The Sharks are widely recognized as the most talented team in the league, and their regular season record over the past three seasons (best in the league) reflects it.
The Sharks are also widely recognized as the biggest chokers once the playoffs start. We can debate whether they should be labeled the biggest, but it is indisputable they have choked, something I have outlined definitively before.
It has come (in order) from a lack of toughness, resilience, fire, and adjustment. On three of those occasions, they have lost to a lower seed.
They are still four weeks from the playoffs and they are exhibiting all four problems already. To a man, the analysts, players, and coaches are upset with the effort and the focus, and it has yielded the following results:
Being scored on first in 13 of the last 14 games.
A 4-7-1 record in the last 12 games despite seven of those teams being outside the playoff picture at the time of the game. During this stretch, they have scored just 30 goals (plus one credited in a shootout) while giving up 42.
In the nine games since the Olympic break, the Sharks have had 61 fewer blocked shots (160-99) than thei ...
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Article written by MJ Kasprzak
San Jose Sharks Get Jump on Playoffs, Start Choking Now
March 19th, 2010 by MJ Kasprzak Leave a reply »
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