(Sports Network) - If defense wins championships, then the league just might
want to consider giving the St. Louis Blues the Stanley Cup right now.
The Blues allowed a league-low 165 goals this season, using a two-goalie
attack and a steady defense to reach the playoffs for only the second time in
the post-lockout era and for the first time since 2009, when they were swept
in four games by the Canucks. St. Louis also enters the postseason as Central
Division champions for the first time since 2000, though that didn't bring
much success come playoff time either. The Blues did not make it out of the
first round, losing to the Sharks.
St. Louis hopes it is better equipped right now under Ken Hitchcock, who led
the Blues to a 43-15-11 record in the 68 games he coached after taking over
for the fired Davis Payne.
Even though the Blues come into the postseason fresh off a 109-point regular
season and having put together one of the top home records in the NHL
(30-6-5), Hitchcock still had a very difficult chose to make: who to start in
net.
Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott combined to capture the William Jennings
Trophy for allowing the fewest goals and totaled 15 shutouts between the two
of them this season. That tied a modern NHL record and was two better than the
club mark set by Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante in 1989-69.
Halak, who began the season as the undisputed No. 1 over Elliott, an offseason
pickup who had to battle for the reserve role, he struggled early and Elliott
caught fire en route to being selected as an All-Star. They became the first
tandem in NHL history to record at least six shutouts each in the same season,
with Elliott's nine ranking second in the league.
Though it appears he could do no wrong, Hitchcock opted to go with Halak in
the first round, announcing his decision on Wednesday. Though Elliott led the
league with a 1.56 goals-against average and .940 save percentage while also
setting franchise records in shutouts and a 241 minute, 33 second shutout
streak, Halak owns 21 career playoff appearances to Elliott's four and ranked
fifth in the league with a 1.97 GAA. He has also shown a tendency to get
streaky, having posted a career-high eight-game win streak from Feb. 23-March
11, with six of those wins coming on the road.
In the postseason, Halak has gone 9-10 with a 2.48 GAA, while Elliott went
just 1-2 with a 4.14 ERA in his lone postseason appearance while with the
Senators. Elliott is also nursing an upper-body injury, but it isn't believed
to be serious or anything that could prevent him from playing.
Though the decision has been made, it will be interesting to see just how
Hitchcock juggles his goaltenders.
Leading the unit in front of the goaltender is Alex Pietrangelo, who has
emerged as not only the top defender for St. Louis but one of the better
blueliners in the league. Pietrangelo set career highs in goals (12), assists
(39), points (51) and games played (81), with the 22-year-old fourth overall
pick of the 2008 draft also leading all NHL defensemen with six game-winning
goals.
Pietrangelo will log plenty of minutes in this series, probably around 24-25 a
night, as he contributes on the power play as well as to a penalty kill unit
that ranked seventh in the league (85.8 percent) and set a club record by
killing off 51 straight penalties from Feb. 14-March 13.
Kevin Shattenkirk, a former first-round pick of the Avalanche acquired during
the 2010-11 season from Colorado, also emerged as an offensive threat this
season, posting nine goals and 43 points in 81 games.
Hitchcock will likely keep the duo split, with Pietrangelo pairing with Carlo
Colaiacovo and Shattenkirk playing with assistant captain Barret Jackman.
While the Blues thrived in allowing less than two goals per game, they only
managed to net 2.51 tallies on average to finish in the league's lower tier.
However, one advantage that St. Louis has it that it gets contributions from a
variety of different players on won't lean on one star or one line to get it
done in this series.
In fact, only captain and excellent two-way center David Backes (24 goals, 30
assists) and winger T.J. Oshie (19G, 35A) finished with more points on the
Blues than Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk. Those two will make up St. Louis' top
line with David Perron, who finished second on the club with 21 goals.
St. Louis saw nine different players reach double-digit in goals and Oshie's
35 assists led all of the team's forwards.
A healthy Andy McDonald, who missed 57 games this year due to head and
shoulder injuries, gives St. Louis a much better second line between Patrik
Berglund and Alexander Steen.
St. Louis is also blessed with a wealth of experience in its lower lines with
the presence of Jamie Langenbrunner and Jason Arnott, who have both won
Stanley Cup championships and have combined to play in 252 postseason
contests. Langenbrunner has logged 33 goals and 86 points in his playoff
career, with Arnott having 31 goals and 72 points.
One area that may give the Blues trouble is the power play, which connected at
only 16.7 percent.
