2011 NHL Play-off players who can rise as game winners for the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks
As the Conference finals for the Eastern and Western side are about to start, there are a few players who have the capabilities whether they be natural or supernatural according to the situation, to rise up and take the lead for their teams.
Such players are the ones who make their names and are inducted in the Hall of Fame for their legendary performances when they really count. Almost any player can make a mark during the regular season, but he who performs during the post-season and leads
the team to Stanley Cup glory is always remembered in some way or another.
San Jose and Detroit are about to meet up for the final time this post-season on Thursday in game seven of the National Hockey League (NHL) play-offs Western Conference semi-finals. It has been a series which took an unimaginable turn and has created immense
excitement and anticipation throughout the hockey world. The Sharks led 3-0 after winning three consecutive games in the beginning of the series but the Red Wings countered back with their 20 years of play-off experience to win the next three and force an
uncertain game seven.
Both teams are full of immensely talented players who are very capable of winning the series, but there are a few who are worth mentioning as the ones who might be the game-winners and ultimately lead their team into the next series. In the remaining part,
we will talk about two players from each team that are most likely to rise up when things are tense and become a part of NHL play-off history forever.
San Jose Sharks
Antti Niemi
Something both teams have in common is they both have goalies which are extremely talented. In San Jose’s case, Antti Niemi is incredibly capable of leading his team to play-off glory just like he did when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks. Winning a Stanley
Cup last year just does not wash off all of a sudden, the feeling is still there and Niemi does not want it to stop.
It might have been because of his absence the Blackhawks could not penetrate through the first round this time around, as the San Jose Sharks have. Niemi is and will be one of the major factors for winning as he does not break in pressure. He has locked
down the experienced Detroit offensive a number of times with a few near shut-outs including a 41 save performance in a tense game six. Come Thursday at home, Niemi might even shut-out the Red Wings to close the series on a high note just for the fun of it.
Logan Couture
The young All-Star rookie, Logan Couture has definitely made a name for himself this regular and post-season. The 21-year-old not only played amazingly well in regulation but proved to be a go-to player in tight situations when the stakes are high.
In the past three games he has had three goals which make for a total of six points in the six game series. With a little boost from fellow team-mates, the record breaking rookie could rise high above the rest of the veteran Detroit line-up.
Detroit Red Wings
Jimmy Howard
As mentioned earlier, both teams have goalies with immense talent and not mentioning Jimmy Howard in this list would surely be a shame. Howard has one great advantage over Niemi and that is experience. Currently, the veteran goalie is 5-1 in elimination
matches beginning from last year’s play-offs.
Howard so far has won three consecutive matches which his team could not afford to lose in any situation as they were on the verge of elimination and his counterpart, Niemi has lost those three which would have advanced them. By the looks of the current
record, Howard is a better player to have in high pressure games.
Coach Mike Babcock
It might be going out of the way, but mentioning the Detroit Head Coach Mike Babcock is a must in this situation. When looking at Babcock, one gets the immediate feeling of some sort of satanic or supernatural powers coming out of him because his movements
and decisions result in the output of the match. In relation to that, Babcock had already given his verdict on game six which was they would win and then head out to San Jose for game seven, that is exactly what happened.
It was Babcock’s decision to play Valtteri Filppula in game six and what did it result in? Two points including the game-winning goal in the end. There is no doubt that Detroit is full of players with a lot of experience like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel
Datsyuk but Babcock pulls the strings and when he does, he always gets what he wants.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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