Sharks Vs. Redwings

#1 Seed VS. #5 Seed
Analysis: This series opens up Thursday night in San Jose and features the Sharks versus the 5th seeded Detroit Redwings. Both of these teams overcame struggles in their first round series before finally figuring it out and advancing. Knowing that the Sharks advanced while only having 1 goal scored from their first line is pretty scary, and I expect the stars for the Sharks to get going this series, which only means trouble for Jimmy Howard. Howard looked good and bad over the course of the series with Phoenix but came up big when he needed to. If the Sharks can muster the amount of shots they had last series expect Howard to crumble under the rookie playoff pressure. Detroit won every game in the series where Zetterberg scored, so look for his success to be a factor in how Detroit does. Datsyuk had a very nice series and expect him to continue putting up points. Franzen contributed nicely in round 1, but will need to put up a few more points for Detroit to succeed. Detroit however needs to start getting more points from their defence, Lidstrom and Rafalski need to step up in this series, especially on the power play. Look for Dan Boyle to continue to put up points from the Sharks backend and coming on strong at the end of last series. In the play-offs the power play is usually a big key to success, look for the team who can take advantage of this the most to be the series winner. I think I have to give the goaltending advantage to the Sharks, because of experience and wanting to show the league that he is still a dominant goalie, Nabokov will be solid. Rob Blake has been playing solid hockey and he will use his veteran knowledge to help the young Sharks overcome an extremely strong team from Detroit.

Prediction: San Jose will not be able to rely solely on their lower lines for the scoring punch, and success will start and end with the first line’s production. While this series can definitely go either way, I have a feeling it is finally San Jose’s season. For that reason I am going with SAN JOSE IN 6

Key Players: Sharks: Thornton, Marleau, Heatley, Boyle, Blake, and Nabokov. Redwings: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Franzen, Howard.