WCQF: (2) Anaheim Ducks vs (3) San Jose Sharks | Sharks Leads Series 3-0

[jax00]

I mean as far the NHL history books go the Sharks are pretty much non-existent.

 

[HanSolo]

No offense to SJ and their fans but I don't see any way, barring catastrophic injury to the Anaheim roster, that the Sharks come out on top here. Ducks in 6. Ducks are too deep, are getting better goaltending recently and they have better overall D (even with Fowler out.)

Lets be honest too...Joe Thornton at the stage in his career is NOT going to decide a series

You don't see ANY way?

Come on man did you even watch this season? Under Randy Bobandy, Anaheim absolutely can tank this series away. I hope they don't and I think it's entirely possible that they won't but there's no way this is some inevitability written in the stars that Anaheim cannot lose this one.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Anaheim is a straight up better team, but their coach is a moron. Could go either way really

 

[HanSolo]

Anaheim is a straight up better team, but their coach is a moron. Could go either way really

This is how I see it. If everyone plays playoff level hockey for a full 60 minutes they can win. Especially if Gibson and Miller stay in god mode. But who knows. I really don't know what to expect out of Anaheim. Like...I can't say they didn't earn the number 2 spot in the division but it's hard to deny that they won a lot of games in very flat fashion.

 

[ZzZz]

Idk we iced beauchmin and bieska together

Ducks better hope they get last years playoff version of Bieksa where he played basically the same, but made much better passes than usual; because you know Carlyle is going to play him when he returns from injury.

 

[Kalv]

Fowler is not your #1D. Full stop. Just because Randy treats him like he isn’t doesn’t mean he is. Lindholm and Manson are clearly better. And again, I say the Gibson thing because Ryan Miller has a long history of owning the Sharks, which I’ve already made a tongue-in-cheek-but-also-serious point about. Never mind the fact that you will have Gibson back by all indications.

It’s good to know that a 63 point pace is an “eh season” and Patrick Eaves is as good as Evander Kane, though.

Alice, is that you? How`s the Wonderland?

If not in Wonderland, in which world the hell are you?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

What's your game 7 record at home again?

I think 1 and 4 in the last little while but were trending up.

I think the keys to the series for sj are
-Burns needs to be a star, if he can be a + player at even strength that will go a long way for the sharks
-jones/dell will need to be at top of their game because the ducks like to crash the net with bodies.
- i think san jose has a slight speed advantage so they should use that
- anaheim plays heavy and will take penalties so san jose needs to punish them for it.

For anaheim
- faceoffs, if thornton is out our centers should be able to take advantage of sjs
- kesler needs to show signs of old kesler
-where sj has speed advantage, anaheim is more physical so they need to wear down the sharks defense specially vlasic.

Anaheim generally starts games slow and series slow specially at home. Anyway looking forward to the series, ive wanted to play sj again since 09 series ended... im sure we will have our fair share of arguements

 

[Lord Flashheart]

No offense to SJ and their fans but I don't see any way, barring catastrophic injury to the Anaheim roster, that the Sharks come out on top here. Ducks in 6. Ducks are too deep, are getting better goaltending recently and they have better overall D (even with Fowler out.)

Lets be honest too...Joe Thornton at the stage in his career is NOT going to decide a series

There are plenty of ways Sharks can win, it's a 50-50 series.

Jumbo Joe hasn't decided a series at any stage of his career.

 

[Internazionale]

Anaheim is a straight up better team, but their coach is a moron. Could go either way really

Pete Deboer says hello.

 

[LuGBuG]

No offense to SJ and their fans but I don't see any way, barring catastrophic injury to the Anaheim roster, that the Sharks come out on top here. Ducks in 6. Ducks are too deep, are getting better goaltending recently and they have better overall D (even with Fowler out.)

Lets be honest too...Joe Thornton at the stage in his career is NOT going to decide a series

If you are picking Ducks in 6 then that doesn’t really go with no way we can lose.

That means at some point the series will be 3-2 which could go either way especially with our up 3-2 history. I think Ducks will win but there is absolutely a chance we could be done after round one.

