The Sharks have been brought down from the heights of Tina Turner rolling over the St Louis Blues to relying on the hype of Flavor Flav. If that doesn’t tell you how bad the Sharks have been so far in this series, I don’t know what will. This comparison isn’t hurt by the fact most of the Sharks are playing like 57 year old men against the onslaught of youth that is the Penguins.

In fact, the Sharks only hero through this series has been Justin Braun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for Braun, but for the rest of the team it’s very bad news. For comparison, relying on Braun is like any other team relying solely on their best defensive defenseman to score. Niklas Hjalmarsson is not going to win you a series offensively.

But Braun was able to get that first goal for the Sharks, and FINALLY Joel Ward forced a puck in to force OT. The way the guy is working right now, a hat trick in the clinching game if the Sharks earn their way back would not surprise me. In fact, that’s more likely than the Sharks winning another OT game.

Domskoi with the GWG was impressive. Part of why most experts picked the Sharks to take this series was because of their sheer depth, and finally it is coming through. With Ward, with Domskoi, with Braun, the second half of this team is trying it’s hardest.

And that says a lot about the stars on this team not trying. Joe Pavelski has yet to be seen. Joe Thornton is missing in action. I haven’t heard from Patrick Marleau since the first game. Brett Burns was a factor in both the Penguins’ two goals. Marc Eduard Vlasic almost allowed the third. The team is missing the guys it needs most, and it’s hurting them. But I don’t expect the Joes or Marleau or Burns to allow themselves to be down for this long. They’re going to come back before this series is over. And maybe that’s the determining factor.

The Penguins, on the flip side, are being shown that Evgeni Malkin can’t be relied upon. My x-factor for the Penguins has been just that, he’s been a huge part of why the Penguins lost last night and why they’ve given up goals in this series. He gave up the GWG to Domskoi. He could have had the GWG himself but he missed the net. If he’s traded I don’t blame the Penguins one bit, especially with Hagelin and Kessel around long term and if the Penguins are able to extend Bonino.

Crosby wasn’t as dominant this game. Ben Lovejoy was really the force for the Penguins, and he had instrumental roles in both their goals this game. Mayhaps Logan Couture’s complaining served it’s purpose and the refs were stricter with Crosby.

The Sharks finally listened to what everybody has been telling them – if you attack the Penguins from behind and with wrap around shots you’re going to win. Murray is a human being, and human beings have blind spots. Man, if Murray was an owl though there’s no way to win this series for the Sharks.

We’ll see if the Sharks continue playing well in the fourth game. Will they continue to hang in close with the Penguins or will Thornton, Pavelski and Burns finally show themselves and help to crush the Penguins as the Sharks have done with other opponents?