History
The Blues dominated the season series...winning all 4 games, shutting out the Sharks twice, and outscoring the Sharks 11-3 in the process. The three Sharks goals were scored by Mitchell, Burns and Handzus. So are the Blues in the Shark's head? You would usually say yes...but maybe not in this case. To get "into a team's head" I would say takes more than one season, and prior to this season the Sharks were in the Blues head...BIG time. From the lockout until this year in 24 games the Sharks were 18-3-3 against St. Louis and outscored the Blues 80-51.
On the Blues
Where I completely missed the boat on how good the Rangers would be this year, my best pick pre-season had to be picking the Blues to win the Central. It didn't look so great early on, but when the Blues put Hitchcock in charge all was smooth sailing. But enough patting myself on the back...These Blues are talented, deep and more than anything relentless. They will make you work for every inch of ice and can really force a team to stay mentally sharp 100% of the time. What they won't do is score a ton of goals. The team's leading scorers are Backes and Oshie with only 54 points each. You would be hard-pressed to find another team in the last decade who finished two points from the President's trophy or compiled 109 points without a 55 point player. The best I can come up with was the 1997-98 NJ Devils who won the President's trophy with the 107 points and who's top scorers were Bobby Holik with 65 points and Scott Niedermayer with 57 points. That Devils team scored 255 goals and allowed only 166. These Blues scored 210 goals and allowed 165.
What the Blues do have: To be fair, the Blues do have a bona fide scorer in David Perron who topped out at 42 points, but did so in only 57 games...still projected over 82 games he would fall just short of Holik with 61 points. What the Blues do have is goaltending. Two starting goalies in fact which 90% of the teams in the playoffs would trade for today. Halak has playoff experience as well and is no stranger to carrying teams who struggle to score goals in the playoffs. That being said, Elliott has at times been the better goalie and push comes to shove might be Hitch's choice...were he healthy.
On the Sharks...
People may be surprised to hear me say this, but the best thing the Sharks have going for them this year going into the playoffs is the "Luxury" of starting the playoffs on the road. It has been a long time since a San Jose playoff run began away from the tank and without the tag of "Cup Contender" pulling tight on them. These Sharks are a very good, but very weirdly inconsistent team. The Sharks leading scorer is a Joe Thornton with 77 points. Yes, only 5 years ago he won the scoring title with 125 points. The Sharks have added more balanced scoring and for the first time in franchise history have three 30 goal scorers in Marleau, Couture, and Pavelski. Add to that a healthy Havlat and you have players who can definitely find the net. The Sharks also boast the #2 power play in the NHL.
Keys
This series will be about what these teams have in their gut. The Sharks can also out-work teams...but they can also lose their will to live at times. They need to stay on topic. Drive the net. Skate, skate, skate. Joe Thornton needs to be the Joe Thornton who drives the net, not the parameter passer. Logan Couture, drive the net. Make the Blues grab and take penalties, because the power play will be key. I always say the Cup is won in the net and on the power play. This series will be that completely. The Sharks will get strong playoff goaltending from Niemi...he has always been huge in the playoffs. The Blues need to pretend the playoffs haven't started...by which I mean keep to the system, keep buying in, keep playing shift to shift hockey. Don't worry about trying to impress anyone with your offense...just play the same game that brought you to the dance. We have seen teams, young teams without playoff experience, lose themselves in the emotion of the moment. I assure you Hitch is guarding against that in a big way.
Ek's Pick
This may be the hardest series in the West to pick. I really believe we will see huge swings in this series. I do feel there will be a fe times the Sharks break out and score 4 or 5 goals, and I believe we will see at least 2 games go into double OT. perhaps even longer.. I like the fact the Sharks have very little pressure on them this season. I like this Sharks team and the fact they had to fight to get into the playoffs. I have gone back and forth on this, but I am going to say Sharks in 7.
Coming Up...I will look at the two 4/5 battles with Nashville/Detroit and Pittsburgh/Philly.
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