Sharks - Stars preview
Mike Chen's two pieces (seriously, read the history bit and not just for the spectacular Bruce Campbell reference) supersede anything I'll write about this series. He absolutely covered a lot of the bases.
One bit of old school Dallas Stars bad blood I felt should also be mentioned (along with the evil Marchment stuff) is the Stars' former feud with Jeremy Roenick. JR had two notable checks on Mike Modano one of which Darryl Sydor went as far to call it a cheap shot.
Roenick also gave Mikey Mo a concussion as a member of Phoenix Coyotes.
Naturally, in the pre-Cowardly Breaking of Necks Days, retribution came soon enough when Derian Hatcher destroyed JR in a hit laced with good old fashioned vengeance. (I believe I turned 15 on that day...little did I know that one of my "gifts" was Roenick getting his jaw broken)
I'd be reluctant to rush Sergei Zubov into this series if he's not able to move well enough. You'd hate to see the physically imposing Sharks forwards get breaks simply because smokin' Sergei cannot skate well enough.
The Sharks are a much scarier team offensively, as they proved by absolutely destroying Calgary in Game 7. That was truly a gaudy display of their power. They outshot the Flames savagely and knocked Kipper out of the game (even if that decision was made by goalie swapping moron Mike Keenan).
The good news is that the Stars are playing well. Both teams have similar strengths: strong, experienced goaltending; plenty of scoring options and a commitment to team defense.
If the Stars are going to win, it's going to be based on stellar play from their top forwards (Ribeiro, Richards and Morrow) and the momentum crushing puck handling abilities of Marty Turco.
For a 6-game series, the Stars won somewhat easily. The Sharks are going to be a much bigger challenge, amazingly, than the defending Cup champions (or should we just call them the x-champs?). It just shows you how phenomenal the Western Conference is this year.
9 comments:
I don't think the Sharks will be harder. If the Stars play the way they played against the Ducks and the Sharks play the way they played against the Flames, I don't think the Sharks will be able to compete.
The Sharks won, barely, with home ice advantage, in 7 games, against a much lower ranked team. The Stars won in 6 without home ice advantage against a higher ranked team. The Sharks could win, but it would be because Dallas didn't play as well as they did against the Ducks.
Sounds like Zubov had the same surgery that Cheech had during the offseason and we all saw how long it took for him to get back to form. If I was Dallas I would be careful about playing him so soon.
and not just for the spectacular Bruce Campbell reference
I was going to chastise Mike for not throwing more Army of Darkness references around here.
For a 6-game series, the Stars won somewhat easily.
And that's the impressive thing. The Stars made beating the Ducks look easy, one year after the Ducks made beating all opponents look rather easy.
The Sharks could win, but it would be because Dallas didn't play as well as they did against the Ducks.
Or maybe because the Dallas power play won't get a chance to be so prominent.
Sounds like Zubov had the same surgery that Cheech had during the offseason
Did Cheechoo go to Germany? Zubov had hernia surgery in the off-season and it took a long time, but this one was supposed to be a technique that takes half the rehab time. I'd be interested to hear if Cheechoo had the same procedure. They only mentioned that Brad Lukowich had the same thing done.
Or maybe because the Dallas power play won't get a chance to be so prominent.
Our PK got better, but they still found a way to beat us.
Our PK got better, but they still found a way to beat us.
True, but it's not just about being better on the PK, it's also about spending fewer minutes on the PK.
Ducks were shorthanded 38 times in 6 games; Sharks were shorthanded 22 times in 7 games. That's a big factor even if both teams were great on the PK.
Did they just say Joe Thornton played Risk the night before game 7? Let's face it, this guy was born to be a San Jose Shark.
Risk is one of the best boardgames ever.
Post a Comment