217 replies to this topic

[puckbags]

Yeah, but San Jose has no plans on winning the Stanley Cup.

Haha, I hope you are correct my friend.

[Andrew]

Ya but that game was in Chicago.

Nope, it was in San Jose. The Sharks had home ice and it was either game 1 or 2.

EDIT: It was game 1 on 5/16 (Sunday afternoon). http://en.wikipedia....nference_Finals

Edited by Andrew, 27 April 2011 - 12:41 AM.

[Detroit # 1 Fan]

Someone didn't watch last year.

Someone believes a team learns as they go along, and I dont wanna be negative before the series even starts

[matt198913]

Someone didn't watch last year.

Lets call it like is last year every game was 1 goal except game 4. If we have any penalty kill at all this year we will win this series. However I just cannot see us staying out of the box against the Sharks. To be honest that's what the series comes down to for us.

[Trapt1307]

Crosby hasn't participated in a single contact practice yet, he's not even close to returning and if does the NHL bulls*** concussion policy should be burnt.

That was my lame attempt at sarcasm.

[matt198913]

Nope, it was in San Jose. The Sharks had home ice and it was either game 1 or 2.

EDIT: It was game 1 on 5/16 (Sunday afternoon). http://en.wikipedia....nference_Finals

Me being an ass had to look it up with NHL gamecenter live....... At 2 in the morning

Yeah, but San Jose has no plans on winning the Stanley Cup.

Plus they are still worn out from those loooooooooooooooong journeys to LA

[sphere10]

Kopitarless Kings were all heart and would have been a tough team to battle with for anybody, including the Wings. That being said, if the Sharks got just average goaltending from Niemi in that series they take it in 5 games. Sharks showed a lot of heart in game 3 coming back from a four goal deficit after playing like absolute crap for the first 22 minutes of that game. Joe Thornton, Mr invisible, had two game winning goals vs. the Kings (look it up, it's true) so it is possible...possible he is starting to step up his game. Jumbo is never going to take over a series and knock home 10 goals (it's a good over/under mark to guess whether he will have more than 10 shots in this upcoming series) but if the key second/third liners like Pavelski/Clowe/Couture start finding the back of the net the Sharks are a tough team to beat with the depth they carry over three lines.

When you guys are fully healthy, however, you have the deepest team in the league so the Sharks will need to play much better defensively than they did against the kings and win those one goal games like they did last year.

If Niemi finds himself the Sharks can win this series in 6 or 7. The wings could very easily take advantage of a very mediocre sharks defensive core (even compared to other Sharks playoff teams since the lock-out) and win this thing in 4 or 5. Home ice did very little for the sharks against the kings, and I think the effect will be the same in this series (unless the Sharks drop the fist two, I think it will be very hard on them mentally to get a win in Joe Louis down 0-2).

I'll say Sharks in 7 or Wings in 5. Quite a discrepancy there but it's hard to guess what Sharks team is going to come out of the gate, especially in the playoffs.

Anyways, good luck to you guys. It's nice to have a solid playoff rivalry with a historic team - it makes my team seem a little more historic

[T.Low]

As for the people bitching about the travel...cmon...SJ has to travel too and it's not like these guys travel in buses for hours. They fly in the nicest planes, sleep in the best hotels and have world class trainers. I think they will manage.

And from this point on, all four teams are now traveling about the same. Nashville to Vancouver is about the same as Detroit to San Jose.

Of course, the East is all one time zone, what can you say.

[TheSupafly]

Looking forward to a hell of a series. I think the winner of this goes to the Cup finals for sure. Vancouver is soft and Nashville is...well...Nashville. Sharks PP this postseason has sucked royally (see what I did there?). The special teams needs to be much better for the Sharks or the wings will romp. Getting Z back should be a nice boost for the wings. A healthy White makes the Sharks' defense a bit better than last year. Niemi is anyone's guess. Can't wait for it to start.

[Shoreline]

Good thing about that supposed mediocre power play, Supafly, is that it's going against a Red Wing team that, with the way they played the PK last series, would certainly make the Sharks power play unit look much better.

