Stanley Cup Playoff Preview - San Jose vs. Colorado

Hockey Betting Lines

04/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second season in a row, the San Jose Sharks head into the postseason as the Western Conference's top seed. Make no mistake, though, the Sharks do not want history to repeat itself.

The reason for that is simple; last year, the Sharks headed into the playoffs fresh off a 117-point season that netted them the Presidents' Trophy and high expectations. To say San Jose ended up underachieving is putting it nicely. Many felt that the Sharks choked.

The Sharks were eliminated in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks in six games, not the way head coach Todd McLellan wanted to begin his tenure with San Jose in his postseason debut.

Unlike last season, the Sharks do have some momentum this time around. They went 5-4-1 in their final 10 games a year ago, but wrapped up 2009-10 with a four-game winning streak and an 8-1-1 mark in their last 10.

Similar to last season, the Sharks have the tools for a deep run in what is their sixth straight appearance in the postseason. However, just one of those has gone past the semifinals, a 2004 Western Conference finals loss to Calgary.

Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov finished second in the NHL with 44 wins and the Sharks boast potentially one of the top lines in the game with Joe Thornton centering wingers Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley. Thornton finished second in the league with 69 assists and eighth with 89 points, while Marleau was fourth with 44 goals. Heatley, in his first season with San Jose, wasn't far back with 39 goals.

Should San Jose's top line get shut down, the Sharks will look to Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi to pick up the slack. Both Pavelski (25 goals) and Setoguchi (20) reached the 20-goal mark, while Clowe chipped in 19 goals and 57 points.

Thornton is a veteran of 76 playoff games, posting 41 assists and 53 points in that span. Heatley, meanwhile, has 11 goals and 35 points in 34 playoff contests and Marleau has posted 37 goals and 62 points in 92 postseason appearances.

Offense won't only come from up front for the Sharks. Defenseman Dan Boyle was fourth on the club with 58 points -- fourth highest among NHL defenders -- while Rob Blake ended with 30. Those two tied for second in scoring during San Jose's short run in last year's playoffs with four points each, one behind Thornton.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic was limited to 64 games this year due to injury, but the defenseman turned in an excellent plus-21 rating. Kent Huskins did play in all 82 games and had 22 points, while trade deadline addition Niclas Wallin will help at the blueline as well.

Nabokov could be under the biggest spotlight, outside of maybe Thornton. The 34-year-old is 32-31 in the postseason with a 2.23 goals-against average, but posted a 2.82 GAA and .890 save percentage in last year's first-round exit.

San Jose was tied for fourth in the regular season, converting at a 21 percent clip on the power play, while also finishing fifth on the penalty kill at 85 percent.

COLORADO AVALANCHE (8th seed, West)

REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 43-30-9

2008 PLAYOFFS: Did not qualify

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Colorado Avalanche look like a bunch of rookies skating around the ice when this series opens, that is because for the most part, they are.

Colorado's youth movement pushed the fast-forward button in 2009-10, as the club posted an 11-win turnaround to grab the eighth seed one season after finishing last in the Western Conference with 69 points. That gave the Avs their third playoff appearance in five seasons since the lockout.

Seven of Colorado's top nine scorers this year are under 24, giving Rocky Mountain fans some hope for long-term success. However, those seven skaters also have just 22 games of playoff experience between them. Nine of those games have been played by leading scorer Paul Stastny, with defenseman Kyle Quincey possessing the other 13.

Inexperience doesn't stop at the net, as goaltender Craig Anderson makes his playoff debut. Colorado signed Anderson to be its No. 1 goaltender this past offseason and he responded with a 38-25-7 record with seven shutouts and a 2.64 goals-against average in 71 starts.

The Avalanche will hope that their lack of playoff experience doesn't hurt them in this series, but keep in mind this will also be head coach Joe Sacco's playoff debut as well.

After being limited to 45 games a season ago, Stastny turned in a career year, setting a new personal best with 79 points off of 20 goals and a career-high 59 assists.

At 24, Stastny is the elder statesman among 22-year-old Chris Stewart and 19- year-old rookie Matt Duchene. Stewart, a 2006 first round pick, was second on the club with 64 points, including a team-high 28 goals, while 2009 third overall pick Duchene put together a Calder Trophy-worthy season with 24 goals and freshman-leading 55 points.

Duchene was slowed by a torso injury late in the season but should be okay for this series.

Peter Mueller, however, might not be after suffering a concussion on April 4 versus the Sharks on a hit by Blake. Mueller revived his young career after getting traded from Phoenix to Colorado at the deadline, posting nine goals and 20 points in 15 games after the trade as opposed to four goals and 17 points in 54 games before it.

Milan Hejduk, 34, managed 44 points despite playing in just 56 games due to injury and has 75 points in 109 playoff games, while 21-year-old T.J. Galiardi notched 24 points on the season.

The Avalanche had five defenseman reach the 20-point mark, lead by John- Michael Liles (31) and Quincey (29). Ryan Wilson, Brett Clark and Kyle Cumiskey also reached or passed the plateau, and those skaters will lean on captain Adam Foote for leadership.

Foote, 38, is second on the team in playoff experience with 164 games, a span that includes two Stanley Cup titles with Colorado in 1996 and 2001.

Forward Stephane Yelle should also be valuable to the locker room as he has appeared in a team-leading 165 playoff games.

The Avalanche finished near the middle of the pack on both the power play (18.1 percent) and penalty kill (80.2 percent).

MATCHUP

The Avalanche will try to become the third eight seed in five seasons to knock off the top-seeded club. However, the Sharks had the better of the season series, going 2-1-1 and winning both games in San Jose.

Marleau led the Sharks with three goals and five points in the four games versus the Avalanche, while Pavelski, Boyle, Heatley and Clowe all ended with a goal and three assists. Thornton was limited to just two assists in three games versus Colorado.

If Mueller is unable to go in this series, the Avalanche will miss his four goals and five points in two meetings with the Sharks in a Colorado sweater. Duchene notched a goal and three assists in the season series, while Hejduk had four assists.

Nabokov started three of the four games for San Jose, going 1-1-1 with a 3.60 GAA, while Anderson notched a 3.27 GAA in the four meetings.

These two clubs will meet in the postseason for the fourth time, with the last coming in 2004. The Sharks won that series, 4-2, in the semifinals before losing in six games to the Flames in the conference finals.

The Sharks were actually outscored by the Avalanche, 14-13, in this year's season series, showing just how close this series could end up being. It will be experience versus youth, a matchup that tends to tip towards the former.

Sportsbook Betting Lines predicted outcome: Sharks in 6