Ok, that’s probably enough playing down to your competition

Certain members of the blogosphere whom I won’t name made dangerous allegations that’s it’s fine for a hockey team to play down to their competition, since the season is a long-haul and there’s no point in going full-tilt 60+ minutes of every game. That wears you out and severely limits your chances of playing well and healthy in the postseason. Let’s call that phenomenon, I dunno, choosing two names at complete random, the Wilson-McLellan paradox.

The Wilson-McLellan paradox is real, but the other part of it is that you have to play well enough to actually get decent playoff positioning in the first place.

Sooooooooo.

Time to stop sucking. This road trip was part of one of the easiest stretches the Sharks have on their schedule, and they’ve lost now 4 in a row. Martin Jones and Aaron Dell have played pretty well (despite Jones getting pulled), but it’s really been the skaters that have let the team down.

They’ve been getting outshot and outchanced, and have been giving up uncharacteristic goals. Vlasic, in particular, is going through one of those bizarro-world stretches where he reads plays completely wrong and is ineffective on odd-man rushes against.

This is another one of those ridiculously early games, so see my story from yesterday about the drunch, or “drunch brunch.” I’d honestly love to hear stories of getting annihilated on mimosas while eating fancy egg hashes.

Sharks @ Devils

9:30 fucking A.M. Pacific because the NHL hates you

Prediction: The Sharks play down to their competition in a terrible and boring game