3 Things to Watch For in the San Jose Sharks' First Playoff Round

With the conclusion of their final game of the regular season, the San Jose Sharks enter the NHL Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks. These teams met at the Western Conference Finals in 2011 and the Canucks took the series 4 games to 1. Here are three things to watch for this round.

1. The three-headed goaltending battle

Usually only two goaltenders take the spotlight in a playoff series. However, the Canucks have an impressive duo in Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo. There has been much controversy over who should get the starting job in Vancouver, but as of now it’s Schneider. He is coming off of an injury that forced him to miss the Canucks’ last two games of the season so if he falters in game 1, Luongo may be given a chance. After all, he brought the Canucks to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2011.

The Sharks will be looking for Antii Niemi to continue what has been an excellent year in net. He has looked more consistently dominant than in years prior. Playing 43 of 48 games this season, making 1127 saves, and posting a 2.16 goals against average with a 92.4% save percentage, many media sources have pinned him as a contender for the Vezina best goaltender award. Barring an injury to Niemi, we shouldn’t see much of backup Thomas Greiss this postseason.

2. New-look lines for both forward squads

Coming into the playoffs, both teams have shuffled their forwards around to ensure adequate depth of talent. The coaches will be looking to match up lines to seek certain advantages. Here are my guesses for which lines will see the most time against each other:

Line 1:

Sharks: Marleau – Couture – Havlat

Canucks: Burrows – H. Sedin – D. Sedin

This Sharks line has been used in a defensive role against opponents’ top lines and has proven to be a successful shut-down trio that also has all the offensive capability that one could want out of a first line. The same can be said for the Canucks’ top line. They’re solid defensively and can work magic in the offensive zone.

Line 2:

Sharks: Galiardi – Thornton – Burns

Canucks: Higgins – Kesler – Kassian

This matchup will probably be at the center of attention for this series. Passionate team leaders Thornton and Kesler will once again face off against one other and most likely match each other stride for stride. The determining factor here will be how well their wingers perform.

Line 3:

Sharks: Torres – Pavelski – Wingles

Canucks: Raymond – Roy – Hansen

For the third line matchup, the tables seem to have turned since the 2011 Western Conference Finals. Two years ago, the line of Torres – Lapierre – Hansen proved dominant over Pavelski’s line and Raffi Torres was a huge part of it. Now, Pavelski centers Torres and Wingles, who are major improvements over then-wingers Wellwood and Mitchell. So this third line will be much more capable of scoring this postseason. The Sharks will be looking to take advantage of this matchup

Line 4:

Sharks: Gomez – Desjardins – Burish

Canucks: Ebbett – Lapierre – Weise

These lines likely wont see much ice time and may consist of different players than those listed above. The advantages here for each team are more difficult to gauge.

3. The special teams battle

This factor played a huge part in the Canucks’ win over the Sharks in 2011, so we should expect it to play a part this year as well.

On the season, the Sharks’ powerplay percentage is 20.1% (tied for 7th in the league) and their penalty kill percentage is 85.0% (6th in the league) whereas the Canucks’ powerplay is at 15.8% (22nd) and their penalty kill is at 84.0% (8^th).

So it can be said that San Jose has the advantage when it comes to special teams play. If this proves to be true as the series progresses, look for the Sharks to try to goad the Canucks into taking penalties in an attempt to break the game open.

The antics are sure to come!