The Detroit Red Wings will visit the San Jose Sharks for Game One of their Western Conference Semifinal matchup on Friday, the NHL announced.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning holding off the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night in Game Seven of their series, the first round is complete and the league released schedules for second round matchups.
The full schedule for the Detroit - San Jose series is as follows:
April 29 - @ San Jose - 10:00 PM
May 1 - @ San Jose - 3:00 PM
May 4 - @ Detroit - 8:00 PM
May 6 - @ Detroit - 7:00 PM
May 8 - @ San Jose - 8:00 PM
May 10 - @ Detroit - TBD
May 12 - @ San Jose - TBD
Thoughts? Has anyone been watching the other series (besides me)? I've decided that trying to predict how any one team will do against any other based on games in which they are not playing each other is not possible. Still, it's tempting....
I like that only one of the first four games will be a late game. Aside from that, I don't worry about picking poison.
I like that only one of the first four games will be a late game. Aside from that, I don't worry about picking poison.
Has a schedule been released then? We have a daytime game?
No official schedule yet, they're just saying it's Friday, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday to start. Sunday being a 3:00 NBC game.
In theory, Game Five could be a Sunday afternoon game, too, avoiding another possible late night game.
What will happen in this series?
1) Howard gets steamrolled for 3+ GAA.
2) Clowe Dominates
3) Sharks checking line punishes wings
4) Wellwood shines as he's overlooked.
5) Thornton will dominate the puck
6) Ben Eager will have a significant impact.
7) Zetterberg and Franzen will not have much impact at all on offense for the first few games
8) Lidstrom will look outmatched and silly at times.
Sharks in 5 or 6
Sharks matchup very well vs the Wings and are better at almost every position, and have more depth.
Setoguchi > Hudler
Couture > Helm
Clowe > Cleary
Thornton/Heatley/Marleau >= Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Franzen
Niemi/Nittimaki > Howard/Macdonald
Murray = Stuart
Wings may be rested but they're D is still like butter most of the times. Slowest defense in the league. 2.5 GAA against a phoenix team with no snipers. Heatley, setoguchi, marleau, pavelski will bury their opportunities. This series should last longer than last year's matchup.
What will happen in this series?
1) Howard gets steamrolled for 3+ GAA.
2) Clowe Dominates
3) Sharks checking line punishes wings
4) Wellwood shines as he's overlooked.
5) Thornton will dominate the puck
6) Ben Eager will have a significant impact.
7) Zetterberg and Franzen will not have much impact at all on offense for the first few games
8) Lidstrom will look outmatched and silly at times.
Sharks in 5 or 6
Sharks matchup very well vs the Wings and are better at almost every position, and have more depth.
Setoguchi > Hudler
Couture > Helm
Clowe > Cleary
Thornton/Heatley/Marleau >= Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Franzen
Niemi/Nittimaki > Howard/Macdonald
Murray = Stuart
Wings may be rested but they're D is still like butter most of the times. Slowest defense in the league. 2.5 GAA against a phoenix team with no snipers. Heatley, setoguchi, marleau, pavelski will bury their opportunities. This series should last longer than last year's matchup.
Crap! If it's that bad, we lose in 4! There is no hope! (But it can't be that bad...that's why they play the games, as they say.)
The Sharks do scare me, but the story going into the first round was that the Coyotes defense and goaltending were better than Detroit's and the Wings were injured. That worked out well enough. I'm not going to freak out until the Wings lose a home game.
We need to walk away with game 1. I will say that. That's really going to set the tone for the rest of the games. If we come out rusty and too rested, it'll be a short series. If we come out swinging and full of energy, we have a shot.
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