NHL Conference Finals Analysis

So the first 2 games have been played in each of the Conference Finals in the NHL and the West is not a surprise while the East somewhat is. Lets start in the West. The Chicago Blackhawks currently hold a 2-0 series lead over the San Jose Sharks. Game 1 resulted in a 2-1 victory for the Hawks. Jason Demers got the scoring going for San Jose with a power play goal in the 1st. Chicago came back to tie it in the 2nd thanks to a Patrick Sharp goal. Finally late in the 3rd the Hawks got the winner from Dustin Byfuglien. Antti Niemi was able to turned away 44 of 45 Sharks shots, with his best save, and possibly the best save of the entire playoffs coming against Ryan Clowe. Here is the video proof:




Meanwhile in game 1 Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov turned away 38 of 40 shots. Game 1 of this series was easily highlighted by the the play of Antti Niemi who almost single handledly stole the game for the hawks. With the exception of that 1st period goal, Niemi was unreal between the pipes.

Now moving on to Game 2 of the series, which took place last night. The Hawks seemed to have more jump and drive to the net the the home Sharks did. The hawks got the party rolling on an Andrew Ladd goal which was the only scoring in the 1st. Dustin Byfuglien gave the Hawks a 2-0 and Hawks captain Jonathan Toews connected on the power play to stretch the lead to 3-0. San Jose finally got on teh board with a power play goal of their own thanks to Patrick Marleau. The lead was 3-1 Hawks after 2. It didn't take long for the Hawks to strike again as Troy Brouwer scored 7 minutes in to give the Hawks a 4-1 lead. San Jose would get one more Puck behind Antti Niemi thanks to Patrick Marleau but it wasnt enough as the Hawks to the game 4-2 and now a 2-0 series lead.

The story right now in this series has been predominately Antti Niemi, who has really stepped his game up in these first 2 games. I know I stated earlier that I thought that Jarsolav Halak of the Canadians was a favorite for the Conn Smyth as Playoff MVP, but it don't look to good for the Habs right now but that is for another blog post. Right now I really think 3 guys have a shot at the MVP of the playoffs. 1 is Halak if he can turn this thing aroudn. The other 2 are Antti Niemi and Jonathan Toews of the Hawks. In arguing for Niemi, its really not that hard look at what he has done in the first 2 games of this series. As far as Toews goes, his overall play not only in this round but throughout the entire playoffs can put him in contention for the award.

Now as far as the rest of this series goes, I don't really think it is possible to say that the Sharks are in trouble jsut yet, we have to see how Game 3 plays out in Chicago tomorrow night at 8. For San Jose to possibly come back in this series, Joe Thorton, Danny Heatley and Joe Pavelski. All 3 guys seemed to disappear after they knocked out Detroit and Pavelski had been a goal scoring machine throught the firs half of the playoffs. Those 3 guys really need to step it up fo San Jose to have any chance of getting back in this series.