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Sharks vs. Stars - Game 1 Preview: Sharks prepared to shoot the Stars!

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I am going to make this short and sweet! Both hockey teams come into this series on a high note. The Sharks were able to stave off elimination and kill off their playoff demons against a physical and tenacious hockey team in the Calgary Flames. The Stars just eliminated the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. While I do give them credit and respect for that accomplishment, Anaheim is not the same team with the same drive and hunger as it was last season, and are a perfect example of why it is so hard to repeat a run to the cup in the NHL. Nevertheless, the are the Champs, so Dallas deserves credit.

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The Sharks will be counting on the likes of Jumbo Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek and Brian Campbell. However, as seen in the first round of the playoffs against the Flames, secondary scoring from the likes of Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, and Devin Setoguchi will play a pivotal role in the outcome of the series with the Stars.

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The Stars, on the other hand, will count on the like of Mike Ribeiro, the team leader in points with 83, Brenden Morrow, the Stars leading goal score, former playoff MVP Brad Richards, and the Shark killer Mike Modano.

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Even with all these great NHL stars on the ice in one of the greatest rivalries in hockey, the key match up is the goalies. Marty Turco had a good regular season with a 2.31 GAA, a 32-21-6 mark, and a .909 save percentage. Nabokov is coming off the best season of his career and is the leading candidate for the Vezina trophy given the NHL’s best goaltender. His statistics, including 2.14 GAA and league leading 46 wins, speak for themselves. If one player decides this series, it will be one of these two goalies.

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I had terrible luck trying to pick the players of the game in advance in the first round. Though Devin Setoguchi almost came through for me once, hopefully my predictions will get a little better in this series. My pick for Player of the Game is…….

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Little Joe, Joey Pavs, Joe Pavelski! Go sharks!! Shoot the Stars!!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 6:46 pm and is filed under 2008, Playoffs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.