On a Clear Day

• Evgeni Nabokov: Dude. Dude. The guy is listed as having 17 saves, but basically all those saves were little weakling “shots” or low percentage dinks on unlikely scoring chances. Basically, those were 17 easy saves. On the other hand, every time the Canucks got even a half-decent shot on net, it went in. Nabby has to make some key saves. He didn’t. He was spared because the Sharks played pretty good defense most of the night (at least in terms of limiting scoring chances) but when I start wishing Toskala was in the net because Nabokov is looking uncomfortable in comparison, something’s wrong with your number one guy.
• Which brings up an interesting point: Toskala has been hot lately, there is no doubt. But is this Vesa’s push to be a marquee name, or is it a temporary insanity that will come crashing back down at the exact wrong time? I want to believe that he’s just come into his own enough that whether Nabby is on his game or not the Sharks could go all the way, but I find it difficult. If Toskala has a postseason meltdown, I’m not confident that Evgeni Nabokov is going to come to the rescue.
• The Sharks played ugly. Coyotes ugly. I’m sorry but that Ekman goal was a kick. Whether he made the kicking motion before it went in or after it hit his skate, the replay was clear that he intended to kick that puck in, and to me that should not be a goal. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? Because hockey refs believe in karma, and if you think this won’t come back to bite the Sharks in the tailfin later, you’re wrong. Plus you have to imagine how differently this game might have gone if that goal doesn’t count. If that’s the case, then Carle’s third-period goal only draws the tie with 8:36 left and Vancouver doesn’t have to pull Auld out at all. Remember that Vancouver only needed a tie to maintain their playoff hopes. Without the empty net, Cheechoo doesn’t score and the game goes to overtime. I’m just saying.
• Never mind the kick-in goal, the Sharks got away with murder out there. I saw Joe Thornton on I believe the empty net goal hook his man and drag himself up into better body position before even trying to move his feet. It was like he was water-skiing. No call, and San Jose gets a goal. Patrick Marleau got called for a penalty in this game and that’s only happened about 12 times all year. It was embarrassing to watch and if I’m a Canucks fan I’m livid right now at the officiating in a critical game. Admittedly, Vancouver didn’t exactly lose because of the refs (they lost because they couldn’t solve Joe Thornton) but it certainly would have been a different game with some tighter work from the refs.
• I appreciate the fact that the power play has put up a lot of points for San Jose lately. It has certainly made their seven-game win streak possible. But the Sharks typically have four or more extra power play chances than their opponent because they (usually) play a much more disciplined game. Why are games being this close? I think it’s because the Sharks power play hasn’t been all that phenomenal, it’s just a matter of probability. Get enough man advantage time and eventually something will allow you to score. Compare that to the fact that while not often penalized, it seems like every time they are down a man, the Sharks get scored on unless their netminder comes up big. What happened to the dangerous short-handed team from last season?
• Was it just me or did Joe seem like he really wanted to score an actual goal last night? Is he getting sick of playing the set-up man? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him shoot that much. Okay, I guess that’s not a concern but it did kind of make me think that the Sharks didn’t really take last night very seriously until it was getting late in the game. Kind of a “yeah, let Joe shoot. What difference does it make?”
• The difference, of course, being whether or not the Sharks have to play Calgary (or, more specifically, Mikka Kiprusoff) whom they are 1-3 against this season, or Nashville (minus Tomas Vokoun) which they are a slightly better 2-2 against. That might not seem like much difference either way, but when you consider that San Jose has lost to Calgary twice since Joe Thornton’s arrival on the scene and they actually beat Nashville back in November (one of two wins that whole month) plus again last month and I’d say San Jose vs. Nashville would be a very good thing for the Sharks. Plus that would put them into a position where if they did have to meet Detroit in the playoffs, it wouldn’t be until the conference championships after that veteran team had gone through two rounds already. Given the Sharks’ relative youthfulness, that’s about as much as you can ask for. Well, except for having the Red Wings knocked out by an earlier opponent.

Are Pee Gee

I was thinking about Final Fantasy games earlier today. I’m… really not sure why. But then I noticed that Nintendo has released Final Fantasy IV Advance and I thought to myself, “You know, I never played through that one.” Of course it was originally released in the US for the Super Nintendo as Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy VI was released here as FFIII until everyone came to their senses and skipped to naming them the same as they were in Japan upon Final Fantasy VII’s release. Since then it seems there has been a push to go back and re-name everything according to the Japanese numberings. All of which has done little except confuse the heck out of everyone.

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