NHL playoff primer: Western Conference betting cheat sheet
By DUSTIN NIELSON
The puck's about to begin for the NHL's second season. If you're thinking about getting in on the action but you don't know where to start, you're in luck. Covers.com gives an idea of what to expect in the Western Conference.
Team with the worst draw: San Jose Sharks
Earning the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference may have not been in the best interest of San Jose. The Sharks host the Anaheim Ducks – a team that won the Cup just two years ago – in the opening round of the playoffs. Anaheim is one of the hottest teams in the league entering the postseason, winning seven of its past 10 games.
Francois Beauchemin has returned giving the Ducks the advantage on the back end with Beauchemin, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Ryan Whitney filling out the top two defensive pairings.
The matchup between the pipes should be interesting. The Sharks turn to Vezina candidate Evgeni Nabokov but who will the Ducks start in Game One? Jonas Hillier started the last seven games of the regular season but Jean-Sebastien Giguere has a Stanley Cup title and Conn Smythe trophy under his belt.
Either way you look, at the Sharks have a difficult task.
Goalie that could steal a series: Steve Mason, Columbus Blue Jackets
A number of netminders could step up and steal an opening round series, but I like Mason’s chances of taking over during a seven-game series and willing his team to a first round upset.
If the Blue Jackets manage to knock off the Red Wings, the rookie puck stopper will have to be brilliant. Mason had 10 regular season shutouts and is the reason Columbus made the playoffs and there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t be able to carry that success over in a first round tilt with the Wings.
Count on Mason outplaying his counterpart on a nightly basis whether it’s Chris Osgood or Ty Conklin.
Series that will be the highest scoring: Chicago Blackhawks vs. Calgary Flames
If you are looking for offense and entertainment, look no further than the Hawks and Flames. Chicago has the fifth-best offense in the NHL averaging 3.17 goals per game while Calgary sits seventh at 3.06 goals per outing. Cal-town’s offense was rated much higher throughout most of the regular season but the power play went into the tank over the final 10 games.
The two sides combined for 26 goals in four head-to-head meetings this season. Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff struggled down the stretch - possibly due to fatigue. Look for the Hawks to keep him busy and go above their season average of 32 shots per outing.
Patrick Kane, Martin Havlat, Jonathan Toews and Brian Campbell against Jarome Iginla, Olli Jokinen, Mike Cammalleri and Dion Phaneuf means this series has offense written all over it.
Best player to pick for your playoff pool: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
This is the easiest pick to make. Datsyuk had 96 points this year - 22 more than linemate Henrik Zetterberg. Datsyuk is the best offensive player on a team that will be forced to score often because of its questionable goaltending.
He averaged more than a point per game and netted 10 goals during Detroit’s Stanley Cup run last season.
Best sleeper pick to win the West: Chicago Blackhawks
Any team outside of Sharks and Red Wings are considered a long shot in the West. The Hawks have a couple of things going for them: a boatload of offensive talent and a goalie who has been there before.
This will be the first taste of the playoffs for young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. In most cases inexperienced players need to lose a couple of times before they learn how to win, but the highly skilled Hawks are playing a Flames team will an offense in a serious funk.
Not only has Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin won a Stanley Cup, he did it by beating the Calgary Flames. The Tampa Bay team that Khabibulin lead to a championship was loaded with kid forwards Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards.
Best line matchup: San Jose top line vs. Anaheim’s checking line
Joe Thornton should get use to seeing Todd Marchant, Rob Niedermayer and Petteri Nokelainen. Expect Ducks coach Randy Carlyle send out the Niedermayer trio as often as possible whenever Thornton hops over the bench. The youngest Niedermayer brother is proven shut-down guy and has the size to match Thornton.
Another interesting battle to watch: Chicago’s Samuel Pahlsson against Calgary’s Jarome Iginla line.
NHL Playoff Betting Preview – Western Conference
By Doug Upstone
Being a higher seed has meant very little since the strike season in the West. In the 12 first-round series, only five of the teams seeded one-four have advanced to conference semi-finals, which included 2006, when not one team survived the opening round. While most would agree that is unlikely to happen, little doubt an upset or two and long series’ are expected to be the norm.
San Jose vs Anaheim
It’s not like San Jose doesn’t know the drill, another successful regular season and this year they won the President’s Trophy for having the best record, great, super, whatever, how will the Sharks do in the Stanley Cup playoffs. San Jose has been as good as any team in NHL the last five seasons and the furthest point of advancement is one conference final, not close to good enough. For San Jose, they need to play like real sharks, be coldly efficient, spot the prey and go in for the kill. That is not the mentality of this team, which is why they brought in six players who all have Cup jewelry. San Jose has dynamic power play, ranked third and goalie Evgeni Nabokov is just the sixth backstop to post back to back 40+ win seasons, though is 30-27 in the postseason.
San Jose drew a brutal opening assignment as the top seed in Anaheim. This is the first All-Cali postseason matchup in four decades and the Ducks fly into the playoffs with 13-3 record if you throw after Game 82 after clinching. Anaheim isn’t the same team that won the Cup two years ago; however the roster is still dotted with many of the same stars like Chris Pronger, Francois Beauchemin, Teemu Selanne and the Niedermayer brothers. Many of the flock from these Ducks are wily vets and they won’t fold under pressure.
