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Sharks come unglued with 4-2 loss to Blackhawks

San Jose Sharks 2, Chicago Blackhawks 4

Blackhawks lead series 2-0

How do you judge this series so far?

Is this the San Jose Sharks choking? This is two straight losses at home, with a clear path to the Stanley Cup finals after reaching the previously-hallowed ground of the conference finals.

Or is this just a measure for just how good are the Chicago Blackhawks? The Vancouver Canucks were stacked, and so are the Sharks, yet the Blackhawks have handled both teams fairly well.

After two games, and two big wins, the Chicago Blackhawks now have a commanding 2-0 lead as they head back to Chicago.

The Sharks started off the game with a bit of a rush, working hard to recover from a painful Game 1 loss and yet again, they found themselves losing after mostly outplaying the Hawks to that point. Unlike Game 1 however, in which the Sharks continued to battle for most of the game, this time an early goal seemed to take the life out of the team.

The Blackhawks jumped all over the Sharks from that point, scoring twice more in the second period and then once again in the third. The Sharks would try to make things interesting, cutting the lead to two with over four minutes remaining, yet never really attempted a truly all-out attack in the waning moments to try and tie the game.

Joe Thornton, despite a nifty pass on the Sharks’ first goal of the game, continues another disappearing act in big games. The top line of Thornton, Marleau and Dany Heatley is now a combined minus-18 for the playoffs, as all three made several poor decisions with the puck tonight to negate prime scoring chances.

Most frustrating of all was the completely unnecessary slashing penalty Thornton took just minutes after his team allowed a fourth goal.

Like the Canucks before them, the Sharks are finding their emotions getting the best of them and all at the wrong time. The Sharks looked lifeless and a bit bored after the Hawks scored the first goal, and only really showed true emotion when confronting Dave Bolland out on the ice.

Showing emotion and responding offensively after going down 1-0 early in the game? Nope.

Showing emotion with inspired offensive attacks as they worked to get Antti Niemi off his game? Nope.

Showing emotion by not taking dumb penalties right as your team hopes to build a comeback? Nope.

No, the Sharks decided to come alive and show some actual emotion in the final seconds with -- you guessed it -- going after Dave Bolland. Prime example of a frustrated team falling deeper into the trap.

Unfortunatley, if the Sharks don’t pull this together, we’re in for what is looking to be two quick conference finals.