 18. San Jose finished 38-64 overall (.593) on faceoffs in game 4 and 39-64 overall in game 3 (.609). An offensive zone faceoff win by Pavelski in the third was aided by winger Torrey Mitchell. Mitchell helped get the puck to Dan Boyle at the point, and Boyle’s shot was deflected high in the zone by Pavelski to make the score 5-2. Kyle Wellwood was also in a position to make a play on the puck with his stick down low. Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said earlier in the season that a lost faceoff could take 15-20 seconds off of a power play, with the reverse also being true on the PK. While former Blue Jackets and Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock said that the penalty kill is the best example of attention to details for a team, for the Sharks it may just be from the faceoff circle. Torrey Mitchell and Alexei Ponikarovsky added their first goals of the playoffs to finish out the scoring.

San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan was asked after the game about scoring 12 goals in a pair of playoff road games at the Staples Center. “We’ll take them. We had to earn them though, they are a very good hockey club,” McLellan said. “More importantly it is two wins.” How the Sharks achieved their last two wins was a testament to the unpredictable nature of the playoffs. After trailing 4-0 in game 3 and mounting a remarkable comeback, both teams returned to the tight defensive play most expected from the series to open game 4. “I think in game 2 it was pretty evident that we were not prepared to use (our playoff) experience,” McLellan said. “We were very undisciplined, we took penalties we didn’t need to take, we got engaged at the wrong times. Over the last two games I think you could see that come out a little more.”

The growth of confidence on the Sharks side was similar to letting the genie out of the bottle. The Kings will work hard for the rest of the series trying to put it back in, but even Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray grudgingly accepted the uphill nature of that effort. “It is (play) without the puck that is a concern,” Murray said. “We have given up 12 goals here in two games at home, I am not just saying this, we are one of the best defensive teams in the league over the last 3 years. Statistics show that. Those guys have played hard, and really dedicated themselves to that part of the game. This is really out of character what has gone on here.” Asked about the possibility of making a goaltending change or a line change to spark the Kings for game 5, Murray reiterated his support for goaltender Jonathan Quick and noted that his lineup is for the most part set. “I am playing what I got. Kopitar is not coming back guys. He has got a broken leg. You play with what you got.”

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jack Johnson on the key for his team in game 5: “Stop them from scoring six goals a game.”

[Update] Kings’ defense and season are teetering after 6-3 loss to Sharks in Game 4 – Helene Elliott for the Los Angeles Times.

The identity the Kings had sweated and strained to build over six grueling months was shattered this week in two playoff losses to the San Jose Sharks, defeats that left the Kings at the brink of elimination and shoved them backward in their apparently never-ending rebuilding process.

[Update2] Postgame notes April 21 – LAkingsinsider.com.

[Update3] Quotes and notes as Sharks move within one win of next round with 6-3 victory over Los Angeles – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.

[Update4] Sharks’ Joe Thornton gives love to fans – Pierre LeBrun for ESPN.com.

WCQF Game 4: Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray

Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

We’ll take them (12 GF in Los Angeles). We had to earn them though. They are a very good hockey club. They play very hard, and very well defensively. We had to earn them. More importantly it is two wins. We didn’t play very well in game 2. We had to straighten our game out a little bit. I thought we had done that enough to get wins, but we still have to improve. They are going to come back and play very hard. They have a lot of pride and are a very good hockey club.

It happens in hockey. There are mistakes made. We are all hoping for the perfect game. We had the same breakdowns, sometimes the goalie gets in the way and makes a save. Faceoffs are important, bounces are important. I think we each scored one on our own net tonight. It is that time of year where strange plays happen. The more you can get the puck to the net, the more opporunity you have for that strange play going your way.

(Do Sharks have playoff advantage because of experience) Only if you use it. It is pretty simple. You can add up games and post it on the wall and say we have an advantage. It works in your favor, but only if you use it. I think in game 2 it was pretty evident that we were not prepared to use that experience. We were very undisciplined. We took penalties we didn’t need to take. We got engaged at the wrong times. Over the last 2 games I think you could see that come out a little more. Poise and composure tonight, coming out for the 3rd period after getting through the 2nd when they were coming back. That adds up a little bit and maybe that does give you a little bit of an advantage, but only if you use it.

