2012 NHL Playoffs: San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues Series Preview

After years of the San Jose Sharks entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs as a favorite, the Sharks now face the test of being the underdog in a series little expect them to win.

A season with so many ups-and-downs and twists-and-turns left San Jose in a struggle down the stretch of the season just to make the playoffs.  Jobs may or may not have been threatened, players' names may or may not have been thrown in the trade mill and the entire franchise may or may not be headed for reconstruction.

One thing is for sure—the Sharks are in the playoffs with little to lose and everything to gain.  A playoff position they have not found themselves in for a long time.

How will that change their mindset?

It may not at all, but the scenario contains less pressure and more confidence heading into their first-round series.

The problem: They are matched up against a St. Louis Blues team that has absolute ownership over San Jose this season.

Offense

In a No. 2 vs. No. 7 series, it is rare to find two teams so evenly matched on offense.

St. Louis averaged 2.5 goals per game this season, while the Sharks averaged 2.7 per game.  Neither team will beat their opposition to death with goals, but there is a sense that getting pucks to the net will be at a premium when the two teams begin play on Thursday in St. Louis.

While the Blues did sweep the Sharks in the season series 4-0, the Blues were not able to eclipse more than four goals, even when the Sharks were at their lowest point of the season.

One thing to point out is that the regular season tends to get thrown out the window when it comes to a competitive seven-game series featuring two prized franchises in the NHL.  

The Sharks come into the Blues series red-hot on offense and playing some of their best hockey of the year, while the Blues have had the Sharks' number from the season's start to end.

I will give the upper hand to the Sharks on offense, based on the fact they managed to bombard Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick with pucks to the net in the final games of the season.  They tallied nine goals over two games in the process, something Quick does not do often and certainly not to the rival from San Jose.

Defense

There is little that we do not already know here—the Blues are arguably the best defensive team in the NHL and their stats only prove it.

St. Louis is ranked first in goals against this season, allowing just 1.9 goals per game.  They have done this with a solid defense throughout all three lines, but most notably with their incredible play in between the pipes.  Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliot have both averaged fewer than two goals given up per game this season, which is a prime reason for why this team is as poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup as ever.

The St. Louis defense is the real reason why the Sharks could muster barely anything in the four games these two teams have played each other in this season.  San Jose's success comes with the facilitation of the puck, and the Blues have not and will not allow that.

For the Sharks to even have success against the Blues' defense, they will need to get at least 30 shots to the net.  The Sharks did a good job of that in their final nine games, but they could only do that against the Blues once in the four chances they had this season—a 4-2 loss in San Jose.

On the other side, the Sharks' defense still has several holes in it, as well as a few minor injuries.  The Blues are not going to bombard Antti Niemi and the defense with shots on net, but they do not miss many opportunities when they present themselves.  It will have to be something the Sharks watch out for.

Special Teams

There is one glaring hole in the entire special teams matchup heading into this first-round series, and it is the Sharks' penalty kill, ranked 29th in the NHL this season.

While everything else has seemed to get better over the past two weeks for San Jose, it has been the penalty kill that has remained the clear and consistent weakness.  It comes at a time of the year when special teams are the most coveted aspect of the game.

The Blues, on the other hand, boast a top-10 penalty kill and should have no problem containing the Sharks in this category.

San Jose does have one thing going for them in this series, and that is their power play, which has risen up the rankings over the past two weeks and now sits as the No. 2-ranked power play in the NHL.  It will be a terrific matchup against the Blues' No. 7-ranked penalty kill—obviously a critical category for either team to win in this series.

Overall

This series pins a team riding a winning streak and playing stellar hockey against a team that has played stellar hockey all season.  The Blues also have utterly dominated the Sharks this year.

So do we go with the hot hand, or with the team that has played the most consistent hockey all season?

The series should come down to two things: The Sharks' penalty kill and the Blues' success in taking advantage of it.

We know this is going to be an evenly matched series.  The Sharks are juiced up and ready to play the underdog role after all the years of being among the Western Conference's elite.  They now go up against a team that has not been to the playoffs in several years, but with all the essentials needed to make a Stanley Cup run.

The Sharks will succeed on their power play in this series, and the Blues will surely succeed on theirs.  If the Sharks can get to either Halak or Elliot in net for the Blues on equal ice, just like they got to Quick when it counted most in the final two games of the season, then San Jose could have a chance to pull an upset in either six or seven games.

However, if they do not have success on the one thing going for them—the power play—then they will continually risk getting stopped by the St. Louis defense from which the Blues draw most of their momentum.

If that happens, then it could be a quick series for the Sharks.