81 Down, 1 to go

The Sharks are cruzin. They just finished a back to back with Anaheim and Calgary. And they played great. Down 2-0 to Anaheim, they scored 2 goals in the second and won in shootout. But I think the most impressive was how they got there. They took the body versus the ducks. And then Ron Wilson took a gamble in Overtime. With the Sharks Shorthanded he said "Measure Teemu's stick". He was right. the stick was too long, and Anaheim takes a 2 minute penalty. Sharks went on to the dreaded Shootout. But Teemu couldn't put his shot on net. and Andy McDonald completely whiffed and lost control of the puck on the way in. Sharks win the shootout, thanks to the gamble of Ron Wilson.

Next day Vs Calgary. Calgary hasn't clinched the spot in the playoffs yet. So they are coming full force. They tried to get rough with the Sharks. And Ryan Clowe stepped up to take the heat. Unfortuenately Dion Phenuf decided to give a hit, but not to take responsibilty for it. But Clowe did give him a good head shot to make him remember. From that moment the Sharks took over scoring 2 goals. They staggered in the 3rd period, probably from playing back to back. But when they needed it, Nabokov stood on his head and won the game.

What does that mean? Sharks are 1 pt behind Anaheim for the Division Crown. They are 2 points behind Nashville for #4 spot. If Nashville looses the last game and Sharks win last game, the sharks get #4 because they have more wins. They are 3 points ahead of Dallas. Dallas still has to play Anaheim.

Other Shark Facts about this year:

• First Western Conf team to 51 Wins. That's amazing. 2nd to Buffalo's 52 wins (overall).
  
• If you take away the point for OTL, the Sharks are in 1st in the Western Conference.
• Both Nabokov and Toskala have 25 wins a piece. That's pretty good for a goalie rotation.
• Joe Thornton joins Gretzky and Lemieux with back to back 90-assist seasons. Good company.
• 26 Road Victories is tops in the NHL
• 25 home victories is pretty good too.

The rest of the teams are all like this as well. Detroit only recently clinched the Central. Anaheim is not safe, and Vancouver hasn't clinched their division either. So it's a toss up. Down to the final game for the Sharks (Saturday) and the final NHL day (Sunday). A wild ride it is.