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Statement Or Just Another Game?
by Mike Chen on 01/18/09 at 03:11 PM ET
Comments (19)
Did the San Jose Sharks’ victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night mean anything?
As a gameday primer for Battle of California, I wrote that so-called statement games were really only as important as the next big game. That is, any time adversity came into play, the next game really was The Most Important Game Of The Season.
Saturday held some particular significance, though. Red Wing pundits will point to the fact that the Sharks were at home and Detroit was tired from four games in six nights. Ok, point taken. But the Sharks were missing two of their regular defensemen (Rob Blake, Brad Lukowich) and two of their regular forwards (Torrey Mitchell who’s been out all season, Jeremy Roenick).
Coming out of their first home regulation loss of the season with a depeleted defense against the defending Cup champs, it’s not like Saturday was going to be a cakewalk night for them. Blake is critical to the San Jose power play while Lukowich is one of the main Sharks penalty killers. Mitchell’s rookie season showed that he was one of the fastest guys on a team filled with fast skaters, and he played an effective shutdown game while being one of the top penalty-kill forwards. As for JR? He could move into just about an situation, from first-line wing to fourth-line center, from the power play to a pseudo-coach. He’s not Roenick circa 1994, but he’s an integral part of the Sharks’ mojo.
Take away these key elements—most notably Blake—and you’re seeing a Sharks team that’s probably 85% of its potential, especially on special teams. Sure, it’s not like Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton were out of the lineup but one of the reasons San Jose has been so damn good this whole season is that the strong depth throughout really came through at all times.
So you could say that a win is just a win and a game is just a game. But a game like this, considering circumstance and injury, really solidifies that this is not the Ron Wilson Sharks. This team, more often than not, rises to the occasion rather than shrinks in the spotlight. Things won’t always go there way, but as a longtime observer of the team, that lingering doubt that crept into the last few seasons seems to be getting quieter and quieter.
Until the second round starts, that is.
Filed in: San Jose Sharks | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Rob+Blake,
Comments
Wow!! Is the phrase “statement game” making anyone else want to punch themselves in the balls? Give it a rest, if the Wings had won, nobody would be calling them the next cup winner. It was a REGULA RSEASON game. Time to move on.
Posted by yreland from Van Dieman's Land on 01/18/09 at 05:38 PM ET
Not crowning a champ by any means. The statement is “We’re not the Ron Wilson Sharks.”
Posted by Mike Chen on 01/18/09 at 05:42 PM ET
After three games: Red Wings 13, Sharks 10.
Nice ‘statement’, Guppies.
Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 01/18/09 at 05:42 PM ET
Not crowning a champ by any means. The statement is “We’re not the Ron Wilson Sharks.”
But you’re still the Sharks.
Posted by YYZerman from Detroit, Michigan on 01/18/09 at 07:08 PM ET
After three games: Red Wings 13, Sharks 10.
Nice ‘statement’, Guppies.
You gotta hand it to Wings fans: they’re even classier in losing as they are in winning.
Posted by Ian on 01/18/09 at 07:35 PM ET
Here’s a Red Wings fan saying, “I agree.” The Sharks definitely went a long way toward erasing the Detroit “mental block,” and they did so by playing a system not hampered by Ron Wilson’s trapping, conservative hockey. They went all out, and it showed.
Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 01/18/09 at 08:01 PM ET
Noone said we were classy. But we are used to winning.
Posted by moore00 from Columbus, OH/Grand Rapids, MI on 01/18/09 at 08:06 PM ET
I love that fact that the Detroit Old Wings are probably having to face that this is the last year of their reign. I especially love all of the whiny Red Wings fans who are in denial. OH wait…was I off sides? Hm guess not.
Posted by Good Bye Detroit on 01/18/09 at 10:16 PM ET
I love that fact that the Detroit Old Wings are probably having to face that this is the last year of their reign. I especially love all of the whiny Red Wings fans who are in denial. OH wait…was I off sides? Hm guess not.
Do you watch hockey?
Posted by YYZerman from Detroit, Michigan on 01/19/09 at 12:47 AM ET
Awesome game that could have, really, gone either way. Of the 1,2,3 teams in the west, whoever avoids the other 1,2,3 will go to the Finals, bkz the other team will be beat to hell.
I’m a Wings fan, and I know the Sharks are for real. Calgary and Anaheim will beat up whoever they play, tho, I think the Flames are by far the stronger team. A Wings/Sharks conference final will be epic, and probably determine who wins the Cup. I just don’t see anyone from the East beating the West winner in a 7 game series. Partially because the Bruins/Habs/Caps will take as much of a toll on each other to get there.
A Detroit v Montreal final would make me exceedingly happy, tho. That’s not a pick. If I had to pick, and not put any hopes and dreams into it, I gotta say Sharks v Bruins, and last goal wins.
