NHL san jose Sharks

A's owner Lew Wolff says he's not looking at the Coyotes' threatened move from Phoenix as any kind of model for Oakland's baseball team, an idea that had been hinted at by the Los Angeles Times over the weekend.

Instead, it's the Sharks who are providing some inspiration for Wolff as the A's begin exploring their options in San Jose.

"The Sharks are the single most import venture of that sort to happen in that city," Wolff says.

A lot of the talk following last night's Game 2 in Detroit centered around Chicago's Brian Campbell and his turnover, which led to Mikael Samuelsson's game-winning goal, giving the Wings a 3-2 win in overtime and a 2-0 series lead. But it wasn't nearly the first time that Campbell has made a mistake that has cost his team a victory in a playoff overtime. This is actually the third time in this past three years that a misplay by Campbell has led to an overtime defeat for his team.

Jeremy Roenick can't wait until this time of the year is over. It drives him nuts.

"I'm just sitting around and waiting," the Sharks forward said. "I hate it when other people are playing and I'm not."

That's one indication Roenick gave FanHouse that he's leaning toward sticking around at least one more year. He's played 20 seasons already, however, and he'll be 40 in January. He's certainly given thought to retirement, much as he did two years ago.

Hostilities began when the puck dropped, and in a penalty-happy Game 6, the Ducks took better advantage of the man advantage and knocked the top-seeded Sharks out of the playoffs.

San Jose, which finished with a league-best 117 points, fell 4-1 at the Honda Center and became the fourth President's Trophy winning team to fall in the first round. Perennial disappointments who have yet to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Sharks do not have a good relationship with sixth games in playoff series, and are now 2-13 overall and 1-7 on the road in those games.

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Few teams inspire a lack of confidence like the Sharks. The Cubs, maybe. The Red Sox before 2004.

Even head coach Todd McLellan isn't immune. Asked about his team's flirtation with elimination after Game 4, he responded that he was "disappointed but not surprised." High marks for honesty, but that's a particularly stinging indictment coming from the team's coach.

Joe Thornton, the subject of weeklong criticism, came through in Game 5's win over the Ducks, and he will have to keep up that up tonight in Anaheim for San Jose to have any hope of forcing a Game 7 back home on Wednesday.

All over North America this morning, hardcore hockey fans are saying a word or two of thanks to the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. Thanks to those two teams and the guts they displayed on Sunday by staving off elimination in their respective playoff series, we'll all get to enjoy the rare treat of a Tuesday night in April: not one, but two Games 7.

The Caps will host the beleaguered Rangers in Washington at 7:00 p.m., while the Devils and the Hurricanes will get things underway in Newark 30 minutes later. Needless to say, many of us will have our heads on a swivel most of the evening.

Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau kept the Sharks alive at least one more game even after Anaheim fought back from a two-goal deficit to send the game into overtime.

Just over six minutes into overtime, Thornton whisked a pass from behind the net to Marleau in a crowd out front.

Marleau jammed the puck three times, finally pushing it past Jonas Hiller. As it trickled in, the Sharks massed on the ice in celebration -- with the 3-2 victory over the Ducks, they avoided making the fastest exit ever by a President's Cup-winning club, with the series heading to Game 6 in Anaheim on Monday.

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Can we even call this an upset at this point?

If you had been watching this series and not known which team was the Presidents' Trophy winner and which was the eighth seed, you would probably think the Ducks were the favorites in this series. They have dominated the play despite getting out shot in each game, a testament to goalie Jonas Hiller and the Ducks defense.

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Now, I don't get Versus with my cable package and maybe that's a good thing since it means I don't have to put up with the network's ongoing shenanigans that is its hockey coverage. Instead, I watch all of non-local hockey hockey action from the safety of my own computer. I choose which games I want to watch and change them as I please. The same cannot be said for the folks watching Versus last night, who may be waking up a little hot under the collar Wednesday morning.

Versus broadcast part of Game 4 between the Hurricanes and Devils on Tuesday night to many households in the US. The key words there are "part of", as in, the network cut away from the game before the 'Canes' epic goal with .02 seconds left on the clock.

Patrick Marleau has borne the brunt of the criticism during San Jose's recent postseason disappointments, and that carried right into the first two games of the Sharks' first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.

That is until the Sharks' captain came up with the game-deciding goal in Tuesday night's 4-3 victory over Anaheim at the Honda Center. Marleau's tip-in from the slot came with 10:33 left in the third period and the Sharks on a power play after Corey Perry was called for hooking San Jose's Dan Boyle.

That gave the Sharks their fourth one-goal lead of the night, and they held on as Bobby Ryan got off the only shot for Anaheim after the Ducks pulled goalie Jonas Hiller with 1:30 left. The eighth-seeded Ducks lead the series two games to one over the President's Cup winners.

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