I think I can hear Doug Wilson crying somewhere in California…
While the four San Jose members of the Canadian Olympic team were obviously ecstatic last night, especially Boyle after his three point performance, they must have been swearing under their breathe as they watched NHL teammate Evgeni Nabokov blow another big game. While he did not have a chance on a few of the goals, he probably should have had the ones by Morrow, Boyle and Weber. Take those three goals back and the game could have been different.
While Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson is definitely worried about the play of Nabokov, the fact that his two big Canadian guns have had little influence on the turnaround of Team Canada is also something to make him uneasy. Patrick Marleau is once again showing why he cannot perform in playoff hockey. And how is it that Joe Thornton, consistently one of the highest scoring players in the League since the lockout, absolutely refuses to get his nose dirty on almost every shift. They are the definition of perimeter players, who need time and space to make things happen. Whenever Canada was pressing the Russkies, or even the Germans the night before, it was never this supposed “all star line”. They do not play at a high tempo, and I think that Babcock is starting to see that they may only be effective while on the powerplay.