The Sharks were league best 32-5-4 at the HP Pavilion, but will face hated division rival Anaheim, who buzzed to 7-0-2 close on the road. San Jose won four of six meetings and the road team won last three conflicts. Joe Thornton’s team is 9-3 at home against teams with winning road record, but the Ducks have taken last four of five away from home. This should be a wonderfully played and excruciating series out west.
Pick- San Jose (-290) in seven
Detroit vs Columbus
For those that can’t stand all the success Detroit has enjoyed for years, the Red Wings drawing playoff newbie Columbus is a sickening feeling. Detroit won 50 or more games for the fourth consecutive campaign and has more talent and depth than a typical party at the Playboy Mansion. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are exceptional playmakers and nobody is more frustrating to play than Detroit as they can play “keep away” with the puck. Each year the goaltending is brought up, yet Chris Osgood knows how to elevate his game or Ty Conklin is capable. Thou the Wings closed the season an untidy 2-6, they still are Detroit.
Columbus players trusted coach Ken Hitchcock and he helped direct them to first ever playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets are unknown to even hockey fans, but captain Rick Nash is a keeper, having netted 40 goals and still only 24 and goalie Steve Mason is just 20 and bagged 33 wins with 2.25 goals against average. Mason and his line-mates are going to have to be on high alert, facing the challenge of the league’s best power play in Detroit.
Detroit won’t have an easy time trying to keep the Stanley Cup in Hockey-town, as they have been more inconsistent this season. The weaknesses they have probably won’t manifest themselves against Columbus, who has the worst power play at conversion rate of 12.7 percent. Detroit has won eight off 11 on home ice when interested.
Pick- Detroit (-500) in five
Vancouver vs St. Louis
Picture having to choose between swimsuit hotties Marisa Miller or Brooklyn Decker and that gives you an indication how simmering Vancouver and St. Louis have played. The Canucks record on Jan. 31 was 22-20-8 and they were about as close to contending for the Northwest Division as Terrell Owens was to being a Buffalo Bill. Behind the best goaltender in the NHL, Roberto Luongo, Vancouver parlayed his superior play (33-13-7 and nine shutouts) and a wise move by coach Alain Vigneault to 23-7-2 finish. He took Alexandre Burrows and worked him in with the Sedin twins, which placed Ryan Kesler with Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra. This gave the Canucks two effective scoring lines for the first time in eons.
St. Louis wasn’t exactly playing great hockey at the same time as Vancouver either, being eight games under .500, with youth showing and an inordinate amount of injuries. As the season wore on, the Blues got healthier and this youthful squad, whose top four of six scorers are under 26 years old, found a groove and finished 21-7-6 to earn sixth seed. With all the injuries, this team needed goalie who had courage and have him make “stand on his head” efforts and Chris Mason delivered. Almost three months ago to the day, Mason is 17-6-3, with five posted zeros in net.
Mason is playing as well as Luongo at the moment and the Blues have superior special teams, ranking third in penalty kills and eighth in man-advantage situations. St. Louis has a nice mix of veterans and did win once this year in Vancouver, with the teams splitting four contests. The Canucks have better players, yet their forwards have not been clutch players. With two Cinderella’s meeting, backing the one from Saint Louie.
Pick- St. Louis (+190) in six
Chicago vs Calgary
On Mar. 5, Calgary opened a long road trip with a pair of victories, slowing building lead in the Northwest Division. Since that time, the Flames have flamed-out with 7-11 record and fell all the way to fifth seed. Calgary was fired up to initiate trade for center Olli Jokinen from Phoenix and he and captain Jarome Iginla immediately clicked. Since all the early joy, Jokinen has gone from desert hot to Canada cold, with no goals in 13 contests. Remember when Miikka Kiprusoff was the best goalie you never heard of? Well, he’s slipped considerably the last two seasons to ordinary and the Calgary front office has done little to give Kiprusoff some rest that might restore him.
It’s good for hockey to have Original Six teams in the playoffs and Chicago returns for the first time since 2002, making it five total this season. After years of floundering, the notoriously cheap Blackhawks put money into scouting and have drafted wisely with a nice array of young talent. Chicago has youngsters like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, who can strike fear into defenses and GM Dale Tallon brought in gritty vets like Sami Pahlsson, to add experience having championship ring from Anaheim. The Hawks blue-liners are as fast and skilled as any of the teams in the playoffs.
Chicago having the home ice edge has to play relaxed at the United Center, since Blackhawks’ fans will be in full throat. The Hawks are 13-4 against offensive teams averaging 29.5+ shots on goal per game in the second half of the season and crushed Calgary in all four games, outscoring them 19-7. Calgary has lost in the first round each time since making Cup Finals in 2004. They have lost nine of last 11 as visitors and look as fragile as fifth-grader having to make first speech in class.
Pick- Chicago (-150) in seven