Just ask the San Jose Sharks.
The Sharks had the Red Wings right where they wanted them. With under a minute left in regulation and a one goal lead, all the Sharks had to do was hang on. They would then hold a 3 - 1 series lead over the #1 seeded Red Wings, spelling certain doom for the Wings; very few teams have come back from 3 - 1 deficits, and this Sharks team doesn't look like the kind of team that would allow that to happen.
I was already looking ahead to the next series, Sharks VS. Ducks, when Robert Lang scored a goal with 34 seconds left on the clock to tie the game. The San Jose crowd was stunned silent. So was I.
In a hard fought overtime with plenty of chances both ways, Mathieu Schneider scored, and the Detroit Red Wings prevailed.
The series is now tied 2 - 2, and there are only 3 games left to be played; 2 of them in Detroit.
34 seconds separated the Sharks from needing only 1 win in 3. Now they need two.
And quite frankly, I'm not sure they are going to be able to pull it off. The series is definitely leaning in Detroit's favor.
This, of course, isn't the first time the Sharks have had a single moment (potentially in this case) break their season. Look no further than the 2006 playoffs. San Jose beat Edmonton twice at home, bringing the series to 2 - 0. They then traveled to Edmonton, where they were locked up in a 2 - 2 tie. The game headed into double overtime, where with 7 minutes left in the second OT period, the league's highest goal scorer had a glorious chance to end it;
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOYjXD31DsE)
Roloson robbed Cheechoo, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. In triple overtime, Edmonton scored to win the game.
They also won the next 3, and sent San Jose home packing.
IF Cheechoo scores that goal, the Sharks win that series.
IF Robert Lang doesn't get that bounce, the Sharks win that series.
IF the refs weren't a bunch of cheating bastards, Tom Brady's tuck would have been ruled a fumble, and the Raiders win that game.
Sorry about that last one... my mind wanders from time to time.
Point being, the Red Wings are laden with veterans that have been through the Stanley Cup playoffs many times, have championship rings, and know how to handle the ups and downs of a tough battle to the finals. I'm not so sure about the Sharks. Have they learned from last season, and not allow one moment to take a series away from them?
Or will they fall, and enter the countless other "What if?" cases the sports world has to offer?
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1 comment:
I was thinking more along the lines of the powerplay the Sharks were on in that series and a shark defender ripped a shot off Roloson's blocker that deflected all the way to center ice where a edmonton player steaming out of the penalty box snapped up the puck and deked around Nabokov who had misplayed it and came out. (Something like that) Ill look for it...
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