The Tough Fourth Win

As the series in the first round come to a close a trend has began to show, that the hardest game to win in a series is the fourth and deciding game. Teams are winning on the road, winning big, and why? Because they have that one intangible called desperation in their favor. The team I am most interested to see what kind of desperation is left is the Sharks. The Ducks are vying to become the eight 8th seed, since 1994, to eliminate a number 1 seed in the first round, just seems like yesterday that Arturs Irbe and the up start Sharks were beating the top seeded Red Wings. Now the tables could be turned thanks to the Ducks young guys, Bobby Ryan (team leading 4 goals) and Jonas Hiller (stopping 139-of-145 shots) have been on fire for this team. Looking at the other side of the spectrum, as usually Joe Thornton is no where to be found in the playoffs for the Sharks (2 assist, -4). I think San Jose will follow suit with the other teams this week down 3-1; win on Saturday to only loose the series. If I had to pick one team that could overcome a 3-1 deficit in this year playoffs it would have to be the Capitals over the Rangers. The Capitals are the better team, they just were having a tough time beating the first round Conn Smyth winner Henrik Ludqvist, they will continue to figure him out and I predict a 3-1 collapse by the Rangers.



Speaking of the Rangers, and their sloppy seconds, but I have to say that their decision to bench super-pest Sean Avery in Game 5 was a great decision. Though the coach dodged the question, "I'm not going to explain it in this forum," Rangers head coach John Tortorella said. "It was my decision and that's what it was." The real reason was his two undisciplined third-period penalties in Game 4 that almost cost the Rangers an important win. One might argue that the team looked as flat as a soda that has been sitting in the fridge for months, that they were missing that spark plug that the Bad Boy of Broadway has given the team in the last couple of months. I argue that the Rangers, though the have the best PK in the league, can’t afford to keep giving the Capitals power plays in the third period and can’t afford having a distraction as they try to win the hardest victory in the series. I really hope that next year Sean Avery is working at Vogue talking about what the latest fashion faux pas of the red carpet was, instead of talking to reporters about how he just doesn’t fit in with this or any team.