Predictions ahead of the 2011 National Hockey League Play-offs - Part 8
The most exciting series in the first round play-offs will be . . . . . the San Jose Sharks up against the Los Angeles Kings:
Though in the previous parts of the article we said that the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins series will be one exciting first round fixtures. However, that game is headlined as being one of the nasty first round clashes. The other side of that fixture
is that it involves players that have a lot of experience while playing in the post-season.
Coming to the Sharks and the Kings series, this will be one of the most exciting series when it comes to the level of skill and fluency involved in the game. Both teams have shown that they are capable of coming up with some brilliant performances simply
outclassing their opponents. The Kings and the Sharks will not be able to meet the physical level in the Bruins and Canadiens series, but the skill and play will certainly exceed as compared to the other series.
Though the Kings had a rough time at the end of the regular season as Justin Williams was out of the team, but they still managed to cope with the pressure and came up with results. However, they came across a big blow when on the final day of the regular
season another one of their star players got injured. Anze Kopitar was the player who got his ankle injured and went out leaving a big hole for the Kings to fill.
Both teams are similar in terms of playing style and the Kings are expected to still press forward even in the absence of Kopitar. The Sharks on the other hand, are always in the flow and like to construct plays that lead them near the goal, which will continue
during this first round series.
This is one of the wide open series in the play-offs which will go into six or seven games. The Sharks are expected to take home the win due to the fact that they are better offensively as Kopitar is out of the Kings line-up.
The Western Conference Winners, Vancouver Canucks will be part of the second round in the play-offs:
The Vancouver Canucks showed their dominance in the regular season bagging the most number of wins and then the most points by a team during the course of the single season. They were up on the Sharks by quite a few points and won the President’s Trophy
from a comprehensive margin over all the other competitors.
An interesting piece of history is that in each of the last two post seasons, the team that won the President’s Trophy was knocked-out in the first round! However, the Canucks are expected to be different and change history this time as they are expected
to go forward. Unfortunately, for the Canucks everything is against them at the moment.
They face the Chicago Blackhawks team that is not only defending their Stanley Cup crown but is also the team that has knocked them out of the play-offs for the past two seasons. However, this time out the Hawks team is different as is the Canucks which
leads to the predictions that the Canucks will go against all odds to win the first round series and move forward.
Continued in part 9
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