commentary...

if you look at my analysis of the first round,i hit the every series on target,picking every winner,including Philadelphia,who went to game seven,and finally dispatched Buffalo,and Nashville beating Anaheim(see blogpost:April 12th,Pekka Rinne being better in net)... so you may be very surprised to hear that the key of the series,between Detroit,and San Jose may be very simple,and may be in goal... both starting goaltenders are equal,except for Antti Niemi,winning the Stanley Cup,for Chicago,and who is in goal,for San Jose,but Jimmy Howard is a very good goaltender,and can carry a team in series,like he did carry the team,in series with Phoenix,and he was the difference in that series... firepower is equal,with a slight edge with San Jose,but defense is Detroit's key to winning in series,because they are best puck possession team in NHL... the key to this series is who has best power play,and who can stay out of the penalty box,at critical times... San Jose will try to rough up,and irritate the Red Wings,into stupid penalties,but the discipline,the percentage of power play goals,and even strength goals will be key to series,because the talent is very equal... if either team can play their own game(Detroit,being disciplined,and San Jose being gritty,and with an edge),they will win series in fewer games than people may think... the Sharks played their game last year,and won series,but Red Wings remember last year,and hated losing not playing their game,being irritated,almost to the point of mugging the Sharks... for most part,that will not happen,but Sharks,and Red Wings do not like each other,at all... in fact,they despise each other,and either team can win,quite handily,with strong goaltending,discipline,and a timely power play goal,or two... season series was Sharks,3-1,but the regular season is much different,than the Stanley Cup playoffs... Detroit has to keep disciplined,and if ahead,in game,need to step on gas pedal,and do not stop,because Sharks will not stop coming back,until you put a stake in their beating heart,and if overtime happens,the Sharks have three of the four wins they had,against the Los Angeles Kings,were overtime wins,and were,3-0,in overtime,but the odds say that they can not win them all,in overtime,but they are a very good team,offensively,but you can get them off their game,by ignoring their antics,keeping out of penalty box,and be strong on penalty kill... if San Jose rolls,and out-plays Detroit,in both games,in San Jose,it will be a short series,but if Red Wings steals game in San Jose,which they did,when both teams were relatively healthy(the other three games were when Detroit had major injuries,to key players),it will be a tough series... San Jose did out-play Detroit in season series,no argument,but the same thing can be said of the Rangers-Capitals regular season series,in which Rangers beat Capitals,three games to one,but as you know Capitals dispatched Rangers,four games,to one,in Stanley Cup playoffs' first round,so regular season does not matter,so it may go down to game seven,weird goal bounce,or a goal to get either team going into series,and an simple out-played,and better team wins,because two series(last year,and this year)are much different... it may come down to last team standing,and fighting for the fourth win... if disciplined,Detroit,and if rough,it will be San Jose... it may be a steel cage match of hockey(in WWE parlance,the Elimination Chamber)... love the wrestling reference!!!!!