Post by Buffalo Sabres on Mar 19, 2008 2:19:43 GMT -5
Preview
Can the Stanley Cup Champions of last season defend their title or will those hopes be dashed by the shoulders of Dominic Hasek and the St.Louis Blues. San Jose is heading into this postseason not as a favourite but weren't expected to win the cup last season either but this year we have a new GM at the helm and a team that has been built a bit differently. St. Louis was a top team all season and fell just a point shy of the Central Division title.
Goaltending
Dominek Hasek vs. Andrew Raycroft/Mark Denis. Doesn't have the feel of a title fight does it. Hasek had another fabulous campaign going 44-33-3 with a sparkling 2.82 GAA. He also posted up 5 shutouts and a .901 save %. Raycroft shouldered most of the season but his less than stellar performance had Denis taking most starts down the stretch. While both Raycroft and Denis are borderline NHL goalies Denis did manage a strong finish to the season ending up with a 15-9-2 record and posted a 2.97 GAA. He also stopped .901 % of the shots he faced. Regardless of those numbers the edge must go to the Dominator.
Forwards
Brad Richards vs. Jaromir Jagr. Both stars put up huge numbers for their teams this season and separated themselves from the rest of their teammates. Richards put up 103 points for the Sharks this season good enough for 5th in the league. Jagr wasn't far behind with 87 for the Blues. Secondary scoring will be the story here as Milan Michalek will need to be counted on after coming in 2nd amongst all rookies in scoring as will Brown, Havlat if he can stay healthy and Kopitar although he was a disappointment carrying a -23 rating, among the worst +/-'s of any playoff team player. The Blues will have to depend even more on the likes of Whitney, Stempniak and dissappointments Guerin and Tkachuk as Doug Weight and his three hat tricks this year will be out of the Blues lineup for at least parts of this series.
Defense
The "Big Z" Zdeno Chara and Rob Blake together are a phenomenal pairing that will bruise your body with bone crunching hits and will hit to hurt you. These two guys will receive most of the minutes in St.Louis but are complimented by veteran's Numinnen and Mitchell. San Jose offers up a very balanced defence corp in Salo, Priessing, Volchenkov, and Phillips however this group has not been successful on either the powerplay or on the penalty kill. This will have to improve for the Sharks to stay in the series.
Injuries
St. Louis - Doug Weight sidelined 2-4 weeks (Injured)
San Jose - Martin Havlat sidelined day-to-day (Injured)
Thomas Pock sidelined 2-4 weeks (Injured)
The keys to victory!
St. Louis will succeed with their tough physical play and will try to hit and bruise the small fast forwards on San Jose. This strategy has worked great for them all year in large part due to the duo of Chara and Blake who have led the Blues to the leagues best penalty kill even though the Blues are the leagues 2nd most penalized team. San Jose will have to try and use speed to get to the net and get pucks past these two towers and then past a legendary Hasek. In the end Hasek vs. Denis will be far too much to overcome.
PREDICTION:St. LOUIS in 4 games.
Can the Stanley Cup Champions of last season defend their title or will those hopes be dashed by the shoulders of Dominic Hasek and the St.Louis Blues. San Jose is heading into this postseason not as a favourite but weren't expected to win the cup last season either but this year we have a new GM at the helm and a team that has been built a bit differently. St. Louis was a top team all season and fell just a point shy of the Central Division title.
Goaltending
Dominek Hasek vs. Andrew Raycroft/Mark Denis. Doesn't have the feel of a title fight does it. Hasek had another fabulous campaign going 44-33-3 with a sparkling 2.82 GAA. He also posted up 5 shutouts and a .901 save %. Raycroft shouldered most of the season but his less than stellar performance had Denis taking most starts down the stretch. While both Raycroft and Denis are borderline NHL goalies Denis did manage a strong finish to the season ending up with a 15-9-2 record and posted a 2.97 GAA. He also stopped .901 % of the shots he faced. Regardless of those numbers the edge must go to the Dominator.
Forwards
Brad Richards vs. Jaromir Jagr. Both stars put up huge numbers for their teams this season and separated themselves from the rest of their teammates. Richards put up 103 points for the Sharks this season good enough for 5th in the league. Jagr wasn't far behind with 87 for the Blues. Secondary scoring will be the story here as Milan Michalek will need to be counted on after coming in 2nd amongst all rookies in scoring as will Brown, Havlat if he can stay healthy and Kopitar although he was a disappointment carrying a -23 rating, among the worst +/-'s of any playoff team player. The Blues will have to depend even more on the likes of Whitney, Stempniak and dissappointments Guerin and Tkachuk as Doug Weight and his three hat tricks this year will be out of the Blues lineup for at least parts of this series.
Defense
The "Big Z" Zdeno Chara and Rob Blake together are a phenomenal pairing that will bruise your body with bone crunching hits and will hit to hurt you. These two guys will receive most of the minutes in St.Louis but are complimented by veteran's Numinnen and Mitchell. San Jose offers up a very balanced defence corp in Salo, Priessing, Volchenkov, and Phillips however this group has not been successful on either the powerplay or on the penalty kill. This will have to improve for the Sharks to stay in the series.
Injuries
St. Louis - Doug Weight sidelined 2-4 weeks (Injured)
San Jose - Martin Havlat sidelined day-to-day (Injured)
Thomas Pock sidelined 2-4 weeks (Injured)
The keys to victory!
St. Louis will succeed with their tough physical play and will try to hit and bruise the small fast forwards on San Jose. This strategy has worked great for them all year in large part due to the duo of Chara and Blake who have led the Blues to the leagues best penalty kill even though the Blues are the leagues 2nd most penalized team. San Jose will have to try and use speed to get to the net and get pucks past these two towers and then past a legendary Hasek. In the end Hasek vs. Denis will be far too much to overcome.
PREDICTION:St. LOUIS in 4 games.
