GDT - WCSF (Game 5) Red Wings at Sharks - 5:00PM

[madcap9999]

Roenick calls Marleau ?gutless?: Constructive critic or crossed line? - Puck Daddy - NHLBlog - Yahoo! Sports

This article absolutely nails everything I said and what Roenick was trying to say. Well done.

Drew is wrong - JR called his game not the player "gutless". And JR also said PM was "hurt alright" (pointing to the heart) - and IT'S TRUE. PM isn't showing (and hasn't shown many times in other PO's) the heart needed to win a Cup and JR is rightly speaking his mind to get some fire going - nothing else has so why the fuck not?

Will PM's play be different this year if they continue to Rounds 3 and 4? So far Marleau deserves everything JR said and DW must know he shouldn't stay on this team if he can't produce when it counts. After awhile it's just a cancer. There's NFW SJ gets by Vancouver if Patty has checked out for the series. That disappearing act year after year gets so old and annoying. Doesn't matter if he scores 70 goals in the regular season. Send him away and beef up the blue line with some better talent if the Sharks don't win this year.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

The puck was in his skates, though, I feel he did have a chance to clear. I saw it again in slow mo on the telecast, not on DVR. I'll take what you said as a well informed breakdown. More than one player had to contribute to that entire sequence, just that Marleau's brainfart seemed most glaring to me.

I really want to think that JRs comments will spur Marleau on. Although a softie, the guy has some pride so I expect at least two games where we will see an inspired Marleau. I'm glad JR said what he did and I feel as though in the back of JRs mind, he did it to jumpstart Marleau.

This is the thing that bugs me about pinning the GWG primarily on Marleau though. About 5 minutes earlier in the period Pavelski was picked by Datsyuk just as badly only it didn't result in a goal. Why didn't it result in a goal? Because the other Sharks on the ice were in position and doing their job. Murray cleared the Wings player from the front of the net so Niemi could make the save and Boyle was in position to clean up the rebound. To me that's the biggest difference between the two plays, not the turnovers themselves, but the fact that the players on Pavs turnover where in position and doing there job where as on Marleau's they were not. And IMO the fault on the goal should be placed moreso on the players not doing their jobs away from the puck.

 

[madcap9999]

TMac should have called their timeout after it went 3-2, not with 8 seconds left in the game. SJ is consistently letting their guard right after they score.

 

[rares]

From teh blog:

DETROIT — Ryane Clowe is not here with the Sharks.

I don’t know any more than that right now and questions trying to find out went unanswered.

Is it an injury issue? No answer, but I can tell you he was on the ice when Game 5 ended.

Will he be able to play tonight? No answer.

 

[postmaster]

Sorry, couldn't resist putting this here:

 

[filosofy29]

From teh blog:

I guess that'll teach Clowe not to talk chit about kronwall before the game.

 

[SJVP408]

I guess that'll teach Clowe not to talk chit about kronwall before the game.

The third line isn't going to be broken up. The first line maybe. I would consider breaking up the first and second lines. Thornton can play with anyone the way he's going. I just don't see Mayers or Feirro sliding into Clowe's spot on Couture's LW.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

Biggest game of the year and Ryane Motherfucking Clowe is out with an upper body injury. Man this blows. He was our points leader...

 

[Ray_Dogg]

Modano is in for Franzen. Heck that is probably an upgrade since he was playing on one leg anyway.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

TMac also said he felt there was a little more in Marleau's game and he feels we will get it.

 

[rares]

Kronwall says Clowe is a good guy (from teh Sharks blog):

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall flattened Clowe with an open ice hit late in the second period of Game 5, but he wasn’t taking any credit for whatever it is that may have kept Clowe off the team plane yesterday.

“They said it was flu-like symptoms so I don’t think it’s got anything to do with that hit whatsoever,” said Kronwall, whose source for that tidbit about those symptoms was the media, not anybody official.

(By the way, there is some of the healthy skepticism you might expect from the media when we hear it’s “flu-like symptoms” this time of the year.)

Did Kronwall get the sense he may have hurt Clowe with that hit?

“I don’t know, I never really think too much after a hit. You just go out there and try to play physical and that’s just how I go about it,” he said.

Was there any talking on the ice between him and Clowe?

“No he’s an honest player,” Kronwall said, “plays hard, works hard.”

The hit wasn't even that bad... Clowe has taken a lot worse and he got up from that one and didn't even look like he took a huge hit.

Someone else posted a clip of McLellan saying something like "well, unless his wife slashed him at home, yes, it happened during Game 5" so sounds like bad bruises or whatever...

 

[rares]

Interesting take from Murray's perspective, from teh blog:

But Douglas Murray had an interesting take on things when the issue of how to stay on top of Datsyuk came up.

“I’m not going to take away from the game he played. He obviously played a great game with three assists and made some great plays. But the biggest problem was not him beating us one-on-one last game. We actually kept him on the outside.

“The problem,” Murray continued, “was we didn’t take care of the guys that were open around him. You’ve got to have one guy handling him, but if you put two guys on him or multiple guys, someone else gets open and he can dish him the puck.

“That’s more important—one guy takes care of him and everybody else does their job. That’s where the breakdowns were.”

 

[caliraftdude]

Interesting take from Murray's perspective, from teh blog:

Sharks have not figured out that "moving your feet without the puck" = "winning, duh" equation yet... occassionally they do - but they forget often.

 

[madcap9999]

Amazing what happens when you start to skate. The Sharks are one of the NHL's best (if not THE best) teams when they do that, and no doubt the worst when they don't.

 

[li0lsh]

i try to be optimistic.. but i have a bad feeling about this