If, if if...
The San Jose Sharks will have plenty of time to agonize over all of it now that their dream is dead and their season is over.
"It sucks. It's brutal. It's frustrating," said Sharks centre and Edmonton native Mark Smith, hitting a hat-trick of quotes after a 2-0 loss in Game 6. "We had a 2-0 series lead and didn't get it done. I thought we had a team in here to win the Stanley Cup."
So did Scott Thornton.
"It was a great series, give credit to where it's due," he said. "We lost a tough Game 3 but our team never lost confidence. Up until the last five minutes we really felt we were going to win and take it back home for Game 7."
If, if, if...
WOULDN'T HAVE MATTERED
Then again, maybe none it would have mattered. You don't lose four games in a row, two of them by 6-3 scores, go one-for-24 on the power play in that span, and then mumble all summer about the breaks beatin' the boys.
Maybe they could play a best-of-11 and the Sharks still wouldn't get to four wins.
"I think we were sitting back in this series a little bit too much, so let's not worry about one post or something like that," said defenceman Ville Nieminen, as honest a quote as you'll find anywhere.
"They were a little bit more experienced, a little bit stronger, a little bit heavier and maybe a little bit more physical. We're the youngest team in the league and they have a few pounds more muscle. That was the thing the last four games.
"We ran out of legs and ran out horses. We were down a couple of hourses."
And the horses never got out of the starting gate last night. Zero goals in an elimination game is an ugly badge to have to wear all summer.
"We just didn't get the job done," said Jonathan Cheechoo, who missed enough chances for everyone. "We didn't get going."
Clearly, the San Jose team finished the series last night isn't the same one that started it. They become the second favourite in a row to begin a series against Edmonton like a dominating powerhouse, with too much skill and too much will, only to finish it like they didn't really want to be there.
PUNISHED AT EVERY TURN
Given how they were treated by the Oilers and their fans, punished at every turn, booed at every other, it's understandable.
"They came at us hard and really wore us down physcially," said Smith. "And they did a great job defensively shutting us down, especially our power play.
"We just weren't good enough."
Or, as it turns out, tough enough.
"The game really changed from the regular season," said Smith.
"Stuff that gets called in the regular season doesn't get called in the playoffs. That's playoff hockey. We're young and we didn't have enough experience to adapt to that game in the playoffs. It sucks."
If San Jose wants to take the next step next year, the vets say they'll have to Oilerize their lineup.
"They have the team toughness," said Nieminen. "When we get that department we will be a great hockey team, but it was not our time yet."
Not by a long shot.
"Give them credit, they're a good team and they came at us hard," said defenceman Scott Hannan. "We've got things to learn from this series."
