No. 1 Sharks Vs. No. 8 Ducks: Breaking Down the First Round Matchup

This first round series is the tale of an Anaheim Ducks team that made a late-season run to squeak into the playoffs and a well-balanced Sharks team that may have finally reached their potential.

San Jose is coming off their best season in franchise history, finishing with 117 points and the President's Trophy in hand. They have earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NHL and have won the Pacific Division.

Anaheim might be the strongest No. 8 seed the NHL has ever seen. After putting themselves in an early season hole, they have scraped and fought their way into the playoffs. With a 91 point season, they have earned the No. 8 seed, finishing behind San Jose for second place in the Pacific Division.

Forwards

San Jose boasts six players with 20 or more goals, led by big Joe Thornton who is the NHL's prototypical power forward. Thornton comes in with a team leading 86 points while Patrick Marleau has a career high 38 goals to lead the team.

Second year player Devin Setoguchi has impressed in his first full season with the team, racking up 31 goals and 65 points

Pavelski, Clowe, and Michalek round out the top six forwards and are all well balanced players. This team really spreads the wealth around evenly.

Mike Grier and Jonathan Cheechoo are both big physical forwards that can chip in here and there.

None of the top six has a negative +/-. They are big and physical, highly skilled, and defensively responsible.

Anaheim is led by Ryan Getzlaf. The fourth-year player has racked up a career high 91 points to lead the team and has emerged as one of the top playmakers in the NHL.

Corey Perry, along with impressive second year player, Bobby Ryan, give the Ducks a duo of 30 goal scorers. Perry is a big physical presence on the team and one of the better agitators in the NHL

The ageless Teemu Selanne is still showing no signs of slowing down. The Finnish Flash turned in a solid season with 27 goals and a well-balanced 54 points this season.

Drew Miller and rookie Andrew Ebbett round out Anaheim's top six forwards and play together with Selanne on Anaheim's "crazy 8's" line.

Edge: San Jose

The Ducks have no shortage of offensive talent, but there just aren't many teams that can match San Jose's firepower.

Defense

San Jose picked up Dan Boyle in the offseason and it turned out to be a fantastic free agent acquisition. Boyle racked up 57 points to finish 4th in the NHL among defensemen. He has proven to be a great quarterback on the powerplay as well, putting up 32 points with the man advantage.

Rob Blake has enjoyed a renaissance season. The 39-year old defensemen has 45 points and places second on the team with a plus-15.

Big man Christian Ehrhoff and Marc-Edouard Vlasic make up the second pairing and both are solid playmakers, though Ehrhoff is somewhat prone to defensive lapses.

Anahiem is led by perennial Norris trophy candidate Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer finished tied for third in the NHL among defensemen with 59 points, although an unsightly minus-eight rating might keep him from getting a nomination this year.

Chris Pronger is still going strong and should be his usual physical self in the playoffs. He totaled a solid 48 points.

Ryan Whitney was a solid trade acquisition from Pittsburgh and so far has had success in Anaheim's system. James Wisniewski is another physical presence on the Ducks blue line.

Francis Beauchemin will play limited minutes on the blue-line, after missing about three quarters of the season. The Ducks will surely benefit from any extra help on defense though.

Edge: Even

Both teams have a good mix of veteran leadership, high scoring defensemen, and physical defensemen

Goaltending

San Jose is backstopped by the ever-consistent Evgeni Nabokov who has posted numbers on par with his career average. A 2.44 GAA puts him in the top half of the NHL, while his seven shutouts are good for fourth in the NHL.

Nabokov has historically been a great playoff performer as well.

Anaheim will open the playoffs with Jonas Hiller in net. This would have been a surprise at the start of the season, but given J.S. Giguere's season, and Hiller's great play down the stretch, it would seem expected.

The second year goalie has placed himself in the top third of the NHL with a 2.39 GAA and a record of 23-15-1 to help salvage Anaheim's season. Giguere still lies in waiting in the background, though. The cup winning goalie will likely get a shot if Hiller's play isn't up to par.

Edge: San Jose

If Anaheim was starting Giguere at the top of his game, this might be a different story. Hiller is having a very good season, but he's no Nabokov. Not yet anyway.

Intangibles

San Jose is coming off the best season in franchise history and has been dubbed by some publications as the team to beat in this year's playoffs. The team has struggled to get past the second round in playoffs past, so naturally there are some questions about them performing to expectations.

Anaheim has pretty much been playing playoff hockey for the last few weeks, and although they have struggled with inconsistency all season long, there is still some good talent on this team

Edge: Even

Coaching

San Jose is coached by first year head coach Todd McClellan. McClellan, a Red Wings assistant last season, has taken San Jose to unprecedented heights in his first season, implementing many of the same tactics the defending cup champs use. His knowledge base is unquestioned as he has learned from some of the best.

Anaheim has a Stanley Cup winning coach of their own in Randy Carlyle. Carlyle is responsible for the best regular season in franchise history as well in 2006-07 but is coming off a first round exit in last years playoffs. He can still be regarded as one of the better coaches in the NHL.

Edge: Anaheim

San Jose's McClellan likely has a bright future ahead of him, but his first playoff test comes against a Stanley Cup winning coach.

Prediction

You don't often see No. 8 seeds that have the pieces that Anaheim does. That should give this first-round matchup some excitement and competition that we otherwise wouldn't have gotten. San Jose is the top team in the NHL this year, but that doesn't mean this will be a breeze for them.

San Jose in seven