Pens take Game 1 3-2, but don’t disparage yet. There’s time, friends. Time to turn things around, and, if you’ll recall, last series, the Sharks lost game 1 before bouncing back in games 2 and 3. Ok, so game 4 was bad, but the series ended with a Sharks win, so, really, it all evens out in the end. That’s what I suspect will happen here. The Sharks needed to get their jitters out, and feel out the insanely quick Pens, which is what I’m using as justification for a terrible first period. They started out nicely, and were blocking shots well, but then the ice titled and they looked just awful. I mean JUST AWFUL. They were lucky to get out of the period only down by 2. If not for Jones being a magically puck stopping witch, it could have been a lot worse.
The second saw better play by the Sharks, though the refs pretty much ignored EVERY ICING EVER committed by the Pens, and only ever called it on the Sharks. This continued for the rest of the game and my gord, was it annoying. There were also some missed calls which, well, Mina said she didn’t want to tell the refs how to do their jobs, but I did. Call shit consistently. Yeesh.
The Sharks scored a quick two to seal up the second and head into intermission tied 2-2. It was good to see for several reasons: The Sharks didn’t let being down 2-0 get to them. They showed the Pens were indeed vulnerable. They didn’t seem rattled by the Pens speed anymore. They realized they had to crash the net to score and OMG STAY OUT OF YOUR ZONE.
The third was pretty tight, except for when it wasn’t. The Pens did a good job of keeping the Sharks from keeping up any serious sustained pressure, but they did get a few close looks. Unfortunately, the Pens managed to get a soft one past Jones with just over 2 minutes left and that sealed the deal. I think if the Sharks hadn’t had the shaky start, they might have had a better chance to tie it up at the very least. Force OT, if not a win.
The elephant in the room: The Marleau hit on Rust.
Was there contact with the head? Yep. Was it predatory, purposeful, or in any way intended? Nope. Rust had his head down and made contact with Patty’s back. Call the 2 for a hit to the head, but it’s not suspension worthy. Not even close. Some folks last night were suggesting Patty was a dirty player, which, well, is laughable to be quite honest. You can argue about whether or not he should have thrown the hit, but it wasn’t an intentional hit to the head to take a guy out. Even if Rust was injured on the play.
Sound Familiar?
Bonino was a problem for the Sharks all night. I’m pretty sure he was on the ice every shift, because it sure felt that way. Bonino, it should be noted, was traded to the Ducks for Huskins and Moen. Just in case you were trying to figure out why he sounded familiar. He was drafted by the Sharks in 2007.
Game two is Wednesday at 5pm Pacific time. Remember, you can always sync the radio feed up with your tv and ignore Mike Milbury.
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