A San Jose Sharks Blog

In Game Four, Detroit threw everything they had at Evgeni Nabokov. Over four periods, Nabokov faced 49 shots and was able to stop 46 of them. The San Jose goalie truly deserved a win, but it simply wasn't in the cards. Many of his saves were of the spectacular variety; in fact, if it weren't for his strong performance, the Red Wings could have won this game in regulation.

With a two goal lead in the second period, San Jose gave Detroit a late power play opportunity with less than ten seconds remaining. Five seconds into the man advantage, the Red Wings cut the Sharks' lead in half with a nice goal from Tomas Holmstrom. Then, late in the game, Detroit tied things up with 33 seconds remaining. On the play, Robert Lang was allowed to skate in unchecked from the blueline. From less than ten feet out, the Detroit forward was able to rip a shot that trickled in past Nabokov. At that moment, all I could think was, "How do you give a team a clear lane to the net when you're 33 seconds away from a 3 - 1 series lead?!" Who knows...but it happened.

In OT, Detroit controlled the tempo from the get go. Though San Jose had a number of scoring chances, the Red Wings clearly had all of the momentum. The younger Sharks looked like they were skating through sand; it appeared that their fatigue was not only physical, but mental. On the play leading to the eventual loss, Craig Rivet made a mental mistake when he shot the puck into the stands. On the resulting power play, Scott Hannan failed to clear the puck and allowed Mathieu Schneider to blast a shot which deflected off of Patrick Rissmiller and into the upper corner of the net.

It is well known that the Sharks are younger, faster, and bigger; however, that simply wasn't enough on Wednesday night. Instead, they fell to Detroit who drew on the one thing that San Jose somewhat lacks: experience. It was experience that told Detroit that two goals were not insurmountable, it was experience that helped them dig down deep to find the extra gas in the tank, and it was experience that made them realize that Game Four was a must win.

Now, the series is tied and Detroit has regained home ice advantage. As a result, San Jose now has to win a game on the road to take the series. I think we all knew that this was going to be a long series so let's hope that Game Four gave the Sharks enough experience to know how to close out a series.