- Don’t look past Jimmy Howard. The kid carried Detroit for the first half of the year when they were dealing with injuries, and put up some more than respectable numbers throughout. He’s not at the level of an Ilya Bryzgalov, but with the defensive cast in front of him, he won’t need to be.
- Niklas Lidstrom turns forty tomorrow. He plays like he’s twenty five. Excellent defenseman. Most obvious sentence I’ve written in my life.
- San Jose’s blueline will be put to a test so Herculean there will be a novel written about it this summer. It is a concern of mine, but one that is irrelevant at this juncture. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Franzen… firepower from just about everywhere. Safe money says Nabokov will have to steal at least one game for the Sharks to win the series. With the way he has played this season, that is not out of the question.
- Standard comment on how important it is the top line shakes their funk and begins to produce. The difference between effort and results is the thinnest of divides, and one that needs to be crossed beginning with their first shift in game one.
- As the Ducks have shown, physically wearing the Wings down can pay off dividends. I fully expect every single check to be finished as it was against Colorado. This is a huge key to the series.
- Demons galore– the Sharks record in The Joe, historical dominance, the list goes on and on. This will be the biggest test in the history of the San Jose Sharks organization. It will define everything you know for years upon years down the road.
- No matter where this ends up, it will be one of the best playoff series you will watch for a good long time.
- Sharks in seven. Book it.
Buckle the fuck up.
Go Sharks.
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