Goddess, I love hockey!
Posted by Steve Harken from San Franciscco (by way of Detroit) on 01/19/09 at 06:44 AM ET
Well, by the definition you’re using of “statement game”, then I guess almost every game is a “statement game”. So yeah, this one was too.
I said it before the game on many posts here—regular season games in January are just that. Don’t get carried away with a win or a loss.
After game five of the Cup final last season, nothing can mentally deter the Red Wings. I’m not worried about them having lost the game.
With the Sharks, perhaps they needed this boost, but as it stands, all they’ve done is hold serve winning their two games on home ice—that’s to be expected when two good teams play each other.
Here’s a Red Wings fan saying, “I agree.” The Sharks definitely went a long way toward erasing the Detroit “mental block,” and they did so by playing a system not hampered by Ron Wilson’s trapping, conservative hockey. They went all out, and it showed.
Remember the ‘07 playoffs? After that season where it sure as heck looked like the Sharks had the Wings’ number, and they were in Detroit’s head?
I honestly don’t think either team is in the other’s head. I think both teams are real good, and I don’t think there’s enough history between the teams for mind games to factor in.
If there are any “mental blocks” for the Sharks, it’s their inability to succeed in the postseason, period. And that cannot be tested till the playoffs. So, as far as I am concerned, there are no true “statement games” possible for the Sharks till the opening game of the playoffs.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 01/19/09 at 08:59 AM ET
If there are any “mental blocks” for the Sharks, it’s their inability to succeed in the postseason, period. And that cannot be tested till the playoffs. So, as far as I am concerned, there are no true “statement games” possible for the Sharks till the opening game of the playoffs.
I sort of agree, except that I also think how the elite teams play against each other in the regular season is a good indicator of their chances of post-season success. That goes for the Wings as well as the Sharks.
Also, 12 years ago, the Wings had something of a reputation of playoff choking. Until they won it all in ‘97, they’d been a talented regular season team that couldn’t put it all together in the playoffs. Sound familiar?
Also, check out these playoff stats for your Joe Thornton-chokes-in-the-playoffs types:
Pavel Datsyuk: 0.66 points/game
Henrik Zetterberg: 0.84 points/game
Joe Thornton: 0.69 points/game
Datsyuk, that choker, has worse playoff stats than Thornton. I point this out not to defend Joe, but to point out that playoff success is much more dependent on the overall talent and performance of the team, not the individual star. The Wings learned that in the late ‘90s, when Scottie Bowman made Yzerman and Federov excellent 2-way players, at the expense of some offense.
Posted by Ian from Sucka Free on 01/19/09 at 03:25 PM ET
I sort of agree, except that I also think how the elite teams play against each other in the regular season is a good indicator of their chances of post-season success. That goes for the Wings as well as the Sharks.
Sorry, I just cannot agree here. The regular season is a different animal because of inequalities in schedule difficulty going into those games against other elite teams, and frankly, because the games just don’t mean as much. The first game was with San Jose rested while Detroit was on the back end of a back-to-back, with their bodies playing games at what felt like 10:30pm. The second game was with Detroit rested while San Jose was wiped out from a road trip and back-to-back. The third game was a slightly better gauge, but still comes as the fourth game of a road trip, two nights after back-to-backs for Detroit, with San Jose rested at home. And the fourth game won’t tell us much more because San Jose has the absolute schedule from hell for February.
And not to sound arrogant, but the fact of the matter is the Red Wings probably are a bit “hung over”—they played two months of hockey where every game was an “11” on the importance scale. That makes it tough to get energized for a regular season game, no matter the competition—especially when they know there’s pretty much no way they don’t make the playoffs. The players and coaches will say otherwise, but anyone that’s watched even a handful of Wings games this season knows this is true.
Also, 12 years ago, the Wings had something of a reputation of playoff choking. Until they won it all in ‘97, they’d been a talented regular season team that couldn’t put it all together in the playoffs. Sound familiar?
It does sound familiar. I’m not saying the Sharks won’t shake the playoff monkey off their backs. They could very well do that. I’m not bold enough to predict it one way or another, but I think it is fair to take a “believe it when I see it” attitude with them. I’m just saying that the playoff monkey is what they need to shake—not the “game in January” monkey.
Also, check out these playoff stats for your Joe Thornton-chokes-in-the-playoffs types:
Pavel Datsyuk: 0.66 points/game
Henrik Zetterberg: 0.84 points/game
Joe Thornton: 0.69 points/game
I realize that this is a crude statistical analysis (I don’t have the time to go more in depth at this point), but look at these player’s regular season PPG rates:
Thornton: 1.01 PPG
Datsyuk: 0.98
Zetterberg: 0.94 PPG
Granted these are the smallest or margins, but Jumbo Joe has had higher expectations, and rightfully so—his regular season performance dictate that he should produce more points in the postseason than the Euro Twins.
