Recapping the Sadness, Sharks v Wild, Sharks lose 2-1

It was an game that started with such promise. Exactly one minute in, Mr. Clutch himself, Joe Pavelski skated in and potted a goal behind Harding. The crowd exploded. Finally! A string start! This is going to be the best game ever! And it was, for about 10 minutes. Then, as they say, the wheels fell off, caught on fire, rolled into a creek and nearly set the creek on fire before finally extinguishing themselves into a damp smokey mess.

Ok, maybe I am overreacting a bit, but the rest of the game was just bad. Harding, arguably, suffered the worst of it after being nailed in the face by fellow Wild member Nick Schultz, left the ice with an apparent neck injury. (Here's hoping he recovers quickly). Rookie net minder Matt Hackett, nephew of the former Sharks goal tender Jeff Hackett, took his amazing hair and skated over to the net in relief.

Matt-I-have-amazing-hair-Hackett

Stupid good Mikko Koivu set up Bouchard with just 12 seconds left in the first, tying the game at 1 a piece. At this point, going into the first intermission, hopes ran high. The Sharks could come back and score more, no problem! This kid's a rookie, and not only that, it's his first NHL start ever! No WAY the Sharks don't beat him!

*sighs*

More like every way the Sharks don't beat him. Minnesota only scored one more goal, making the final score 2-1, but it was the score that was the disappointing part; it was that the Sharks didn't seem to show up after the first 10 minutes of the game were done. Passing was bad, defense was bas, offense was bad, communication was bad if it existed at all, in short, the Sharks looked BAD. To be able to compare the bad to the utter amazing that was the first ten minutes was just...deflating.

Not sure what else there is to say other than tonight is a must win.

 

***

It's never a good idea to start out a conversation with your coworker, who also happens to be a Ducks fan, but saying "How you guys doing with Broudreau, huh?" when the Ducks won the night before and the Sharks lost. In my defense, I wasn't aware the Ducks had even played the night before because, well, it's the Ducks, who cares?

When the Ducks lost the first two games following Boudreau's arrival, I felt a little bad for him. Here's a guy who was just fired by a club for losing, and his new team proceeds to keep doing the same thing. Now? Yeah, not so much.