In our last 4 games we have to travel no further than Phoenix, and the last time we did travel further than Phoenix was Dallas on March 15th. On top of that, we've only played one non-division team (in their building) since March 1st. How much of a factor will this be for us heading into the playoffs?
It's always a good thing to be well rested going into the playoffs, and the lack of big road trips distance-wise at the end is nice, but I'm not sure it's much of a factor.
This team appears primed for the playoffs: regardless of wins or losses, this may be the first time that I have a good feeling that the Sharks won't throw out any playoff stinkers (Think Sharks/Avs Game 1 last year, Sharks/Ducks Games 1 and 2 08-09, Sharks/Flames Game 1 07-08). I don't think the cushy end of season schedule will have an impact in that regard.
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2011: Outcoached by Vigneault. 2012: Outcoached all season and postseason by Hitch.
2013: Outcoached by most coaches in the NHL. Who's left? 12 year olds on Xbox Live? SACK T-MAC NOW
It's definitely different from years past. "We" went on a Chicago/Detroit trip once since March 1st, and that's it as I recall. I don't even consider Phoenix or LA travel really, they are 1 hour flights or less.
maybe this has something to do with having to travel to europe at the beginning of the year. taking it easier on the sharks after a lot of travel at the beginning.
This team appears primed for the playoffs: regardless of wins or losses, this may be the first time that I have a good feeling that the Sharks won't throw out any playoff stinkers (Think Sharks/Avs Game 1 last year, Sharks/Ducks Games 1 and 2 08-09, Sharks/Flames Game 1 07-08). I don't think the cushy end of season schedule will have an impact in that regard.
This part of your post struck me as selective memory/revisionist history.
The Sharks ended 07-08 on an 18-2-2 run, 18-0-2 if you don't count the last two meaningless games of the season. The atmosphere in 07-08 heading into the playoffs was nigh euphoric - the Sharks simply did not lose after they acquired Brian Campbell. I don't think you'll find a single post from that time talking about how the Sharks are primed for a letdown in round 1 - just lots of talk of "Sharks in 5" and such. That's precisely why the 7-game fight from the Flames was such a shocker - the way the Sharks were playing after the deadline, the Flames were supposed to have no chance.
Even last year, the Sharks ended on an 8-1-1 streak, though to be fair that came right after a 5-game losing skid. Still, after they righted the ship, they were flying into the playoffs. It's just that nobody had high expectations for last year's squad because the Anaheim series was still fresh on everyone's mind, so I'm pretty sure everyone thought they'd choke in game 1 regardless of how well they played in their last eleven. They could have beaten Detroit 11 games in a row and people would have just dismissed it as "just the regular season".
It's easy to look back and see that they actually dropped the ball in 3 straight years of Round 1 Game 1s, but saying that you saw it in their play down the stretch *as it happened* is a pretty ludicrous proposition to me, ESPECIALLY as it relates to the Flames series.
As for this year, I think the Sharks have been on this ridiculous tear for long enough (26-4-4 in their last 34 now, right?) that a cushy travel schedule at the end of the year isn't going to mean much. They're either going to continue to play like this (i.e. this is the 'default' level of the team, not reliant on hot streaks) or they're not (i.e. they're still just riding a hot streak and people are due to go cold for a bit - I don't buy this because no one Shark has been consistently hot the entire time - lots of balanced scoring and people picking up the slack for each other during minislumps). I doubt that inserting a theoretical road trip into the equation would change that much.
This part of your post struck me as selective memory/revisionist history.
The Sharks ended 07-08 on an 18-2-2 run, 18-0-2 if you don't count the last two meaningless games of the season. The atmosphere in 07-08 heading into the playoffs was nigh euphoric - the Sharks simply did not lose after they acquired Brian Campbell. I don't think you'll find a single post from that time talking about how the Sharks are primed for a letdown in round 1 - just lots of talk of "Sharks in 5" and such. That's precisely why the 7-game fight from the Flames was such a shocker - the way the Sharks were playing after the deadline, the Flames were supposed to have no chance.
