Meltdowns

Yesterday's market meltdown apparently was caused... in part... by a typo on the part of a trader.  Which would also explain the nearly 500 point bounceback from the day's low.  The Dow is down over 100 points as I peck this out (1245 hrs).

Still and even it is to worry about that sovereign debt thing.  It ain't just Greece, if you followed the link I posted yesterday.  The other thing?  So much for the Euro replacing the dollar as the "new" reserve currency.  Some analysts see the Euro at parity with the dollar in the coming year.

―:☺:―

Wings fans get into the spirit as their team soars ahead. Daniel Mears/The Detroit News

Speaking of meltdowns... Mark Purdy, writing in the San Jose Mercury-News:

Thursday night when the puck dropped on Game 4 against the angry and desperate Detroit Red Wings, there was a decent chance that the Sharks might have some form of letdown. They had won the first three games in a best-of-seven series. To clinch, our beloved Los Tiburones needed to win just one of the potential remaining four games.

But this? Giving up five goals to Detroit in that 20-minute first period? Losing by a score of 7-1 on a night when the last thing the Sharks needed to do was give a proud Red Wings team any whiff of a confidence boost?

Not excellent. Not excellent at all. For the Sharks, the night was basically a total waste, unless this was a crafty ploy to make the Wings overconfident heading into Saturday's next game at HP Pavilion.

Ummm.  Mark.  You're still up 3-1.  This ain't the end of the world.  What's that you say?

Entering Thursday night, the Sharks had been solid and steady for the last two weeks of this postseason. They had won six consecutive playoff games.

But of course, with this franchise, a downer statistic always lurks. Remember what happened the last time the Sharks won six straight playoff games, in 2006? They promptly lost their next four to Edmonton and were eliminated from the playoffs.

The danger, moving forward, would be if the Sharks either underreacting or overreacting to the result. Hockey momentum shifts on a dime.

Well now.   I kinda-sorta see what ya mean.  And so does Mike Babcock...

We can talk about the (1942) Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders (the only two NHL clubs that have overcome 3-0 deficits) and all that stuff, but that's how hard it is to do. That's how few times it's done,'' Babcock said. "Every 33 years or so you got to be due, so I figure it's our turn.''

Chutzpah?  Maybe.  But Babcock does have a point... in that a comeback from a 3-0 deficit has been done.  It's not impossible, just statistically improbable.  Apropos of that... Vegas gives the Wings an 8-1 chance.

All that said, the Wings certainly looked good last night, most especially The Mule, who set a franchise record for most points in a playoff game (6) and came within three seconds of setting an all-time NHL playoff record for most playoff goals in the shortest time span.  Here's Franzen working his magic:

The Sharks may well be looking at Games Six and Seven if the Wings continue to play as they did last evening.

Here's hoping.