Playoffs Round 1: Sharks (#7) vs Blues (#2)

[SJVP408]

VS

Series Schedule:
Thursday, April 12 7:30 p.m. San Jose at St. Louis CNBC, TSN
Saturday, April 14 7:30 p.m. San Jose at St. Louis CNBC, TSN
Monday, April 16 10 p.m. St. Louis at San Jose NBC
Thursday, April 19 10:30 p.m. St. Louis at San Jose NBC
*Saturday, April 21 7:30 p.m. San Jose at St. Louis CNBC
*Monday, April 23 TBD St. Louis at San Jose TBD
*Wednesday, April 25 TBD San Jose at St. Louis TBD

Projected Lines:
David Perron - C David Backes - T.J. Oshie
Alex Steen - Patrik Berglund - Andy McDonald
Jaden Schwartz - Vladimir Sobotka - Chris Stewart
Jamie Langenbrunner - C Scott Nichol - B.J. Crombeen

Pairings:
Kent Huskins - Alex Pietrangelo
Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk
Kris Russell - Roman Polak

Goalies:
Jaroslav Halak
Brian Elliott

Blues Regular Season Rankings:
GFA: 21st
GAA: 1st
PP%: 19th
PK%: 7th

Leading Scorers:
David Backes: 24G, 30A
T.J.Oshie: 19G, 35A
Alex Pietrangelo: 12G, 39A

LET'S GET IT ON!

 

[SJVP408]

Thought it'd be a good idea to centralize all the Blues vs Sharks talk.

 

[Cbrower91]

Because the blues are in the central I get it

 

[Cbrower91]

Lol Kent huskins is top pairing?

 

[SJVP408]

Because the blues are in the central I get it

Hah I wasn't even thinking about that when I wrote it.

BTW all times listed are EST. Should have changed that to something most of us can better relate to (PST).

 

[Slimpikins]

Lol Kent huskins is top pairing?

That has to be a typo. There is no way a good team has Huskins on the top pairing.

 

[SJVP408]

That has to be a typo. There is no way a good team has Huskins on the top pairing.

I don't know which pairing they consider their "top" pairing, but Husky pants is indeed Pietrangelo's regular even strength defensive partner.

 

[SJVP408]

I would definitely target Huskins' side of the ice on dump ins and zone entries.

 

[Cbrower91]

But st Louis' defense is better then the sharks with huskins lol

 

[MrChangoT97]

I say the Sharks should focus on McDonald & Perron and play them tough. I want to see the sharks land body checks on them every time they can. When entering the zone they should do soft dumps and pound the Blues Dmen and force turn overs. We all know the Sharks are going to give Halak/Bishop snow showers, but they also need to force them to stay back in the net.

I say the Sharks in 5 games!

 

[SJVP408]

If I remember correctly, the Sharks had fits getting through the neutral zone with any speed against STL during the regular season. Three things have changed since then. Braun is now a regular part of the D corp, he improves the puck moving ability. #2 Havlat is back. #3 the bottom 6 has a lot more speed with the additions of TJ, Winnik, Moore, Wingels. At worst, their dump and chase play should be better with guys like Wingels, and TJ getting after the dump ins.

 

[SJVP408]

Torrey Mitchell is good to go. Never thought I'd be happy to hear that, but I am. He practiced today.

 

[Cbrower91]

Elliot was hurt in Boo's practice today, its upper body. But Hitchcock is claiming its from weeks ago when he fell into the net. So i suspect concussion or broken collar bone either way it looks like Jaro Halak for sure now

 

[rares]

McLellan noted that the Blues don’t appear to play differently in front of one goalie or the other, but Elliott and Halak “are a little bit different size-wise and the ability to play the puck and that kind of stuff,” comparing them to the New York Jets quarterback situation.

It’s “a little bit like the Sanchez-Tebow situation in New York. Two very good quarterbacks that both want to play.”

I LOL-ed... Since when are Sanchez and/or Tebow "very good"? Wow...

 

[CJdublé]

I hope to see a great performance from everyone, especially winnick, galiardi, pavs, joe, havlat, couture, boyle, and burns.

 

[SJVP408]

Elliot was hurt in Boo's practice today, its upper body. But Hitchcock is claiming its from weeks ago when he fell into the net. So i suspect concussion or broken collar bone either way it looks like Jaro Halak for sure now

What's your scouting report on Halak?

 

[MrChangoT97]

Shoot low stick side on Halak

 

[Cbrower91]

What's your scouting report on Halak?

He plays kind of smallish for his size, kind of like Griess really narrow up top. Pretty much a beast down low, but like most bfly goalies if you getting him moving laterally his 5 hole opens up big time. Also his glove and blocker arent outstanding either, fairly average. Stick handling is better then Nemo's but thats not saying much, most beer league goalies are better with their stick then Nemo.

He's a below average puck moving goalie. Quick legs, and great flexability great toes. Sharks are going to have to find a way to back him up in his net, if they can do that, they are going to light him up like a roman candle, they let him play out and let him get into a groove its going to make for some long nights for the fans lol

 

[rares]

Can we get people to post their series prediction (this series only, don't care about the other ones.. or go to the general board to post all your picks there)?

That way, we can tell people "I told you so!" afterwards and stuff!

I'll start... and I'll cheat.

If Niemi doesn't suck, Sharks in 6.
If Niemi blows (more realistic expectation), Blues in 5.

Your turn. Go go!

 

[Likewall32]

He plays kind of smallish for his size, kind of like Griess really narrow up top. Pretty much a beast down low, but like most bfly goalies if you getting him moving laterally his 5 hole opens up big time. Also his glove and blocker arent outstanding either, fairly average. Stick handling is better then Nemo's but thats not saying much, most beer league goalies are better with their stick then Nemo.

He's a below average puck moving goalie. Quick legs, and great flexability great toes. Sharks are going to have to find a way to back him up in his net, if they can do that, they are going to light him up like a roman candle, they let him play out and let him get into a groove its going to make for some long nights for the fans lol

So basically what the sharks are gonna do is throw 40 ilong shots into his logo and hope 1 magically goes through him haha