We are just 4 points backs of the division lead with 2 games in hand.
We also have games in hand on Yotes and Hawks, so we could reach as high #6 if we don't win division. (Stars/Sharks first round)
Teams behind us have less points AND have played more games.
So even on this 4-10-3 "run," we are still in good playoff shape.
__________________
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
In 99-00 it was thought we didnt have a chance it hell against the president cup winning blues.
No, not at all. It was thought we had a chance against them. That's why the Sharks shanked their final regular season game vs. Van, a home game, lost 5-0 (I was there, there was ZERO effort in that final game). Had they won that, they would have been #7 and drawn the Stars. They shanked it for #8 to draw a team they matched up better against...and beat them. Then they played the Stars and lost in 5.
Stars are a team I'd like to match up against the most.. then Blackhawks then Yotes and then the Blues.
Fully healthy (meaning with Havlat back and no idiotic injuries from him), I actually want the Wings or Canucks. Fully healthy, I like the idea of the Sharks first playoff round either going for 3 consecutive playoff knockouts of the Wings or revenge against the Canucks.
But I think a Stars/Sharks first round series is very intriguing, and definitely like a Hawks matchup with their goalie issues.
yea only reason i dont like a stars match up is their goalie. it will be very annoying having a 7 game series with them because our 40+ shots a night only got 2 in the net.
Fully healthy (meaning with Havlat back and no idiotic injuries from him), I actually want the Wings or Canucks. Fully healthy, I like the idea of the Sharks first playoff round either going for 3 consecutive playoff knockouts of the Wings or revenge against the Canucks.
But I think a Stars/Sharks first round series is very intriguing, and definitely like a Hawks matchup with their goalie issues.
The Sharks meeting any Pac. division rival in the first round will most likely not happen based on the standing.
I think we have a shadow of a chance there. Not a huge one, but we matchup absolutely terribly against the Blues. We can't score a single goal against them in most games, and one goal otherwise. At least we've proven that we can skate with Vancouver.
I think we have a shadow of a chance there. Not a huge one, but we matchup absolutely terribly against the Blues. We can't score a single goal against them in most games, and one goal otherwise. At least we've proven that we can skate with Vancouver.
The sharks arent aggressive enough against the blues, if they pretended to be the bruins of two months ago they would do fine. Skate THROUGH the trap and THROUGH their goalie, it will open up the ice.
Here is something that Baker hinted at several times last night:
The Sharks are playing playoff hockey NOW. I vividly remember last year and probably the year before, come playoff time people here were making statements like, "I would trade waltzing into the playoffs with the division title to be the sixth seed that has been fighting to get in the playoffs and playing playoff hockey for the last month."
Well now that's what's happening. (And yet we're still not satisfied, but that's for another thread I guess).
The Sharks have shown us in the past that it is very difficult to just flip the switch in April and start playing urgent, playoff hockey all of a sudden after having wrapped up the division two or three weeks prior.
We seem to be coming out of this slump (which also happens every year). We have 20 games to play, and they will be playoff games. The Sharks have an excellent opportunity to get hot now (they always peak at the wrong time, right?) and come thundering into the playoffs scorching hot instead of waltzing in as they have done in the past and desperately trying to get the emotion and desperation back into their game.
This is a blessing in disguise.
--Sorry if this has been discussed already. I didn't read the thread.
Here is something that Baker hinted at several times last night:
The Sharks are playing playoff hockey NOW. I vividly remember last year and probably the year before, come playoff time people here were making statements like, "I would trade waltzing into the playoffs with the division title to be the sixth seed that has been fighting to get in the playoffs and playing playoff hockey for the last month."
Well now that's what's happening. (And yet we're still not satisfied, but that's for another thread I guess).
The Sharks have shown us in the past that it is very difficult to just flip the switch in April and start playing urgent, playoff hockey all of a sudden after having wrapped up the division two or three weeks prior.
We seem to be coming out of this slump (which also happens every year). We have 20 games to play, and they will be playoff games. The Sharks have an excellent opportunity to get hot now (they always peak at the wrong time, right?) and come thundering into the playoffs scorching hot instead of waltzing in as they have done in the past and desperately trying to get the emotion and desperation back into their game.
This is a blessing in disguise.
--Sorry if this has been discussed already. I didn't read the thread.
I hate to be the negativity Nancy here, but didn't we go through that last year and then proceeded to blame our playoff failures on being tired and beat up?
We've also peaked in March and failed in the post-season. It doesn't make much of a difference how you get in. You just have to get in and then let the chips fall where they may.
We were 12-4-3 from March through the end of the season; that's hardly "stumbling in."
I think they were looking at the 3-2 April record immediately prior to the playoffs beginning. Either way, we've done both sides of this coin. It's not really relevant how you finish the season as long as you make it. Most players will want to have the team on a good streak going in for confidence reasons but it doesn't parlay into good results most of the time and vice-versa with going in on a bad note not necessarily parlaying into bad results in the playoffs.
I hate to be the negativity Nancy here, but didn't we go through that last year and then proceeded to blame our playoff failures on being tired and beat up?
The "tired and beat up" part wasn't because of the regular season, it was because they didn't put the Wings away when they should have.
