Western Conference Finals Preview
By Judd Hall
No. 1 San Jose Sharks vs. No. 2 Chicago Blackhawks
Series Price: San Jose -125, Chicago +110
Series Format: San Jose, 2-2-1-1-1
Skinny: We’re all familiar with the Sharks and their ability to fail on an epic level in the postseason. During these playoffs, however, San Jose has begun to look like a team that is ready to make it to the next level – the Stanley Cup Final.
San Jose was able to survive an up and coming young squad in the first round in the Avalanche. A great series win, but was expected nonetheless. A triumph over the Red Wings, on the other hand, and you give the kids from the Silicon Valley a legitimate chance to shed that “underachiever” label. And after dropping Detroit in five games, we can begin looking at the Sharks a big boy team.
The Sharks did show a lot of grit in their Western Conference Semifinal win. They were able to come back twice for wins after trailing the Wings heading into the third period. Naysayers will no doubt point to Jimmy Howard handling goaltending duties like a Silver Spoons-Era Ricky Schroder. But come on, throw the Sharks a bone on this one.
If those negative-minded people want to harp on anything with San Jose they can start with the usual suspects doing what they do best at this time of year, nothing. Joe Thornton (3 goals, 8 assists), Dan Boyle (2 goals, 7 assists) and Patrick Marleau (3 goals, 4 assists) have not done much to push the Sharks forward. Even Dany Heatley (2 goals, 9 assists) has been a bust when it comes to finding the back of the net in the postseason. Luckily for all of them that Joe Pavelski is man enough to put the team on his back. Pavelski has scored a career-best nine playoff goals.
Pavelski has also taken some of the spotlight away from Evgeni Nabokov in goal. “Nabby” has looked shaky at times during the playoffs. Nabokov has allowed at least three goals in five of the 11 playoff games for the Sharks. And his awareness has to be in question still after that own-goal that cost San Jose in Game 3 of its series against the Avs.
San Jose will need Nabokov to play at his very best against the Blackhawks. Chicago has scored 40 goals during the postseason, the most of any of the clubs still actively pursuing the Lord Stanley’s pimp chalice.
Patrick Kane (7 goals, 8 assists) and Jonathan Toews (6 goals, 14 assists) are quickly becoming hockey legends in the Windy City. It’s not just those two skaters that are contributing. Patrick Sharp has found the back of the net five times and Dustin Byfuglien has four lamp lighters to his credit (all against Vancouver).
When you have attackers finding ways to put the puck past the opposing goalie, you’re going to also do well on special teams. Chicago has scored on 21.6 percent of its power plays this postseason. That number is down from the 27.9 percent they connected on in the ’09 playoffs, but is still respectable. Even better for the Hawks is that they are stopping 88.7 percent of the advantages they have allowed to their opponents in the tourney.
Antti Niemi hasn’t received a lot of attention, but he has played quite well to reach his first Western Conference Final. He boasts a .909 save percentage and 2.57 goals against average. Solid numbers when you consider he took on a surprisingly game Nashville squad in the first round and took everything the Canucks could give him in the conference semis.
Gambling Notes: Home ice is supposed to be important for the higher seed. Yet we’ve seen time and time again in the playoffs that playing at home just means you have a better chance of letting down your fans in front of their eyes.
These two teams know something about letting down the home town faithful when facing one another as the road club is 3-1 in the season series. Gamblers have seen high scoring affairs between these two sides as the ‘over’ is 3-1 for the 2009-10 campaign.
Chicago has proven themselves to be the biggest road warriors of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That’s because they have gone 5-1 in six postseason tests away from the United Center…two of those wins clinching against the Preds and Canucks.
It’s going to be a tough thing for the Blackhawks to win at the HP Pavilion. San Jose has won five of its six home tests in the playoffs and is 13-2 in its last 15 on home ice.
The Hawks have won five of their last seven fixtures against Pacific Division opponents, covering the puck line in four straight.
San Jose has gone 7-1 over its past eight tests with Central Division foes, including the five-game triumph against the Red Wings. The ‘over’ is 5-3 in those tilts.
Outlook: This is a tough series to gauge for me. You have one team that appears to finally be living up to expectations. And there is a team on the other side that is young, but is ready to make the next logical step in its maturation.
The goaltenders cancel one another out for this contest, in my opinion. In fact, both defenses are equally solid. On offense, however, is where they differ. Chicago has many more weapons that are used to this level of play. The Sharks still can’t get their top weapons to fire with regularity in the playoffs. That will make the difference as the Blackhawks win in six games.
VegasInsider.com