Vancouver Canucks confident about Game 1 against San Jose Sharks at home – NHL Playoffs Preview
As the Eastern Conference Finals have kicked off, Game one of the Western Conference play-off final is ready to begin on Sunday, May 15
between the top seed Vancouver Canucks and second place San Jose Sharks at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Both teams have a lot on their minds as the Canucks look for their first Stanley Cup in their 40-year history as a National Hockey League (NHL) team. It will be the first time since 1994 the Vancouver Canucks will be advancing to the Stanley Cup finals,
but are yet to win it.
The 2010-11 season has been the best in Vancouver’s history as the team combination is utterly amazing and consistent. Entering the 2011 NHL play-offs, the Vancouver Canucks had difficulty against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks,
who attempted a historic come-back after losing three straight games and then forcing a game-seven decider. They did a little better in the semi-finals against the Nashville Predators and eliminated them in Game-six.
Going up against the San Jose Sharks will require the Canucks to play on a whole new level which they have not done in this series so far. Performing in regulation games is totally different when compared to the post-season which we saw in the first two
rounds.
"The goal in the dressing room isn't to win and make it to the Conference Finals," Vancouver’s American All-Star Ryan Kesler said. "We have a bigger goal in mind. We still put a lot of pressure on ourselves and expect a lot from each other inside that dressing
room. Outside, we really don't care what people think or say about us. We're focused on this series. We're focused on the San Jose Sharks."
San Jose also emerged through a number of difficult victories. They had a bit of a difficult time against the Los Angeles Kings in the quarter-finals and had even a tougher time in the semi-finals against an experienced Detroit Red Wings team who also nearly
made a four game come-back in game-seven but lost.
The Sharks certainly have a lot of potential to easily take control of the series, but looking back on previous match-ups, they have not been able to take advantage of that potential as of yet. San Jose has not yet been able to emerge victorious in the conference
finals even after having reached this stage a number of times. Last year, they were eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks in a clean 4-0 sweep of the series and prior to that by the Calgary Flames in six-games during the 2004 NHL play-offs.
"We'll enter the series against Vancouver as an underdog -- maybe a little pressure will be taken off us," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.
The San Jose Sharks have a secret weapon up their sleeves like no one else and his name is Antti Niemi. The former Chicago Blackhawk’s goalie who won the previous Stanley Cup with them has led the Sharks back into the finals the next season he was traded
and the Blackhawks did not even get past the first round without him. It just goes to say how valuable he really is. So far, Niemi is 6-0 in the play-off series and has become the first goalie since the NHL has expanded to reach the play-off conference finals
back-to-back and that too with different teams. He is attempting at becoming the first to win another Stanley Cup in the following season. Playing him well will certainly make the San Jose leap bounds they never thought were possible.
Whatever the situation may be, it will no doubt be an exciting and extremely thrilling night at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver when the match between the Canucks and Sharks begins on Sunday.
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