2. St. Louis Blues defeat 7. San Jose' Sharks in 5 games
Game 1: Sjs 3 Stl 2 OT2
Game 2: Sjs 0 Stl 3
Game 3: Stl 4 Sjs 3
Game 4: Stl 2 Sjs 1
Game 5: Sjs 1 Stl 3
Well to start things off, I wanted to point out that I've never really bought in to the whole "choking" in the playoffs thing. Obviously each year brings a new team and new challenges and it's hard to label one franchise as a "choke".
But this is a little different.
It'd be one thing if the Sharks put up a legitimately strong effort against the tough team in St. Louis. But they didn't really do that.
First I'd like to look at a commonly overlooked stat in the league. Faceoffs play a major role in any hockey game (just ask Nashville). In the regular season, San Jose' was second in the league, winning close to 54% of their draws. St. Louis? They were middle of the pack winning close to 50%. Come playoff time and the Sharks disappoint everyone while they were pathetic in the faceoff circle winning 49% of their draws.
Powerplay (which was good this year) was putrid. Penalty kill (which was bad this year) was putrid. St. Louis killed them in the special teams department.
These types of playing-down in playoff time gives the Sharks the reputation of being chokers.
Individual performances?
Joe Pavelski, who was essentially the heart and soul of the team throughout the regular season, did not register a point in the 5 games.
Patrick Marleau did not register a point either after being the leading scorer for this San Jose' team.
Goalie Anti Niemi was not sharp when he needed to be for them.
The defense didn't step up on offense either. I'm sorry but if Colin White lead defenseman in goals for the Sharks, that's a problem.
Oh wait....Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a goal also. My bad.
Puck Daddy put it well on his radio show last week. Game 1 for San Jose' was like "Oh hey, we're the San Jose' Sharks and we've been here before and we have a stacked team and all that."
And then games 2-5 for St. Louis were like "Oh yeah? Well we're the Blues and we had the second most points in the Western Conference"
Like I wrote in the series preview, St. Louis is a fantastic hockey team and a team that should not be overlooked. After winning easily in round 1, people are looking at this as more of a Sharks choking again than a Blues playing great hockey. It's true to some extent but the Blues did play great and the Sharks drew the short straw having to play them and all.
Maybe if they were better defensively they wouldn't have had that problem...
Game 1: Sjs 3 Stl 2 OT2
Game 2: Sjs 0 Stl 3
Game 3: Stl 4 Sjs 3
Game 4: Stl 2 Sjs 1
Game 5: Sjs 1 Stl 3
Well to start things off, I wanted to point out that I've never really bought in to the whole "choking" in the playoffs thing. Obviously each year brings a new team and new challenges and it's hard to label one franchise as a "choke".
But this is a little different.
It'd be one thing if the Sharks put up a legitimately strong effort against the tough team in St. Louis. But they didn't really do that.
First I'd like to look at a commonly overlooked stat in the league. Faceoffs play a major role in any hockey game (just ask Nashville). In the regular season, San Jose' was second in the league, winning close to 54% of their draws. St. Louis? They were middle of the pack winning close to 50%. Come playoff time and the Sharks disappoint everyone while they were pathetic in the faceoff circle winning 49% of their draws.
Powerplay (which was good this year) was putrid. Penalty kill (which was bad this year) was putrid. St. Louis killed them in the special teams department.
These types of playing-down in playoff time gives the Sharks the reputation of being chokers.
Individual performances?
Joe Pavelski, who was essentially the heart and soul of the team throughout the regular season, did not register a point in the 5 games.
Patrick Marleau did not register a point either after being the leading scorer for this San Jose' team.
Goalie Anti Niemi was not sharp when he needed to be for them.
The defense didn't step up on offense either. I'm sorry but if Colin White lead defenseman in goals for the Sharks, that's a problem.
Oh wait....Marc-Edouard Vlasic had a goal also. My bad.
Puck Daddy put it well on his radio show last week. Game 1 for San Jose' was like "Oh hey, we're the San Jose' Sharks and we've been here before and we have a stacked team and all that."
And then games 2-5 for St. Louis were like "Oh yeah? Well we're the Blues and we had the second most points in the Western Conference"
Like I wrote in the series preview, St. Louis is a fantastic hockey team and a team that should not be overlooked. After winning easily in round 1, people are looking at this as more of a Sharks choking again than a Blues playing great hockey. It's true to some extent but the Blues did play great and the Sharks drew the short straw having to play them and all.
Maybe if they were better defensively they wouldn't have had that problem...
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