from Garrett Wroblewski/Guest Columnist at the Mercury News,

You’ll have to forgive the national media and recent bandwagon-jumpers for considering the San Jose Sharks the NHL equivalent of a four-leaf clover or lucky rabbit’s foot.

Yes, the Sharks have been the beneficiaries of a hat trick of controversial calls, non-calls, and coaches challenges in these playoffs. The latest was Erik Karlsson’s OT winner in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, initially set up by Timo Meier’s illegal handpass to Gustav Nyquist. One Associated Press writer went so far as to call it “sketchy,” as if he were discussing a backlot drug deal and not the zenith of a playoff hockey game.

Those currently accusing the referees of being partial to the Sharks seem to have a short memory, if any memory at all. (More on that later.)

Also in Game 3, what Joe Thornton (and a continent of viewers) believed to be an over-the-glass delay-of-game penalty by the Blues’ David Perron was missed by officials. Minutes later, Perron scored to the game, then scored again to put St. Louis ahead 4-3.

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