NHL 2011 Playoffs: Handicapping the Western Conference: Recaps and Futures
The 2011 NHL Playoff's wild and whacky first round is in the books for the Western Conference. A lot of questions we had about these teams were answered over the last two weeks, but many more emerged.
Is Detroit really that good? Is San Jose poised to win their first cup? Does Nashville have that “happy-to-be-here” syndrome now? Does Vancouver have anything left in the tank?
Let’s take a look at what we saw and which team might have what it takes to go all the way.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks
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The Canucks started and finished this series with a bang, but there was a whole lot of craziness inbetween.
We all saw how they imposed their Presidents-Trophy will on the Hawks during the first three games, but the defending champs didn’t go down without a monsterous fight.
Raffi Torres' hit on Brent Seabrook turned on the light switch for Chicago, and Dave Bolland returned just in time to make the Sedin brothers irrelevant.
In the end though, Vancouver proved to us why they are the unanimous favorites to emerge from the West. Their depth came up big when the series was on the line as guys like Ryan Kesler, Alexandre Burrows, Jannik Hansen and Dan Hamhuis controlled Game 7 from the start.
Seemingly lost in the shuffle of Game 7 was the play of Roberto Luongo.
He was the de facto talking point during the last half of the series, but he was no stranger to big-time pressure after winning another huge game on Vancouver's ice during the 2010 Olympics. He provided the necessary backbone for the team when they needed him most, and winning in dramatic fashion will give him, and the team, a monumental confidence boost the rest of the way.
San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings
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If you are like me, you felt confident when betting the Sharks to win this series in six games or less in what was supposed to be the most lopsided series of the first round.
Not so fast my friend.
Even without Anze Kopitar and an injured Justin Williams, the Kings left everything out on the ice in each and every game.
Blowing their 4-0 second-period lead in Game 3 was the obvious turning point, but the missed opportunities didn’t stop there. The Sharks had to win three of their four games in overtime, and the Kings squandered a great opportunity to force a Game 7 with a five-minute power play at the end of Game 6.
Despite the gritty effort, the Sharks won’t come away from this series feeling all that great though. There were many times in this series when they were outworked and outclassed. When they needed to step up and dominate the Kings the way they were expected to, they couldn’t. They had to fight and scratch for every game they won, and a team like Detroit isn’t going to let them get away with inconsistent play.
Players like Antti Niemi, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Joe Pavelski are going to need to raise their games if they hope to advance to the next round.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Phoenix Coyotoes
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A sweep in Arizona might look and sound good to Red Wings' fans, but was this really as lopsided as the final score indicated?
Pavel Datsyuk stepped up and proved he’s a primetime performer, and the Detroit power play looked unstoppable, but their series win had as much to do with the Coyotes' ineptitude as much as anything.
Phoenix didn’t have a single 20-goal scorer in their lineup, and when guys like Lauri Korpikoski and Vernon Fiddler are your best players, you know you have problems. To make matters worse, no one in the lineup could take advantage of Detroit’s defensive and penalty-killing vulnerabilities.
A better offensive attack would have punished Detroit’s sloppy play and made this series a lot more interesting.
Nevertheless, Detroit will be more than happy to escape the first round with more than week’s worth of extra rest. They have a lot of aging warriors that need time to heal, and it provides the opportunity for players like Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall to come back.
They will need all the help they can get because the Sharks will provide a much stiffer challenge. Don’t expect Niemi to be the sieve that Ilya Bryzgalov was. There is more than enough offensive firepower in the Sharks lineup to give Detroit fits.
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Anaheim Ducks vs. Nashville Predators
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Personally, this was the most difficult first-round matchup to handicap.
Anaheim was one of the hottest teams down the stretch, winning 15 of their last 20, and they boasted one of the best scoring lines and best power players heading into the playoffs.
Yet, Nashville were no pushovers either.
There isn’t a better defensive pair in the league outside of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, and Pekka Rinne is a Vezina Trophy finalist.
In the end, I put my money on Nashville because they had the better goalie, but looking back, it was a collective effort that clinched this series for the Predators.
They generated enough timely offense from a myriad of role players, and Rinne played well enough to win four games.
This isn’t to take away anything for the Ducks though. It wasn’t as if their big guns had a bad series, but during the course of a seven-game series, their depth guys didn’t match the production of the Predators' third and fourth lines.
Sometimes good teams just lose, and it isn’t due to any obvious or blame-worthy reason. This time, Nashville just happened to make the necessary plays at opportune times.
Looking Ahead
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Which team in the West is going to emerge from the second round and go on a run to the finals?
The smart money is still on the Canucks.
Unlike some previous Presidents Trophy winners, Vancouver got into Round 2 healthy and stacked with depth and confidence. There aren’t any weaknesses going forward with the exception of an injured Manny Malhotra.
With him, they would have been able to let Kesler play a more offensive role on the second line, but Ian Laperriere has stepped up and done a good job providing a third line center who can be trusted with a regular shift.
Luongo should be able to play a lot more loose now that he’s exoricised his personal demons, and he has a full deck of bona fide defenders in front of him.
The odds might not be great in the sportsbooks, but you can’t go wrong rolling with the favorites all the way to the end.
As mentioned, Detroit took care of Phoenix with ease, but serious questions still remain about Jimmy Howard’s consistency in net and the health status of Zetterberg. They will need elite performances from both if they hope to upset the Sharks and surpass Vancouver.
Many people will be enticed by the Red Wings based on what they saw and their history of success but don’t say that you haven’t been warned.
The Sharks have the potential to win the cup, but will they?
It’s highly unlikely.
They always find a way to lose somewhere along the way and if it isn’t in Round 2, it will be in Round 3. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to put it all together for four rounds despite having the talent to do so. Niemi is good, but he isn’t playing like he did during Chicago’s cup run last year.
However, if you are determined to go with someone other than the Canucks, you might want to take a chance on Nashville. This is a team that I saw a lot of during the seaso,n and they owned Vancouver during the 82-game schedule.
Rinne will need to find his Vezina form, but if he does, watch out.
Weber and Suter have the ability to shut down the Sedin line, and they have a great home-ice crowd. Look for them to get the early lead on Vancouver in Game 1 thanks to the long and draining Blackhawks' series.
With a little puck luck and gameplanning, the Predators could very well upset the Canucks and roll all the way to the end.
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