(2) Blues - (7) Sharks preview - 04-09-12
(2) Blues vs. (7) Sharks
Blues Leading Regular Season Scorer: David Backes, 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists).
Sharks Leading Regular Season Scorer: Joe Thornton, 77 points (18 goals, 59 assists).
Blues Expected Starting Goaltender: Brian Elliott, 23-10-4, 1.56 GAA, .940 SV% or Jaroslav Halak, 26-12-7, 1.97 GAA, .927 SV%
Sharks Expected Starting Goaltender: Antti Niemi, 34-22-9, 2.42 GAA, .915 SV%.
Blues Regular Season Statistics
Sharks Regular Season Statistics
Blues Injuries: The Blues are reporting no injuries.
Sharks Injuries: Right winger Torrey Mitchell ("upper body") and defenseman Jim Vandermeer ("upper body") are questionable.
Blues with Stanley Cup bling: Jason Arnott, C; Kent Huskins, D; Jamie Langenbrunner, RW; Andy McDonald, LW.
Sharks with Stanley Cup bling: Dan Boyle, D; Antti Niemi (below), G.
Something worthwhile about the Blues: The Blues had a league-best 1.89 goals against average as a team this regular season.
Something worthwhile about the Sharks: The Sharks had the second-best power-play success rate in the NHL this regular season at 21.1 percent.
Something useless about the Blues that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins right winger Joe Mullen holds the Blues' postseason record for points by a rookie. He had 18 in 1982.
Something useless about the Sharks that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins left winger Pat Falloon holds the Sharks' postseason record for fastest goal at the start of the third period. He scored 19 seconds into a 5-4 double overtime win against the Flames in Games 7 of a 1995 Western Conference quarterfinal series
Former Penguins on the Blues: Ville Siren, amateur scout.
Former Penguins on the Sharks: Dominic Moore, C.
Who needs to be the difference for the Blues: Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Barrett Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo, etc. The Blues have won with defense this season. They'll need to rely on their blue line to shut down the Sharks' healthy amount of offensive forwards.
Who needs to be the difference for the Sharks: Antti Niemi. The Blues aren't going to give up many goals. And which ever goaltentender the Blues decide to go with - Elliott or Halak - won't give up too many garbage goals. That means Niemi needs to be darn near perfect. He has been inconsistent most of the season and head coach Todd McLellan has even called him out on occasion. Niemi needs to look like the goaltender who helped the Blackhawks win the Cup in 2010.
Best Blues YouTube Video We Could Find: Blues right winger Mike Crombeen scoring a series-clinching in double overtime of Game 5 in a preliminary round series against the Penguins in 1981:
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Best Sharks YouTube Video We Could Find: Sharks center Jamie Baker scoring the winning goal in Game 7 of a 1994 Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Red Wings:
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EN Prediction: There probably isn't a bigger mismatch in the playoffs. The Blues have just about everything going right at the moment while the Sharks backed into the postseason. St. Louis plays a tough, disciplined defensive style which will eat San Jose up. On top of that, the Blues have far more reliable goaltending than the Sharks. Blues, 4-0.
(Photos: Backes-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Niemi-Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)