Sharks Gameday: Finish Him!

MORTAL KOMBAT! 

Game 5

Game five in San Jose was concentrated awesome from beginning to end. Seriously, it was one of the greatest things that has ever happened in world history. I think I would put it right above Marco Polo's visit to China and right below sliced bread.

Some funny reactions by the Sharks on Working the Corners to the "orange shirt night" in San Jose. Scott Nichol liked the "get loud" message (he's an easy man to please), Devin Setoguchi wanted more people to wear the shirts, and Evgeni Nabokov said he didn't understand why it wasn't teal. Yeah, same here - but who cares when you get a game like that, right?

Enough fashion talk - this is a hockey blog, right? Sort of? Everyone on the Sharks played well in Game 5, and I have nothing but praise for all of them. Douglas Murray avoided any glaring defensive mishaps, Patrick Marleau woke up, and Joe Thornton continued riding the Avalanche defensemen like red-headed step mules (Editor's note: What the shit is this?). I don't care who on the team is scoring however many points - the team as a whole is working just like they should be.

Tonight's Game

I expect the Avalanche to emphasize their defensive-trap tonight, since that's what made them effective in the first few games against the Sharks and it will give Anderson some time to settle back in. The problem with that strategy for the Avs, however, is that going into the 0-3-2 formation that they used so often is going to make it really tough for them to generate any more offense - which also needs to happen if they're going to try and make this a close game.

Basically the Avalanche are screwed because the two things they need to do are "Focus more on defense" and "Focus more on offense." The Sharks' game-plan is just to keep doing exactly what they have been doing. They will, and they'll win. The Sharks have already proven they have mental fortitude this post-season, and I believe they can close the deal tonight.

Prediction: Sharks win 3-2 and we finish this thing.