RockyMountainWingGal 108 Report post Posted May 6, 2010 I'm not worried about it either way. I just hope the crowd at the Joe tonight cheers the Wings win or lose. I don't think some people realize how privileged they are to have watched this team for 19 years in the POs (OK some people are alot younger than me and haven't seen all 19). And since the lockout - where there is supposed to be more parity - we went 1rst round, WCF, SCF (Cup), SCF, and this year? How many teams can say that? none. I paraphrase Caputo on the ticket last night "instead of bitching about Lidstrom and Rafalski, fans should just shut up and go to the games and enjoy it - because you won't see anything like that for a long, long time" This team still has a good shot to at least make this a series but there is no shame in losing in the 2nd round after that record to what just might be the better team right now. Plus the Sharks HAVE to start winning playoff series (and ones not against teams like the Avs). I'll be cheering for the Wings tonight - always swim or sink with the ship - but if we wind up losing the series I'll be pulling for the West to win the Cup back. The East sucks.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EasyMark 8 Report post Posted May 6, 2010 If I had to sum up what I think most Sharks fans are feeling, I think it would be best described as confident, but mostly "nervously optimistic". For good reason, too, because our respective histories are very different. Even so, the Sharks are often described as Chokers, especially since what happened in 2004, but the physical reality is that it's not even the same Sharks team, for the most part. Literally speaking. The only two Sharks that remain from the 'choke' team of yore are Marleau and Nabokov, and they're doing fine. All the rest of the Sharks know that whatever they're supposedly living down has nothing whatsoever to do with them, individually. Before game 3, I wrote that I had no idea what to expect. With three moderately high scoring one goal games now tallied, that thought has changed very little. If the Wings had taken the last game, there would be no feeling on either team's part that momentum was theirs, and game 4 would just be another hard fought game in a playoff series. Because the Sharks did win, the Wings now have to be treated very much like a cornered, and therefore extremely dangerous, animal, even more dangerous potentially than in all the other games combined. While the Sharks won't be changing much in the way of strategy, I know that Babs will be trying some new things to shake things up for the Wings. That's risky, because I think the Wings already had a strategy that could have beaten the Sharks if the bounces (and yes, calls) had gone the other way. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Babs won't take stupid risks; he'll only be concerned with what will give his team more confidence going in, even if it's an illusion. The Sharks are fully aware that they must give it their all to go for the kill tonight, while the series momentum, tally-wise anyway, is theirs. After getting to 3-0, they know that ANY momentum by the Wings, whether it's from a win tonight, or momentum attained later in the game, is the equivalent of an extreme burst of game-changing energy in the Wings favor. It will be hard as hell for either team to get a win tonight, but if the Sharks don't finish the job tonight, it will only get much, much harder after that. Fortunately for the Sharks, having a "finishing the job" mindset, like the Wings have become accustomed to as a franchise, is something McClellan has worked very hard to finally instill in the Sharks. The Wings are trying, with a win tonight, to plant a seed of hope to stage the ultimate history-making comeback, which would be like a vindication of what happened to the Wings back in 1942. A SINGLE WIN by the Wings will give them just as much energy as THREE wins by the Sharks, because in every game you're playing with a Freedom team ("nothing left to lose"). It's going to be more difficult for the Wings to stage such an ultimate comeback, because it also means the ultimate choke by the Sharks, of all the teams. No other teams in the NHL has more motivation to prevent such a thing, at all costs. My gut feeling, and not so much a prediction, is that the Sharks want this win more than any other win in their history, and will find a way to finish the job tonight. Another gut feeling I have is that because things can go either way very easily, it may get very, very ugly tonight. If that happens, and the Wings find a way to force a game 5, and then 6, and even 7, we may be looking at the birth of an epic, bona fide hatred rivalry between the two teams that will endure for years. Yeah, I see it much the same way. I am optimistic for two reasons. First, as Fab noted, this team has shown the resolve to overcome adversity. Past Sharks teams might have curled up in a fetal ball after Boyle's own goal. Not this one. The Wings can still win it but they will have to battle for every game. That's a tall order unless the Sharks fold up and go away. I don't see that. Second reason, these two teams are very similar in style, system and talent. That's the reason these games have all been very close. It will be very hard for the Wings to win 4 close hard fought games against an opponent that plays the same way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sharkfan20 32 Report post Posted May 6, 2010 (edited) Tell your management that the Wings will gladly take Pavalski off their hands K, I'll take that back, trade the whole team execpt for pavelski,seto,clowe and boyle and couture, mcginn. Edited May 6, 2010 by sharkfan20 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grypho 195 Report post Posted May 7, 2010 What I meant to say was... never mind Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
