The Sharks outscored the Red Wings last night to win 6-5. Is there any doubt that this will be the matchup for the Western Conference Finals? Both teams will surely be seeded 1-2, so they won't be able to match up until the conference finals, and I don't expect either to lose until then. Last nights game was really competitive, as opposed to the last two meetings where the teams traded lopsided wins. The big point of discussion this morning is whether Patrick Marleau was offsides on his breakaway goal (he probably was), but it's the wrong thing to discuss. Once again it's defensive breakdowns that doom the Wings. For as talented as this team is, they have not been good defensively this year. Last years team was great defensively, limiting chances and forcing turnovers, this years team is just not a good defensive team. And everybody has been saying all year "They'll get it together..." but time is running out on that. At this point in the season, you are what you play like. And right now this team has problems on defense. It's hard to say what exactly the problem is, because the personel is identical from last year, and they've added a great defensive forward in Hossa. So it's hard to say, but the way things stand NOW they probably aren't good enough defensively to defend their title... But hey, they'll turn things around...
No comments:
Post a Comment