CBC-Sports

Anemic Sharks not going for blood

April 20, 2009 02:00 AM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

The Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night became the 35th team since the league went to seeding teams 1 through 8 in 1994 to win the first two games of a series on the road.

The Ducks come home planning not to become the ninth team to blow that advantage.

The team's 3-2 win over San Jose was more remarkable because the Sharks looked better in most areas than they did in Game 1 - including getting traffic in front of Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller, face-off numbers (53 per cent, 30 of 57), shots on goal (44-26) and total shots (83-51).

But other numbers betrayed the Sharks more tellingly. They were 0-6 on the power play again, and are 0-12 in this series. This is a growing trend - going all the way back to the Edmonton series in 2006, they are 14 for 170.

In addition, they have now scored 69 goals in the rough equivalent of 35 games (including overtime periods), an average of 1.97 per game.

Dan Boyle put it best for the catatonic Presidents' Trophy winners: "Yeah, we created more chances, but you have to score goals, plain and simple.

"Either way, we're down 2-0, and most teams don't come back from that. We have to decide if we're gonna be like most teams, or whether we're gonna be something special."

Todd McLellan changed his first, third and fourth lines for Game 2, moving Travis Moen up front with Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi, putting Joe Thornton between Jonathan Cheechoo and Jeremy Roenick and inserting Claude Lemieux with Marcel Goc and Mike Grier.

In addition, the second line of Joe Pavelski, Milan Michalek and Ryane Clowe finished with 14 shots and the first goal (Clowe at 5:38 of the second).

The result looked better, but the Sharks remain miserable finishers, elevating Hiller even closer to the status Dwayne Roloson gained in 2006 and Cam Ward in 2007 as competent goalies turned elite ones in the postseason.

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