Why the Sharks lead 2-0 with the series shifting to Detroit

The San Jose Sharks have taken a 2-0 lead on the Detroit Red Wings for a second consecutive year. The series now shifts to Joe Louis Arena, a building the Sharks have won 3 out of their last 4 games in. Before we move ahead to game 3, lets take a look at what the Sharks have done in games 1 and 2 to give them a multi-game series lead.

1."Howwwardd!'

Face it, Jimmy Howard played two good hockey games in San Jose. Good, but not good enough. Howard shut the Sharks out for much of game 1, looking cool and composed. Then came an Ice shower from Joe Pavelski. Howard lost his cool and attempted to hit Pavs, failing miserably. After that, the Sharks tied the game on a goal by guess who, The Big Pavelski. The puck was swatted out of the air by Pavelski and the game was tied at one. Then began the chants, "Howwwarddd, Howwarddd!' The fans at the tank must have gotten to Howard as the little used Benn Ferriero scored the overtime winner on Howard, who probably should have made the save.

In game 2, the Sharks and Howard picked up where they left off. The Sharks broke through on the powerplay in the 1st. Although Howard shut them out until the 3rd period, he became noticeably agitated every time the smallest bit of ice got anywhere near his face. Come on man, your rattled by ice? The Detroit Red Wings are supposed to be a gritty post season type team,  but I sure as hell haven't seen any grit from Howard.

2. Finding Nemo

Antti Niemi. The polar opposite of Jimmy Howard. Niemi is not easily shaken, when he gave up a bad goal to Lidstrom in game 1, his game got better. He shut Detroit out for the rest of that game and for about 55 minutes in game 2. While doing this,I saw Niemi get blasted by countless snow showers and be dog piled on by virtually the entire Red Wings team. Despite this, Nemo has allowed just 2 goals and has been a huge reason for the Shark's recent success, he looks ready for the cup run.

3. Special Teams

Sure, the Sharks only have 2 powerplay goals, 2 extremely clutch goals. Pavelski's powerplay goal tied game 1 with just minutes left. Game 2's goal by Ian White was in the 1st period, but in a 2-1 victory the goal had a ton of importance. The Sharks have allowed Detroit to score twice with the man advantage, but they have killed a lot of huge powerplays off. 

4.Jumbo

Joe Thornton is finally playing up to his potential. While he does not show up on the score sheet as frequently, he has been a dynamic shutdown forward, handling the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. In an interview with NBC's Darren Pang asked Joe, "What has been the biggest change to your game heading into the playoffs?"

"Nothing." joe replied

Thornton has not changed his tough defensive game all year and appears prepared to take San Jose the distance in this years playoffs.