I don't understand why the Sharks looked so bad. Even in game 2 which I thought the Wings deserved to win, the Sharks were suffocating in their fore-check. None of the Wing's defensmen had a chance to make a play. A lot of the time in the offensive zone the Wings were forced to cough up the puck and the Sharks moved the puck well in their own zone and cleared it easily. Yesterday, the only time I saw any life from the Sharks was right after they scored. Yesterday, it seemed like every time the Wings defensmen had to clear the zone the Sharks were changing and they had all the time in the world to move the puck. In fact, I thought giving the Wings D all that time made them a little tentative, trying to make the perfect play.
Are the Sharks tiring? They are a bigger team and they played a longer series in the first round. They always say the bigger team will grind down the smaller team, but in the Sharks case this might be turned around with the bigger team having to expend greater energy chasing around smaller faster guys. Another small aspect that might be affecting this is the fact that Zetterberg is just now getting his skates under him. This will all be drivel if SJ turns the jets back up for 60 minutes.