We have been lucky enough to score three 4-on-4 goals this series, so it opens up the ice a little bit. Doughty is a very good player, Scott Nichol is a very important player to us. It opens up some ice. It made some space available to us and we took advantage of it.

That was huge for us. You could feel it, the same feeling that their bench had our bench likely had. That is where the composure comes in. To get the penalty kill and get us into the break where we could regain and retool and do whatever we had to do between periods to come out was huge. Our penalty kill was very good. They have an excellent power play. They don’t get enough credit for how they move the puck around and how their top end shoots it. They have a very good gameplan. For us to kill off all 6 was a feather in (our) hat.

Antti has done that all year (rebound after being pulled), he has done that throughout his career. He is human. He will have his good days and his bad days, but the thing about him is that he is determined to come back with a real good one. I thought he was exceptional in the second half, he made some tremendous saves. A couple 5-on-3 penalty kills where basically your goaltender becomes your best penalty killer. It was the same thing with Quick he made some great saves. The back end, they have a couple guys that can really fire the puck. They have been involved in the game offensively again tonight. We have to have the ability to match that. If we can play them even there, we will be happy.

The perfect game doesn’t exist. We would love to play a perfect game, but we are getting close to a full 60 (minutes). We will continue to work towards it.

As far as the net play, the rebounds and whatnot, we are no different than 16 other teams right now. Let’s face it, if the goalie sees it, it doesn’t matter what goaltender it is, he is stopping it at this time of the year. You have to get traffic. They scored a really nice goal in the third period on a traffic play. Heater’s penalty I was disappointed we put ourselves in that position to take that penalty. I haven’t watched it, I think it was called a trip.

Post-game comments from Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray:

It was a 0-0 game. Nichol and Doughty get involved. They score two on a 4- on-4. Up until that point it was a pretty good game. We kill off a 5-on-3, we kill off a double minor, it was a pretty good game. I don’t think it was out of control. I don’t think they had a grasp on the game. So everything was good.

4-on-4 they score two goals, that is a terrible, terrible, you can’t lose Doughty for Nichol. Give Nichol credit, he is the reason they won tonight. Because they scored two goals on it, then they score a goal on the double minor with Greene in the box. Three goals directly responsible for Nichol’s play. 3-2, I really liked our compete to come back and make it 3-2, it was a good game. Whatever happened in the third period with giveaways, turnovers, lost faceoffs, that is sometimes a hard thing to explain.

It is hard not to get involved. (Nichol) took a run at him from the blueline. They are chirping at each other coming up the ice. Both are going at each other. I don’t know if he could skate away. They were engaged, I don’t know if he could have got away from it. Maybe the referee or the linesman, or one of our players could have stepped in between to seperate them. It didn’t happen. You just don’t want to lose your top defenseman to a player of that stature. If you are going to lose him to a Thornton or Marleau, you will take that exchange. That was a very costly move.

If we were just talking about the Doughty (play), that is where you have to keep control. I thought our emotions were under control. I thought they lost composure at the end with Heatley doing a slew foot on Martinez. That is a dangerous play, he is going back for pucks. That is a dangerous play. That is where you break your leg, blow your knee out on those looks. I hate that play. That is a gutless move in my mind. Gutless move. You just don’t do that in hockey. You didn’t do that 30 years ago, you can’t get away with that today. That should have been more than a 2 minute minor. That is a major, that is a game misconduct.

There was none (consideration of pulling goaltender Jonathan Quick). Sometimes you have to work your way through a game. The goalie, you look at the goals. We are going for a puck, we turn the puck over and they have a tap-in in front of the net. That is not the goaltenders fault. We lose a faceoff, they have a shot from the point, we left our coverage center on center. Pavelski redirects the puck. That is not the goaltender. Chaging goaltenders at that time I think sends the wrong message to the team. It’s everybody is in this together.

Really good. Look at the penalty kill. The 5-on-3 penalty kill against one of the best power plays in the league, and then you get into a double minor right after that. It was great. The emotion, the energy, the under control game. It was a close game, no score, it ends up breaking open there 4-on-4 and they score a beautiful power play goal, I thought Couture did a good job on that. We battled back. I loved the way we competed at the end, getting back to a 3-2 game. That was a great response.

