
May 20, 2011
RATTO ARCHIVESHARKS PAGESHARKS VIDEO
GAME 3 PREVIEW
Ray RattoCSNCalifornia.com
SAN JOSE -- The issue of what number game the Sharks would pretend Game 3 was tonight seemed paramount on the minds of the continents finest inquisitors Friday morning. The undercurrent, of course, being that the Sharks could not afford a third consecutive loss to Vancouver, and some players offered up the conventional wisdom as a way to get the questioners away from them as quickly as possible.
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Fortunately, there was defenseman Douglas Murray bringing his full Cornell education to bear.
Game 7? No, he said with a smile that could have turned smirk with a few more muscle twitches. Detroit lost three in a row, and they came back and made it a pretty tight series.
Of course, banking on the healing powers of going down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series makes little sense, but Murrays greater point is taken. Game 3 is very important, but it is not the death-hammer.
The Sharks just need to approach it as closely as possible to being a death-hammer.
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This is a huge game in the series, no question, he said. Well prepare for anything, and treat this game that way. But we need to treat every game that way. Everyones seen what happened. We just have to go out and do what were capable of doing as quickly and consistently as possible. We dont want to be down 3-0, obviously.
Head coach Todd McLellan was equally pedantic, but for a different reason.
If we have the approach that Game 1 is like Game 7, if Game 2 is like Game 7, thats a real good indicator of intensity and focus, he said. But our plan is just to win Game 3. We know there will be a Game 4, and wed like to play it at 2-1 (rather than 3-0), but what we have to do right now is win Game 3.
McLellan also addressed the teams problematic third periods by reminding people it wasnt always so.
The first period wasnt good to us in Los Angeles, he said, and now its a not very good third period. Thats the nature of the game. If were good enough to play beyond this, it might be the second period that gives us problems next.
As a brief aside, Jason Demers did not skate Friday morning, and will almost surely not play. In fact, his participation in Game 4 or the rest of the series as a whole remains murky. McLellan also said he was still mulling line changes, although his M.O. is to have decided such things before game day.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com.