 

[Arthuros]

For the Ducks, this’ll hinge more on Fowler and Gibson being healthy enough to go, more than anything.

Fowler eats a lot of minutes. Whether or not he handles them well is another debate, but that vacuum will be hard to fill in the long-term. We need to see Lindholm and Manson step up and be a true team-carrying top pairing, and we’ve only seen that on a few nights this season.

Miller has been great, but mostly in relief or short spells. I would prefer Gibson start if he’s available.

 

[Deuce22]

I don't understand the mud slinging tactic of "your team did such and such back then." Since it has no application to the series this year, why is it used by fans? Comparing cups won, past playoff records, and past head-to-head results just makes my head explode. Most of the current players and coaches were not even on those teams.

This should be a good series. The key IMO is Duck PK. Shark PP is very good and Ducks take a lot of penalties. Kesler seems to be rounding into form so I think his line can take care of business 5 on 5. Not that concerned about Fowler, he's Ducks 3rd or 4th best D and plays too many minutes under RC. Unless Bieksa makes a miracle comeback and absorbs some of those minutes. I'm saying Ducks in six, but realize that it could be decided by a couple of bounces of the puck, like any close series.

 

[Sleepy]

Meh. Historically, this has been a JT team and JT has not matched up well vs the Getzlaf line. But the Getzlaf line isn't what it was and is older, and this team has been driven by Couture with JT's injury.

Should be an interesting series. I'm shocked this SJ team even made the playoffs let alone comfortably.

 

[The Big Giant Head]

Dont care who wins, just hoping this series goes 7 games and you guys beat the shit out of each other.

Whatever the case may be, if i were a betting man, i'd say Anaheim wins this one.

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

Way to stake out a strong position.

Yes, because taking a strong position on something that can turn out a multitude of ways HAS to be done. There's definitely no way there's a good chance at several different outcomes or anything.

 

[Duck Off]

Meh. Historically, this has been a JT team and JT has not matched up well vs the Getzlaf line. But the Getzlaf line isn't what it was and is older, and this team has been driven by Couture with JT's injury.

Should be an interesting series. I'm shocked this SJ team even made the playoffs let alone comfortably.

I don't agree about the Getzlaf line. Perry is definitely a shell of his former self, but Getzlaf had one of his best seasons. If healthy, he's likely at 90 points. We were just a completely different team when he played.

That said, I 100% agree with the 2nd part of this post. SJ deserves a lot more credit than they received for even making the playoffs with losing big Joe. I thought they'd fall out for sure, or at least fall down to competing for that 8th spot level after Joe's injury. Very impressive.

I don't feel all that confident. If Fowler and Eaves were playing and Gibson was 100% healthy, than I'd feel very confident, but our D isn't the same without Fowler, and you never know what Ducks team will show up. I guess I'd say that I look at it this way: I think the Ducks "best" is better than the Sharks "best", but the Ducks are more likely to come out flat. I'll take Anaheim in 7. Hoping for good, injury free series.

 

[Deuce22]

Meh. Historically, this has been a JT team and JT has not matched up well vs the Getzlaf line. But the Getzlaf line isn't what it was and is older, and this team has been driven by Couture with JT's injury.

Should be an interesting series. I'm shocked this SJ team even made the playoffs let alone comfortably.

The Getzlaf line is still very good. Rakell is a sniper and fits well with Getz. Perry isn't that Perry anymore, but is not done yet. When Getzlaf comes to play, good luck.

 

[stator]

Fowler is our #1 at least based on mins and our coach. And if you watched anaheim at all this year gibson was by far our mvp.


Thornton was having a pretty eh season, and while kane has done well its basically equivalent to us not having eaves... which we wont. Either way i dont see injuries as an excuse... we both made playoffs leave it all out on the ice and the better team will win.

Meh, Sharks' kryptonite is backup goalies.

Thornton's real value on the PP. 5v5, he's declined. Not to knock on Thornton's career achievements which have been elite, but he's no longer elite.

His last game was Jan 23rd. That's a long time to believe he can be inserted back into the lineup at peak performance.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Meh. Historically, this has been a JT team and JT has not matched up well vs the Getzlaf line. But the Getzlaf line isn't what it was and is older, and this team has been driven by Couture with JT's injury.

