commentary...

San Jose at Vancouver:Sharks have offense,and goaltender,who can shut down teams,but Vancouver has the Sedin twins(Daniel,and Henrik),who both have led NHL in scoring the last two years,or near the top of NHL,and many others who can score... can San Jose out-score Vancouver,over a seven game series? no... can Vancouver stop the Sharks offense,and clamp down on Devin Setoguchi, Joe Pavelski,Patrick Marleau,and Joe Thornton? i do not know... can Sharks' defense stop Vancouver,over a seven game series? they must do it... advantages for the Sharks? only one:slight edge at goaltender-with Antti Niemi,who won Stanley Cup,with Chicago last year,but the Stanley Cup Finals last year was one for the offenses,with both teams giving up at least three goals a game... Niemi must have a great series with a save percentage of over 90%,and give up not more than 2 1/2 goals a game;would love it around 2.2 goals a game,but Vancouver can score in bunches... Roberto Luongo must have a very good series,and not give up soft goals(goals that he should have stopped),to the Sharks,because giving them any momentum is lethal to the Canucks... if they play like they did,against the Red Wings,they have a chance... if they do not play that way,with passion,and grit,giving the Canucks fits in neutral zone,they have little chance to win this series,but the passes into the zone in front of both Niemi,and Luongo,will be key,to the series,and the Sedin twins are great passers of the puck to their teammates... the Sharks must force a great deal of turnovers,in neutral zone,and shorten up the ice,and give Luongo a lot of rubber to handle,and try to tip pucks past him,like they did,with Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings,and irritate him,by bumping him,and not interfere with him,and rough up the Canucks mentally,with that grit,and simply throw the Canucks off their game... if they do not do what they did against the Red Wings,and do something similar,with Vancouver,they will not win,or have a chance,because they can not out-score Vancouver,in seven games,but can they win? yes,but they must try to get ahead,and force Vancouver into catch up,and do it over and over... make it a rough game,San Jose has a chance,but if it is a finesse game,both teams have finesse elements,but Vancouver,has a little more firepower,and can out-skate San Jose,over a seven game series...