San Jose Sharks v Vancouver Canucks - Western Conference Finals
Now that it has been decided who the Vancouver Canucks will be playing for the Conference title, they can start to devise a strategy and game plan against the team.
Both teams were one and two in the Western Conference and now they face each other in the Conference Finals to make things more interesting. The number one and two seeds both had their share of scares during their way into the Finals but they were able to
deal with it and win in the end.
The Canucks were in superb form during the regular season and continued the form in the play-offs. They were successful in winning the first three games against the Chicago Blackhawks but couldn’t seal the deal.
They lost the next three games and the seventh game was very tough as well. However, it was the Canucks, who won the game after overtime, to move into the second round.
The second round first game witnessed the Canucks losing the first game to fall behind. The series was close as all of the games ended with the score difference of only one with the exception of one game.
Nevertheless, the Canucks wrapped up the series in six games winning the series 4-2 to book a spot for themselves in the Conference Finals.
Now, if we talk about the Sharks then they won the first round series against the Los Angeles Kings in six games. They made a superb start in the second round winning the first three games against the Red Wings.
However, the Red Wings won the next three games to level the series. Finally, they won the seventh game with a slender one goal lead to win the series 4-3 and moved into the Western Conference Finals.
Now that both teams will be facing each other, the question that arises is, which team has got what it takes to win the Conference and then move into the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Sharks will surely be looking towards Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau to shine in the Finals while the Canucks will be hoping that Ryan Kesler and Roberto Luongo can use their experience and come up with strong performances in the Finals.
One fact ahead of the series is that both teams have played the first game of the series on home ice.
However, this time the Sharks will be playing the first game on away ice, which makes the series interesting, as this is the first time they will be playing the first game on away ice since 2007.
The series will further heat up as Canucks have only two players with Final experience, Mikael Samuelsson, and, Maxim Lapierre, while the Sharks entire team has the experience.
However, the Canucks have had good results this season and will be high on confidence, as they won three out of the four meetings between the two teams during the regular season.
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