Hoping the Sharks don't get many man advantages at all.

Wings need to keep their offensive prowess with the pedal to the metal to win this series because I don't envision either team's D looking very good.

Edited by Shoreline, 27 April 2011 - 02:01 AM.

[TheSupafly]

Good thing about that supposed mediocre power play, Supafly, is that it's going against a Red Wing team that, with the way they played the PK last series, would certainly make the Sharks power play unit look much better.

Hoping the Sharks don't get many man advantages at all.

Wings need to keep their offensive prowess with the pedal to the metal to win this series because I don't envision either team's D looking very good.

Yeah it will be an interesting subplot with the Sharks underachieving PP vs the Wings underachieving PK. Something has to give. Both teams have great scoring depth. Datsyuk scares me every time he has the puck. The man is ridiculous.

[TheUkrainian]

This should be an interesting series. Glad I'm done with finals tomorrow so I can watch the games without losing study time haha. I was told that the first game would be Thursday. My friend's brother worked on the pre-game/intro videos for the Wings and was told that they had to have the Round 2 video ready for a Thursday game 1 (in case it was a home game against Chicago or Nashville). He said that he doesn't know if that'll change since game 1 will be away now.

[martyrme19]

San Jose couldn't easily sweep anyone.

They barely beat an LA team playing without their best player.

Chicago would have swept them most likely.

I sure hope you're right.

I was just basing it on the overall product that SJ has put on the ice over the season. Teams can look sluggish one series and completely turn a corner the next.

[Mabuhay Red Wings]

[jollymania]

If the refs pick up on the diving early it could be a lot better of a series to watch

[HudlerFanatic]

You all realize that this years series against the Sharks will be different right. To say lightly without jinxing anyone or any such team...
Last time we played the Sharks in the finals, our beloved Wings were shy a few bullets...
This year, we are locked and loaded with a full clip on hand!
Know what I mean? We're ready...Sharks should just keep on swimming, swimming, ....and swim on by......
GO WINGS!

Edited by HudlerFanatic, 27 April 2011 - 07:17 AM.

[xtrememachine1]

I really think last year's series against the Sharks could have gone either way despite the fact that it ended in 5 games. The Wings could have just as easily been up 3-0 in that series, it was that close. However, the Wings were just coming off a 7 game series that involved a lot of traveling. This team is better, well rested and the Sharks, I believe, are not as good as they were last year. It should be a good close series once again, but we should have it this time.

[xtrememachine1]

If the refs pick up on the diving early it could be a lot better of a series to watch

I'm not one to typically complain about penalties because if you have a good PK, then it doesn't matter how many penalties you get. However, those dives last year were unbelievable. Especially with Setoguchi. You'd swear the guy didn't know how to skate based on how often he fell to the ice. As long as we're not having to kill off 5-3's we'll be fine.

[Nightfall]

Lets remove the tin foil hats ladies and really think about this series.

Last year, the Wings played a tough 7 game series and San Jose gave us everything they had. The scores were not lopsided by any stretch. They lost 4-3 in the first three games and then lost 2-1 in the last game. It wasn't like we got blown out. San Jose really wanted that series, and they earned it. That was their "Stanley Cup" last year, because they fell asleep against Chicago. A four game sweep? Really? You could tell that emotional high of beating the Wings in 5 games just took it right out of them.

Special teams and goaltending will be the key here. Niemi has to play better for the Sharks to have a chance in this series. The Red Wings PK has to be better or the Wings are going to lose the series. If Niemi doesn't shape up and the Red Wings special teams improve, this could be a 5 game series victory for the Wings. If it swings the other way, the Sharks could win easily in 5 games.

Also, don't forget to factor in the rest the Wings are getting. Sharks had more rest last year. This year, the Wings will be well rested. That should be a factor as well.

The better team always wins a 7 game series. My pick is the Wings in 6 games.

[KillrBuckeye]

Babcock was on AM 760 this morning and said that he was told the schedule for the first 4 games would be:

Friday night @ SJ
Sunday afternoon @ SJ

Wednesday night @ Det
Friday night @ Det

This is great news for those of us with M-F 8-5 jobs!