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Sharks with another epic playoff collapse, this probably their worst one yet. I have to think their window has officially been shut, time for Doug Wilson to clean house, and to start with Todd McClellan, guy cannot get it done in the playoffs. Also, to take that next time it's obvious Antti Niemi is not good enough. You compare him to Jonathan Quick and that was the difference in the series. Quick let in only like 3 or 4 bad goals the whole series (the 2 at the end of the first period in game 1 and the one at the end of the first in game 3 or 4) but he kept the Kings in every game with his play in the crease. In game 2 when the Sharks scored 7 goals, the Sharks peppered him pretty much relentlessly from the get-go and the Kings defense was non-existant that game. In the game 3 loss, the Sharks had 1 shot in the overtime; that was the shot that deflected of Voynov's stick for the OT winner, and I think had another goal earlier in the game that was deflected as well, so can't blame him for that OT loss.
Meanwhile, even in the dominating game 1 & 2 wins, Niemi didn't even look that good. The Sharks masked his ineffeciencies in games 1 & 2 by scoring 13 goals those 2 games, and completely lucked out in game 3. When the Sharks potent offense disappeared the remainder of the series, that's when Niemi collapsed as well. I don't think the Sharks would've won anyways, but they would've had a better shot had Stalock started. Stalock was GREAT in game 6 for the first 55 minutes before unraveling at the end. And I realize Niemi has a ring and all, and has played in previous games 7, but hockey is a team sport, not an individual sport, and Niemi was one of the reasons his team was even playing in that game 7 after going up 3-0. From what I saw in the series Stalock was clearly the better goalie, and in a win-and-go home situation you put your best players out there, even if that means putting a guy that won a Stanley Cup on the bench and start a guy making his second career playoff start.
Kings vs. Ducks series should be fun. Hopefully that comeback from down 3-0 didn't take all the gas out of the Kings tank and they still have some left for the Ducks. Luckily for them: A) there's virtually no travel involved (about 30 miles) and B) they get an extra day off as the series starts on Saturday and not Friday. Go Kings Go!
Anyone else see how dirty Los Angeles was during the series and how the refs missed calls or called stupid penalties against the Sharks? Or is it just me...
I hope the Ducks get the brooms from Montreal for this one.
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