I successfully managed to keep quiet about the awful officiating in Games 1-3, in an attempt to not sound too bitter about the losses. So I waited 'til we won to whine about it.
Even after the huge 7-1 performance on Thursday night, Detroit still finds themselves in a big 3-1 hole in the series. A win in this game will however send the series back to Motown for a chance to tie it. That would certainly makes things interesting, but... a win tonight is needed first.
There are a number of keys to getting the victory in this one.
Firstly, stay out of the box!! The refs seem to have been constantly looking for excuses to hand the Sharks a powerplay throughout the series, a bit of extra discipline to not give them the excuses will go a long way to winning. This I cannot stress this enough when already down a man. The Sharks have scored 3 goals in this series with a 2-man advantage. That hurts!
Another key is shutting down Pavelski. We did it in Game 4, but one would think Little Joe would come out with a little more fire back in his own barn. Keeping him quiet will go a long way!
Two other important factors are associated with the Scary Pairs for tonight.
Scary Pair Numero Uno is obvious. Franzen and Bertuzzi combined for 5 goals and 6 assists in Game 4 in a monumental performance from the duo. The Sharks will look to keep the Zetterberg-Franzen-Bertuzzi line quiet which leads me to Scary Pair Two...
...Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom may just find themselves with less attention than usual tonight. Todd McLellan is very familiar with Johan Franzen's 9 goals in 4 games destruction of the Colorado Avalanche in 2008 and will keep that at the forefront of his mind when sending out his lines. Dats and Homer could see some opportunities tonight and they'll need to take advantage of them. They've both been relatively quiet in the series so far.
Brad Stuart's undisclosed lower body injury is said to be fairly minor and he's likely to play, while a larger question mark floats over the head of Patrick Eaves and his elbow.
The puck drops and about 10:10 tonight.... GO WINGS!!!
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