Even last year, the Sharks ended on an 8-1-1 streak, though to be fair that came right after a 5-game losing skid. Still, after they righted the ship, they were flying into the playoffs. It's just that nobody had high expectations for last year's squad because the Anaheim series was still fresh on everyone's mind, so I'm pretty sure everyone thought they'd choke in game 1 regardless of how well they played in their last eleven. They could have beaten Detroit 11 games in a row and people would have just dismissed it as "just the regular season".
It's easy to look back and see that they actually dropped the ball in 3 straight years of Round 1 Game 1s, but saying that you saw it in their play down the stretch *as it happened* is a pretty ludicrous proposition to me, ESPECIALLY as it relates to the Flames series.
As for this year, I think the Sharks have been on this ridiculous tear for long enough (26-4-4 in their last 34 now, right?) that a cushy travel schedule at the end of the year isn't going to mean much. They're either going to continue to play like this (i.e. this is how they've gotten used to playing) or they're not (i.e. they're riding a hot streak and people are due to go cold for a bit - I don't buy this because no one Sharks except Marleau has been consistently hot the entire time). I doubt that inserting a theoretical road trip into the equation would change that much.
Interesting response, thanks. I'll probably concede that referring to 07-08 was revisionist, but certainly not 09 or 10 playoffs , in light of what happened in 08 (And then 09) playoffs.
Interesting response, thanks. I'll probably concede that referring to 07-08 was revisionist, but certainly not 09 or 10 playoffs , in light of what happened in 08 (And then 09) playoffs.
Oh 08-09 definitely - Anaheim was super hot and the Sharks were a badly battered team that had a very average second half of the year. 5-4-1 to close the year, I believe. Many of us saw that one coming a mile away, though I think the general feeling was that the Sharks would probably split the first four and then win in 7 or maybe 6, and not that the Sharks would drop three in a row to start the series.
My main issue with 09-10 is that at that point, it didn't matter how the Sharks played going into the playoffs, nobody believed they could win a series. regardless of watching them play on the ice. I'm fairly certain that an 82-0 season would just have been met with "OK, let's see how they do in the playoffs". While it's perfectly reasonable to believe that the Sharks would suffer a letdown in round 1 for other reasons, it certainly wasn't reasonable to get that conclusion from the 8-1-1 stretch run itself, which I thought was the key point here.
Oh 08-09 definitely - Anaheim was super hot and the Sharks were a badly battered team that had a very average second half of the year. 5-4-1 to close the year, I believe. Many of us saw that one coming a mile away, though I think the general feeling was that the Sharks would probably split the first four and then win in 7 or maybe 6, and not that the Sharks would drop three in a row to start the series.
My main issue with 09-10 is that at that point, it didn't matter how the Sharks played going into the playoffs, nobody believed they could win a series. regardless of watching them play on the ice. I'm fairly certain that an 82-0 season would just have been met with "OK, let's see how they do in the playoffs". While it's perfectly reasonable to believe that the Sharks would suffer a letdown in round 1 for other reasons, it certainly wasn't reasonable to get that conclusion from the 8-1-1 stretch run itself, which I thought was the key point here.
That's why I qualified my original statement with "regardless of wins and losses," suggesting that in spite of how well they did down the stretch in 09-10, we all thought a letdown could come, and even had the Stanley Cup Failoffs Avatars to show the world how we felt.
It's probably never reasonable to conclude that a playoff stinker is coming for the sole reason of being hot down the stretch, I'll give you that.
And by the way, when I say "playoff stinker" I don't just mean a loss. By "stinker" I mean that dud of a game where there is no effort, or the effort is too little, too late. Forget playoffs for a second, just look at reg season: in years past the Sharks were bankable for stinkers with many so called "trap games" (first home game after a long road trip, 3rd game in 4 nights, etc). This season they seem to be largely immune to those, which is another reason my gut says there won't be any playoff stinkers.