Again, not the best statistical analysis, but check these numbers as well.
Zetterberg: +11 in 62 games = +0.18 rating per game
Datsyuk: +14 in 82 games = +0.17 rating per game
Thornton: -9 rating in 70 games = -0.13 rating per game
Joe’s all-around game doesn’t elevate to compensate for his lowered point production in the playoffs—Datsyuk and Zetterberg’s do.
That said, until two playoffs ago, Datsyuk was a bad playoff player (0.98 PPG the last two playoffs, after starting his career as a 0.36 PPG playoff player). Over the last two playoffs, he’s been one of the best. So it is unfair to count Joe out. But you can head over to A2Y, look at the archive from a couple years ago, especially when Datsyuk got a huge extension before the ‘07 playoffs, and see us criticizing him the same way we’re criticizing Thornton. It’s not that it’s impossible for him to be an impact player in the playoffs, it’s just that he hasn’t done it yet. So yes, we will rag on him for that, just as we did Pavel Datsyuk, until he turns it around.
Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 01/19/09 at 04:21 PM ET
Sorry, I just cannot agree here. The regular season is a different animal because of inequalities in schedule difficulty going into those games against other elite teams, and frankly, because the games just don’t mean as much.
I guess, but the fatigue and so on from traveling is still there in the playoffs, plus the wear-and-tear from the regular season grind. It actually seems to me more important to get a high seed and finish off the early round opponents in 4 or 5 games so the team can rest and recuperate in order to not hit an injury/fatigue wall that leads to a couple bad games, enough to get bounced from the playoffs. That’s more or less what happened last playoffs to the Sharks after the Flames pounded them over 7 games in the first round.
The point being, though, that if you want playoff success, you’re going to have to beat the other guys despite injuries, fatigue, and travel. If you can’t do it in the regular season vs. a tough opponent, you’re unlikely to rise to the occasion if it happens in the playoffs.
So yes, we will rag on him for that, just as we did Pavel Datsyuk, until he turns it around.
You’re a WIngs fan. I doubt you’re going to stop ragging on Thornton even if he dominates during the playoffs. 8^) As for A2Y…*shudder*. I tutor a room full of kids every Tuesday, and get enough of that recess-warrior nonsense. And they’re at least cute when they’re being irrational.
Posted by Ian from Sucka Free on 01/19/09 at 05:00 PM ET
I love that fact that the Detroit Old Wings are probably having to face that this is the last year of their reign.
I want to call this a cliché, but that would imply that it is true. Suffice it to say, someone trots out the old stand-by “the Wings are too old” whenever they want to feel better about themselves and/or whatever other hockey bandwagon they’ve jumped on, and yet the relative age of the Wings never seems to bring them down. Consistently one of the oldest teams in league? Check. Consistently elite, a bona-fide contender year after year after year? Check. Deepest team in the league, with a whole stable full of NHL-ready talent collecting dust in the minors, thanks to the best scouting team in the business? Ditto.
Do you realize how long people have been saying this? Or the fact that the Wings continue to win regardless?
Posted by monkey from here to Timbuktu on 01/19/09 at 06:20 PM ET
Points per game statistics fade in the shadows of Stanley Cup Rings. Go see Dr. Ramani if you can’t see them.
The only statement of this game was poor netminding at both ends.
Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 01/19/09 at 06:33 PM ET
I guess, but the fatigue and so on from traveling is still there in the playoffs, plus the wear-and-tear from the regular season grind.
I think the point is that in the playoffs you are on (basically) the same schedule of rest during a series.
The point being, though, that if you want playoff success, you’re going to have to beat the other guys despite injuries, fatigue, and travel. If you can’t do it in the regular season vs. a tough opponent, you’re unlikely to rise to the occasion if it happens in the playoffs.
This sounds backwards to me. Look at all those times the Wings failed in the playoffs or the past 2 years the Sharks have… They destroyed people and “got up” for every game in the regular season, but had no where to go and couldn’t elevate in the playoffs. Regular season in Jan. is highly unlikely to motivate a team that has a been there done that mentality(as the playing at 11 comment implies).
We can’t assume that we know how important either team felt this game was. As fans, sure it was big; it gives bragging rights for a few more weeks. Did the players feel the same? Was Detroit just playing not to get blown out and see if they could nip one? Was San Jose looking to gain a mental edge for themselves? Who knows? The only way we know anything is if they meet when it really does count. Let’s all hope they do.
Posted by SharkBaiter from at play in the Labs of our Lord on 01/20/09 at 03:54 AM ET
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Its a regular season game, they’ll end up with a split with the Wings, and when the playoffs begin those games wont mean squat…. Detroit is going to have to address their road PK if they want to go far
Posted by yzerman19 from Nashville on 01/18/09 at 03:35 PM ET