Sharks Vs. Blackhawks

#1Seed Vs. #2 Seed
Analysis: This series opens up on Sunday afternoon in San Jose and features the 1st seeded Sharks against the 2nd seeded Blackhawks from Chicago. Both of these teams were competing all season for the 1st seed and it wasn’t decided until the last game of the year in favour of San Jose. Both of these teams feature high octane offences and this should be quite the exciting series. San Jose has finally advanced past the 2nd round of the playoffs and is looking to avoid further playoff disappointment and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. Both teams dominated their 2nd round games against strong opponents and I think the Stanley Cup will come too whoever wins this series. Everyone knows about San Jose’s big three forwards but the real surprise has been the emergence of “little Joe” Pavelski who has been an offensive force so far in the playoffs. On Chicago Captain Jonathan Toews has been the man, with assistance coming from Pat Kane and Dustin Byfuglien. Expect Nabokov to get a nice helping of Byfuglien all series long. On defence you have Rob Blake and Dan Boyle versus Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Brian Campbell. I have to give the advantage to the Hawks on the back end. Both Nabokov and Niemi have looked shaky at points in the playoffs but showed the doubters that they are more than capable after shutting the door in round 2.

Prediction: The Hawks came this far last year and then suffered disappointment at the hands of the Redwings. Both of these teams are scary good and I could definitely see this series going either way. I think the Hawks have the confidence to get it done this year. BLACKHAWKS IN 7

Key Players: Sharks: Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau, Heatley, Boyle, Blake, and Nabokov. Blackhawks: Toews, Kane, Byfuglien, Keith, Seabrook, Versteeg, Campbell, Niemi.