Should be an interesting series. I'm shocked this SJ team even made the playoffs let alone comfortably.

Eh getzlaf played at a 1.10 ppg this season(90 over 82).... pretty much on pace with most of his good seasons, Perry is on the decline (still had 49 in 71) but as perry declined Rakell(69 points in 77 games) has risen .. he brings a whole other dimension to that line, and 1 of the young good goal scoring players in the league. Then you also put in the fact that Getzlaf is a playoff monster, hes only behind Crosby/malkin/Giroux for active playoff ppg.

I do think couture is a better matchup than thornton vs getzlaf(guys like toews and stuff have given getzlaf a bit of trouble in the past)

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Meh, Sharks' kryptonite is backup goalies.

Thornton's real value on the PP. 5v5, he's declined. Not to knock on Thornton's career achievements which have been elite, but he's no longer elite.

His last game was Jan 23rd. That's a long time to believe he can be inserted back into the lineup at peak performance.

That's the other important part... even if thornton does come back... idk that hell be 100%... and its likely going to be a physical series.

 

[lwvs84]

No Fowler and Kesler at much less than 100% is going to be an issue for the Ducks. Hopefully both Fowler and Thornton can be back in this series so we can see the teams closer to full strength. This will be a pretty even series, I think the winner of game 6 takes this series (not sure who that will be). This half of the playoffs is so close, any one of the four teams can make it to the WCF and I wouldn't consider there to be any real upsets.

 

[Herschel]

The series is going to come down a few of key matchups

Burns vs Getzlaf
- these are really the key players that can turn a game through the sheer force of their will. If one of them decides to go into God mode it likely leads to a series win.

Kessler vs. Kane
- Not really sure if either of them will be at 100% and able to fully play to their potential and their health could be a huge factor
- Kane added a much needed physical presence in the Shark line up and his presence around the net could give Gibson/Miller fits. However, he is definitely knicked up and didn't look great in the final game. He will need to be able to play a physical game to be effective.
- From what I have seen Kessler hasn't quite returned to his former self but if he can be a factor, the Ducks will have success. He needs to be able to play the shutdown role and not get crushed in +/- or possession.

Bottom Pairings
- both teams have solid top 4s, that outside of Burns should result in a wash the bottom pairings are where a swing might happen.
- The coach that shelters their bottom pairing the best should have an advantage.

Lastly, I believe the health of the Shark's 4th line is the wildcard. When they were healthy they were really helping to tilt the ice in the Shark's favour. I know 4th lines never win series but they have the potential to force teams to limit the ice time of their 4th line and bottom pairing and in a long series this could be a factor.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Meh. Historically, this has been a JT team and JT has not matched up well vs the Getzlaf line. But the Getzlaf line isn't what it was and is older, and this team has been driven by Couture with JT's injury.

Should be an interesting series. I'm shocked this SJ team even made the playoffs let alone comfortably.

I would argue that since Thornton's injury, Pavelski has been the guy driving the team, although when it comes to Getzlaf, he will most likely see plenty of Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl.

 

[Sharksrule04]

Fowler is our #1 at least based on mins and our coach. And if you watched anaheim at all this year gibson was by far our mvp.


Thornton was having a pretty eh season, and while kane has done well its basically equivalent to us not having eaves... which we wont. Either way i dont see injuries as an excuse... we both made playoffs leave it all out on the ice and the better team will win.

Thornton was actually having a very good season. His numbers were up across the board, he was shooting, and he was having a huge impact. Just look at what happened to our PP once he went down. I do think Thornton and Kane being hurt is a much bigger impact than Gibson and Fowler. The drop from Gibson to Miller is a lot less than it is for the Sharks replacing Thornton and/or Kane. That being said, I do agree, current injuries won't decide this series. Both teams are banged up and there will likely be more injuries, lets just see what happens.

 

[BiolaRunner]

the NHL handed you buttery soft pushovers the last 2 weeks of your schedule.

We played Dallas, Colorado, and Minnesota, and Arizona. Other than Arizona, we faced the same teams. Difference is, these buttery soft pushovers beat you, while we beat them