Thornton & Sharks Have No Bite

I, along with most Canadians feel a deep respect for the opinions of Don Cherry. As such I believe that he has at the very least influenced my opinion of Joe Thornton. I have always wanted to believe that Thornton's playoff woes are just that, and not an inert lack of playoff ability. That opinion, I'm afraid, may have been altered after watching the first four games of the Sharks/Ducks series.

Not only is Thornton not performing on paper, he is not performing in any way on the ice. Thornton's performance has been completely uninspired in the four games of this series thus far. In game four, Thornton could be seen coasting around as if he was uninterested. At the end of the game he was on the bench rather than in the game. Not only that, but he showed absolutely no heart during the game. Thornton was on the ice for both of Bobby Ryan's second period markers and glided away with an expressionless face. He then proceeded to hit Getzlaf with a tape-t0-tape pass on Perry's first goal of the series. There must be a way to motivate Thornton's play, but I feel that even if Thornton shows some heart in Game 5, the no-show Sharks still won't get by the Ducks in Round 1.

Don't mistake my disappointment with Thornton as personal blame for the series. It has been a team effort to play so poorly. The lack-luster play of Patrick Marleau and company has been very apparent in this series and the only motivated Shark's performances have come from veteran Stanley Cup winning defensemen Rob Blake and Dan Boyle.

I predicted the Ducks would win this series in 7 Games. They were hot going into the playoffs and they had to fight their way in. The Sharks coasted into the playoffs having a losing record over their last 36 games. Given their record start to the season, they were the early favourites to win. It is now apparent that they are no longer favourites and in my personal opinion, haven't been since the All-Star break.

Thornton and the Sharks need to take a long look in the mirror and decide if they want to go out in a 5-Game romp, or go down in a Michael Vick dog-fight.