Sharks and Canucks series preview

SAN JOSE , Calif. – Third time is a charm; that’s the way the saying goes, and the San Jose Sharks are hoping it comes true to their advantage, when they face the Vancouver Canucks beginning on Sunday for the Western Conference Championship.   Last year, they lost in four games to the Chicago Blackhawks; the previous time in 2006 it was to Calgary.
 
It’s been a whole team effort to get to this level.   Ryane Clowe leads the team in post season with 13 points, while Logan Couture and Devin Setoguchi each have six goals each.   Defenseman Dan Boyle has been huge posting 11 points.
 
Coming into this game against Vancouver, the Sharks will have to pull everything together, and perform solidly and consistently.   A team like Vancouver will take advantage of the few minutes the Sharks slack-off in the defense department.
 
Of the 13 post-season games, nine were separated by single goals, and five of those required overtime.  
 
During the regular season, the Sharks lost three of four games to the Canucks.   In the net, Antti Niemi has proved his value in the post-season, as the winning goalie on the Blackhawks team last year.   But Roberto Luongo has passed the test of pressure with the Team Canada Olympic Gold Medal win last year too. Luongo has posted a slightly better save percentage over Niemi with a .917 to .906, and goals against average of 2.21 to 3.01, respectively.  
 
When it comes to special teams Vancouver has the edge. In first place on the power play was the Canucks with 24.3 success rate, while the Sharks were second with 23.5 success rate.   But the Sharks were ranked in 24 place in the penalty kill (79.6) to the Canucks third place with 85.6.   It seems the post-season isn’t much different, Canucks lead 22.2 percent to 13.7 percent on the power play and 86 percent to 82.7 percent on the penalty kill.
 
The big question that is on the minds of fans, will Joe Thornton or Ryan Kessler lead their respective teams to the cup round.   
 
Game one is Sunday evening, in Vancouver; only time will tell.
 
Contact the writer at Shellie.Lima@prohockeynews.com