SAN JOSE SHARKS (7th seed, West)
REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 43-29-10
2011 PLAYOFFS: Defeated Los Angeles 4-2 in conference quarterfinals; defeated
Detroit 4-3 in conference semifinals; lost to Vancouver 4-1 in conference
finals
(Sports Network) - What the San Jose Sharks may lack in scoring depth, they
more than make up for in playoff experience. None of that may be more
important than having a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender in Antti Niemi.
The Sharks have made it to the Western Conference finals in consecutive
seasons, but have had trouble finishing and have won just one game in those
series. They regressed a little bit in claiming their eighth straight
postseason berth, needing to win seven of their final nine to qualify and did
so for the first time in five years without a Pacific Division title.
San Jose will be looking to wipe the slate clean now that it is playoff time
and no club may be better equipped to do so. The Sharks have eight players on
their roster, five forwards and three defensemen, who have appeared in at
least 60 games in the postseason and Niemi has a Stanley Cup championship to
his resume after capturing a title with the Blackhawks in 2010.
That should give the Sharks plenty of confidence in their goaltender despite
an up-and-down regular season that saw Niemi go 34-22-9 with a 2.42 goals-
against average and six shutouts. The 28-year-old Finn has already made 40
postseason appearances in his career despite just 170 regular season games and
has won 24 of them with a 2.89 GAA and two shutouts.
Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton have been key to San Jose's current string of
playoff appearances and have put up points in the second season. Thornton has
set up 64 goals in 109 playoff games, while Marleau has 52 goals and 36
assists in 124 games.
Ryan Clowe, Michal Handzus and Martin Havlat have also logged plenty of
minutes in the playoffs, though the latter two will be doing so for the first
time with the Sharks. San Jose should be curious what it gets from Havlat in
the postseason after getting the winger from Minnesota for Dany Heatley in a
trade this past offseason only to see Havlat miss 39 games with a lower-body
injury. He did manage five goals and 12 points in the final 13 regular-season
games after returning from injury.
Though Thornton's numbers have declined since his rapid pace at the onset of
his Sharks career, he still tied for third in the NHL with 59 assists, while
Logan Couture (31), Joe Pavelski (31) and Marleau (30) all reached the 30-goal
mark. There was a big drop off after that, with Thornton (18) and Ryane Clowe
(17) representing the only other San Jose forwards to reach double-digits in
goals.
San Jose will hope to get production outside of its big six from the third
line of center Daniel Winnik and wingers Andrew Desjardins and Tommy Wingels.
One area in which the Sharks could dominate this series is on the power play,
where they ranked second in the NHL at 21.1 percent. Couture and Marleau led
the way with 26 and 25 points on the man advantage, respectively, while
Thornton had 19 assists.
Defensemen Brent Burns and Dan Boyle also chipped in on the power play from
the back end and lead a deep Sharks core of defenders. Burns was part of an
offseason overhaul that also saw the signings of Colin White and Jim
Vandermeer. White brings 111 playoff games of experience to the group, while
Boyle has 56 points in 84 career playoff games.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic is one of the Sharks more consistent blueliners as he led
the unit with a plus-11 rating and was second with 23 minutes and nine seconds
of ice time. Douglas Murray also lends experience, while 25-year-old Justin
Braun is the youth of the group and got into just one playoff game a season
ago.
As good as San Jose's power play was, the penalty kill ranked 29th out of 30
teams in the regular season (76.9 percent).
MATCHUP
Not only will the Blues have home-ice advantage in this series -- a huge plus
given that they set club records in home wins, points and also logged a
franchise-best 21-game home point streak this season -- but they swept their
four-game series with the Sharks and took both games in St. Louis in shutout
fashion.
Not only did the Blues outscore the Sharks 11-3 this year, but they allowed
just one power-play goal in 15 short-handed situations.
Further proving Hitchcock had a tough choice to make in net, both Halak and
Elliott beat the Sharks twice this season and each had a home shutout. Elliott
allowed two of the three goals.
Niemi, meanwhile, had a 2.03 GAA in his three starts versus the Blues.
Two of San Jose's three goals against St. Louis came from defensemen Mitchell
and Burns, while Pavelski, Boyle, Thornton, Couture and Marleau all went
without a point in the four-game series.
San Jose also struggled in its defensive zone against St. Louis blueliners.
Pietrangelo led the Blues with five points off two goals and three assists in
the season series, while Shattenkirk added a pair of tallies and four points.
Oshie, McDonald and Perron all scored and logged multiple points in the
series.
The Sharks may have the edge in the experience, but Hitchcock has his team
playing a successful system and has a huge edge in the goaltending department.
If Hitchcock can keep his players in line with the plan, the Sharks could be
in line for an early exit.
Sports Network predicted outcome: Blues in 6
The Sports Network