The (Richardson line) does some great things in the offensive part of the game. Back on the other side of the puck, we have to be a lot better with that line.

I am playing what I got. Kopitar is not coming back guys. He has got a broken leg. You play with what you got. I can make some comination changes maybe. Personnel-wise, I have Oscar Moller there sitting on the sideline waiting, he would love to play. I have Drewiske. Peter Harrold, I take that into consideration. Oscar Moller played very good up there in game 2. I will think about that one.

No (thought would not be in favor of Dustin Penner). It is not about any one player. It would be a change, change is good sometimes. Sometimes it is not.

(To come back from 3-1) It takes a strong level of composure and poise, playing hard with discipline between the whistles keeping the referees out of the game, in our case because of their power play being so good. It takes a lot of compete. Hard play, team play, doing the right thing. Every shift has to be the right way if you are going to come back. At the end of the night if you look at the offensive zone play we had, especially coming back 2-3, there was some great play there. Putting pucks to the net, some great playoff kind of goals. It is there. It is without the puck that is a concern. We have given up 12 goals here in 2 games at home, I am not just saying this, we are one of the best defensive teams in the league over the last 3 years. Statistics show that. Those guys have played hard, and really dedicated themselves to that part of the game. This is really out of character what has gone on here.

DOH Podcast #144: Euphoric comeback in game 3, how the Kings will respond to the collapse, SJ grit and no-quit

[audio:http://dudesonhockey.com/podcast/doh_2011_0420.mp3]

Mike Peattie and Doug Santana discuss the “euphoric” comeback from a 4-0 deficit in game 3, whether the defeat will cripple the Kings moving forward, how the Sharks will respond after two poor starts, whether San Jose has enough grit and no-quit to finish out the series, if Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle can bounce back from off nights, what place the fourth line will have for the remainder of the series and the playoffs, whether game 3 was enough of a wakeup call to get the team to play at peak performance, if Todd McLellan should go with Antti Niemi or Antero Niittymaki and more on the 144th episode of the Dudes on Hockey podcast.

This Sharks podcast is posted here with permission. Visit dudesonhockey.com for more coverage of the team or download the MP3 file directly here.

WCQF Game 3: Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray

Post-game comments by San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

I won a Stanley Cup before, so that was a pretty darn good one, but this is a game that you don’t expect to happen and hopefully it won’t repeat itself. It is something that we have to understand we are very fortunate to come back from that deficit. We are excited about it, but we also know that the mulligan we used tonight won’t be available to us again.

Between periods, we went in between the first and second and talked about a few things. One, we wanted to bring a better passion and work ethic to the game than we had in game 2. We thought we still did that, though we were down 3-0 sometimes people don’t believe that, but guys were still buying in. We go down another goal, make the goalie change. You got nothing to do but to play loose. We felt if we could get 1 or 2, they would tighten up a little bit. That’s the way it went.

I spoke to them (between periods). At a very low volume. They are intelligent human beings, they don’t need me to be screaming at them at that point. That probably would have been the last thing they did. That would have been the wrong thing to do. I had to tell them that, one that we believed in them, and two the effort and committment was much higher than when we lost 4-0. Like I said earlier, sometimes that is hard for them to understand when they are down 3-0. They responded the right way.

Now you are drawing for straws (down 4-0). Obviously at that point we made a change for Nemo, and we are really happy for Nitty that he could go in and play as well as he did. He has been waiting a long time for an opportunity. He took advantage of it. I thought our guys seized that moment to play for him. The momentum began to change.

Unfortunately our fourth line was a victim of circumstance somewhat, two shifts -2. I felt that as we started to roll 3 lines we started to get our game back. There was definitley concern towards the end of the night that we were running out of gas. We talked about running a few more guys through. Terry (Murray) had his fourth line out a little bit. We also felt like we were playing a 3 line game, they were playing a 4 defenseman game. We thought we could take advantage of that a little bit.

