Stanley Cup playoffs filled with exciting matchups: Western Conference

By Joe Patarino
STAFF WRITER

It’s about that time again. Whether you’re a die-hard hockey fan or merely your everyday sports fan, buckle up because the NHL playoffs are upon us. No sport has provided the grueling intensity, game-in, game-out grind than the National Hockey League — and this year will be no different.

The playoffs come after a regular season which showcased the Detroit Red Wings (again), who won their third President’s Cup trophy in the past four seasons. Alexander Ovechkin wowed us night-in and night-out with his 65-goal, 112-point campaign. Locally, the Hockey Gods punished the Buffalo Sabres for their off-season moves by becoming the third team since the expansion era in 1967 to miss the playoffs just one year removed from their President’s Trophy season.

But that was the regular season. There are no guarantees come playoff time. Take the 2005-06 season, where each of the top four seeds in the Western Conference were eliminated in the first round. With no shootouts, rather multi-overtime games in demanding best-of-seven series, only the strongest, most determined teams will advance. Who will hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2008? Time will tell, and it starts with round one:

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators

Reason to watch: The talented Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski … the list goes on as Detroit boasts one of the more talented teams in the NHL, hence the league’s best record (54-21-7, 115 points). And with 43-year-old Dominik Hasek in net and 46-year-old Chris Chelios on the blue line, experience isn’t a problem for these Wings.

Season series: 5-3, Detroit

Food for thought: The Red Wings have won the President’s Trophy three of the past four seasons — but have not reached the Cup Finals since 2001-02. In the four playoff appearances since, they’ve twice been eliminated in the first round.

Series outlook: The knock on Detroit has been their lack of physical play come playoff time, which has led to their early exits. Expect Nashville to play a gritty, hard-hitting series against the talented Red Wings. However, Detroit’s talent will get them by the Predators, but probably not much further.

Prediction: Detroit in four.

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames

Reason to watch: Jarome Iginla. Few players elevate their game come playoff time like Iginla. In 41 playoff games he has 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points. On top of that, he is not afraid to mix it up to motivate his team, picking up 68 penalty minutes during that time. He wasn’t bad in the regular season either, with 50 goals and 98 points.

Season series: 3-1, Calgary

Food for thought: For what it’s worth, the Flames finish the season with the same record (42-30-10) as their 2003-04 season — the year they beat the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals.

Series outlook: The Sharks went 18-0-2 before dropping the final two games of the season, while the Flames were just 2-4 in their last six games. There’s sure to be great goaltending with Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff and San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov. Iginla will need some help from secondary forwards Daymond Lankow and Kristian Huselius to keep up with the likes of Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau in San Jose. This will be a physical series, and I’m not betting against Iginla.

Prediction: Calgary in seven.

(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche

Reason to watch: Peter Forsberg. The gifted Swede played just nine games this year as he joined the team late, spending much of the season playing in Europe. In those nine games, he recorded one goal and 13 assists for 14 points. Due to injury, he’s been in and out of the lineup since he came to Colorado, but consider this: in 144 playoff games, he’s recorded 63 goals and 103 assists for 166 points — you can bet Colorado is hoping for a healthy Forsberg.

Season series: 4-3-1, Minnesota

Food for thought: In 2001-02 with Montreal, Jose Theodore became just the sixth goaltender in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy. Since then he’s had a hard time finding a starting gig. Until this year, when he won 28 games — his most since 2003-04. Colorado’s success could rest on No. 60’s shoulders.

Series Outlook: Minnesota plays a defensive game with strong goaltending from Niklas Backstrom. They have enough talent to play the skill game as well, with Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston. However, I wouldn’t expect them to try and get into high-scoring affairs against the likes of Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Paul Statsny, Ryan Smyth and Andrew Brunette. This series promises to be an exciting, back-and-forth matchup of Northwest division rivals.

Prediction: Minnesota in six.

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars

Reason to watch: Winner will represent West. In my opinion, these are the two strongest teams in the playoffs — East or West — as both are deep with great goaltending. Anaheim has the best defensive unit in the NHL with Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin, Mattieu Schneider, Sean O’Donnell and Marc-Andre Bergeron, as well as a great offensive attack with Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz. What sets them apart from most is their shut-down line of Travis Moen, Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer — they were one of the big keys in their cup run a year ago. Dallas also has a deep core of forwards, helped by the addition of Brad Richards at the trade deadline, but their defense has taken a bit of a hit with the injury to top defenseman Sergi Zubov.

Season series: 5-3, Dallas

Food for thought: Stars’ goaltender Marty Turco has had tremendous success in the regular season, posting at least 31 wins every year since 2002-03. However, his playoff record is only 11-18. Though, if you consider last year’s playoffs — where he recorded three shutouts in the Stars’ first round series against Vancouver — and still lost in seven games — you wonder if his playoff record isn’t a reflection of his play with a goals-against-average of 2.21, rather the lack of goals his team scores. Here’s hoping Marty gets some offensive support.

Series outlook: With Turco and Jean-Sebastien Giguere in net, there will not be many goals scored in a series that is destined for seven. Dallas has made improvements to become more offensive with Richards and Mike Ribiero’s breakout season — career highs in goals (27) assists 56) and points (83) — but Anaheim is just too deep and too physical.

Prediction: Anaheim in seven.

Men's Lacrosse: Road warriors come home

Softball schedule stacked after lay-off

Baseball looks strong after splits

Women's Lacrosse: Eagles pour it on in Potsdam

Outdoor Track: Brockport dominates aerial competition

Joe Patarino breaks down the Stanley Cup playoffs: Eastern Conference

Joe Patarino breaks down the Stanley Cup playoffs: Western Conference

Montgomery: Tennessee/Stanford final unpredicted, but not unearned

Rhinos' forward optimistic about upcoming season

Boron: Joe Girardi has the resume and the heart to lead the Yankees

MacMaster: Top players compete for the Tewaarton