The San Jose Sharks have three more teams standing in their way between them and the Stanley Cup.
A few weeks ago... I said that if the Sharks were to win the Stanley Cup it would cap off the perfect season. The journey itself makes it perfect... since they started the season off slow and had to work their tails off to climb into the #2 seed. Then they had to face off against a division rival (originally... I mentioned the Ducks, but the Kings are close enough)... a series that gave hockey fans their monies worth.
Last night, the Canucks beat the Blackhawks... so the dream season lives on. The Canucks will now face off against Predators, who ousted the Ducks. Which means that the Sharks will face long time nemesis... and my least favorite team... the Detroit Redwings.
The Redwings swept the Coyotes, which have many people rethinking their original picks and going with them to win it all. Perfect. It's exactly how I want it. If it's to be the perfect season... then defeating the red hot Redwings is a prerequisite... and will in no way be an easy task.
Their (the Redwings) offense attack was outstanding in the first round, averaging 4.50 goals per game.... which is both impressive and scary. If the Sharks have any hope of winning, they'll need to solve the defensive and goal tending issues they had against the Ducks.
But... as a fan... I say bring it on. The Sharks have a lot going against them... which only contributes the the whole "perfect season" plot.
This will be the fifth time the Sharks have met the Wings in the playoffs. Any true Sharks fan remembers the 1994 series when San Jose shocked fans around the league and upset Detroit in the first round. This led to the Red Wings domination over the next 15 years... which is why I dislike them so much. The Sharks finally shook the monkey off their backs by defeating the Redwings in last year's Western Conference Semifinals.
But that's in the past... now all there is left is to get this show on the road. Bring on the Redwings! Go Sharks Go!
By the way... hats off to the Los Angeles Kings and their fans. You guys added about 15 new gray hairs to my head. You didn't have your leading scorer, yet you managed to stretch this series to six games... three of which went to overtime. If he wasn't a division rival... I'd actually consider collecting Jonathan Quick. The Kings netminder was awesome... and impressed me in the same way that Ryan Miller did a year earlier at the Olympics.
So... what do you think...
Who's going to win this series?
Redwings or Sharks?
In how many games?
Happy Wednesday everyone... Sayonara!
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