That happens to a lot of teams. What is the cliche we use, the worst lead in hockey is a 3 goal or 4 goal lead. We had nothing to lose. We could have left here 7-0 and we would still be down 1. We started to play loose. We started to roll lines a little more. We started to make good line changes, get pucks behind them. It started to go in our favor. You could feel it a little on our bench. The more we did it, the more we believed it could happen. It turned out in our favor.

Again, this game was so strange. To get scored on early in the first period right off the bat. It was the worst thing that could have happened to us with the energy in the building. But it happened to them in game 1. Then we gave up a goal in the first minute of the second period. We scored, we give one up right again. We used our mulligan, it is not going to happen again that way. I can’t explain it any better than that.

It was there, I am not sure it was exactly there in the first few games. When you don’t have anyone net front, you can forget about anyone net side for the lack of a better term. Our traffic and our committment level in front of Quick was much better than game 2.

If we refer back to the series this far. We one game 1 in overtime, and the psychological advantage worked their way. We felt comfortable. We don’t play very well when we are comfortable. Lesson learned, or do we have to go through it again. We will find out in game 4.

We haven’t even sat down and talked about that yet (whether Niemi or Nittymaki well get next start). We are confident in both. It is an opportunity for us to have two we are comfortable to play. We will have some decisions in the next day or two.

It certainly helps. It was such a strange game. Everything that happened to them, happened to us in game 2. We spent two and a half minutes stuck on the ice with one of our forwards. We don’t normally do that. We were taken out of our element because they played so well. Tonight the tables turned.

Usually not in game 3 of a playoff series. Certainly there are some exhibition and regular season games played that way. We have actually had a couple of those throughout the year. We had one in Philadelphia where we found a way to come back, and we stuck with it. You could hear guys talk about that, we have done it before lets stick with it.

He made a difference. Ian (white), while some of our guys may be a little nervous and anxious, this is his first opportunity to play in the playoffs. He just wants get out there and play. I think that is a refreshing thing. It rubs off on guys. He made sure he saw me, I don’t know how many times the last day or two to let me know he was ok to play. He certainly made a difference.

Post-game comments by Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray:

That is as bad as it gets in the second period for sure. I am only going to talk about this for a very brief time, you could go in a lot of different ways with this. You can give them credit. They scored a power play goal. They have been a very good team on the power play all game long. I know they have been spending time in their couple of days off here working on it. They executed and got a power play goal in the second period.

Outside of that, we did this to ourselves, with our puck management, whatever you want to call it. Turnovers. Not getting in when you are supposed to get it in deep. Trying to way too much, we get caught out for extended shifts. There are guys that have been out there in the second period, I bet there was 2 and a half minutes where we couldn’t get a line change especially with our defenseman. So you are exhausted, you are rattled, you start doing things that are very uncharacteristic. Now they are playing the game they want. They are in a track meet, that is the game they want after getting down 4-0. We oblige them. All of the problems came our way because of what we were doing.

You can use whatever they want to talk about, but it is about making plays with the puck. It is about composure. If you do the right things with the puck as you get through the middle of the ice, to get it in behind like we were in the first period, then there is no let up in any area. There is no foot off the gas pedal, whatever you want to talk about. You are continuing to play the right way. We stopped playing. We gave them the opportunity. Now they are down 4-0, why wouldn’t you play relaxed. They are rolling 3 lines and coming right at us. They took it to us, big time.

They score in the early part of the second period. Probably 3 minutes after that they score again. There is a power play about 7 minutes later. That is fine. The little things are starting to show. They identified it, they countered. They played extended shifts in our end. They kicked the door wide open.

No I wasn’t thinking about changing goalies. They goals are far apart. The two at the end of the period are the only ones that were close. They scored a power play, we came right back and make it a 5-3 game. We have plenty of tv timeouts to talk about the stuff I am talking about with you right now. The attention was there, but for some reason we refused to do what we were supposed to do.

We bounced back in the third period. We weren’t getting shots through, but we got back to the right attitude of doing what we need to do to play the game the right game. Then you get yourself into overtime. We bounced back from a disaster in the second period to play much better. I already addressed it with the group, at the end of the second and the end of the third, everybody knows what is on my mind.