Posted in Playoffs, Joe Thornton May 10th, 2007
Enough with the crucifixion of Joe Thornton
With the recent elimination of the San Jose Sharks at the hands of the Red Wings, many Bruins fans…who have had to endure this when he was with Boston…were quick to point out Joe Thornton’s dismal performance in the final two games of the series: 0 goals, 0 assists, a -4 plus/minus and two shots on goal. You could almost hear the “A-ha!” rising in unison from the Massachusetts coast.
But the criticism seems awfully short sighted. None of his struggles, of course, can be attributed to playing against the Red Wings who allowed the 3rd fewest goals in the league this year and are anchored by arguably one of the best…if not THE best…goaltenders to ever play the game.
The Sharks had a total of nine goals in six games against the Wings. Thornton had five points. That means he contributed to 55.5% of the team’s scoring against the Wings. By comparison, Sidney Crosby led the league in scoring this year with 120 points. The Penguins scored 277 goals, meaning that he was involved in 43.3% of their scoring.
In addition to all that, in the five playoff games against the Predators, Thornton scored six points while his team tallied 16 goals…a 37.5% contribution. That means that, even despite being shut out the last two games, he contributed even MORE against the Red Wings than he did against the Predators.
Sorry guys, I was never happy with his playoff performances here in Boston either, but I can’t knock him this offseason in San Jose. He was shut out in the final two games, but aside from a single goal by Marcel Goc in game five, so was the rest of the team. Perhaps if a few more players on the Sharks NOT donning a #19 jersey were able to put some points on the board in the Wings series, the Sharks would still be alive and the conversation would be how Joe Thornton had shaken the monkey from his back and was leading the Sharks in scoring this postseason (with his 11 points, he nearly doubled the output of his closest teammates who had only 6).
I know Thornton will always be an easy target, but in this case the focus needs to lie on crediting the Red Wings and not on Thornton’s continued crucifixion.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 8:47 am and is filed under Playoffs, Joe Thornton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
