Eklund: Predicting Blues and Sharks (aka: Who is in Who's Head?)

Blues in 6.

- Symba.007

Obvious additional account... BAN HIM!!!

Blues in 6.

Obvious additional account... BAN HIM!!!
- JVince117

Obvious additional account... BAN HIM!!!
- JVince117

How is it obvious? I am undercover and nobody has any idea of who I am...well except me, usually.

Eklund: Predicting Blues and Sharks (aka: Who is in Who's Head?)
- Eklund

You're doing great so far EK, wrong accross the line! Keep it up which means the right teams will win!

Sens in 6, Blues in 5!

St Louis wins this round

Sharks will be spent because of the dog fight they had just to make the playoffs.

I expect them to be a little flat.

Due to the Sharks much greater playoff experience, I could see an upset happening here.

And while the Blues have great goaltending, Niemi can lock it down like nobody's business this time of year.

That said, stylistically, I see these being low-scoring games. Perron could be big because the Sharks can struggle with speed forwards.

And I like the Blues in 7.

The regular season match up also has pretty skewed numbers. I recall 2 of the game with empty netters, and the Sharks got into penalty trouble in one game, leading to 5 on 3 goals for St Louis.

3 out of the 4 games were actually 1 goal games until the empty net goals.

3 goals 5 on 3, 2 goals 5 on 4, and 2 empty netters for St Louis. That's 7 of their 11 goals in the season series...

This series will be closer than people think.

I don't expect the Blues to win it all, there is a curve to it. They've had a great season but I'd be surprised to see them reach even a conference finals, possible just not likely. Hitch does like the playoff style though, defensively responsible, and with solid goaltending they could make some real noise.

The Sharks are...well... the Sharks, known for great regular seasons, but not tough enough mentally to win the cup. They are different this year but I don't think in a good way.

After round one we'll see what we knew all year; that the Sharks window is closing if not closed.

Eklund, You forgot to mention another scoring threat the Blues have, that had he played the whole season, probably would have easily had at least 70 points, and that would be Andy McDonald. He had 10g 12a for 22 points over only 25 games. Plus he has the playoff experience that he got with the Ducks in 05-06 and their Cup winning season in 06-07. I think the Perron-Berglund-McDonald line is the key to the series. If that line can get it going, along with Steen-Backes-Oshie, I think the scoring from everywhere else will come, and i'd say Blues in 6.

However, if the Blues don't get scoring from their top 2 lines, and nobody else really steps up, i could see the Blues struggling and possibly losing this series in 6 or 7. It also may come down to what defensive parings Hitchcock goes with. Carlo Colaiacovo has struggled mightily down the stretch, out of position multiple times, and it's cost the Blues. Hopefully he tries out a pairing of Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk, as they have had chemistry on the Power Play.

Should be an interesting series to watch, and i'm going to say Blues in 7. I think Home Ice is too big of an advantage for the Blues.