Forever in my Heart

Forever in my Heart
Mom

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

2018 Stanley Cup Play-Offs Begin this week


The 2018 NHP Stanley Cup Play-Offs are back!



Starting on Wednesday, April 11th, the top sixteen teams begin the battle for the Cup. The biggest story of the season, and the Play-offs, has to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Who would have thought the first year expansion Golden Knights would have done as well as they have, much less made it to the post-season. The team is the first in the modern expansion era to finish first in its division in any of the four major sports leagues. Another story is the attempt by the Penguins to win the Cup for the third consecutive year.


The Eastern Conference match-ups are as follows:  the Tampa Bay Lightning verses the New Jersey Devils; the Boston Bruins verses the Toronto Maple Leafs; the Washington Capitols verses the Columbus Blue Jackets; and the Pittsburgh Penguins verses the Philadelphia Flyers. The Western Conference match-ups are as follows: the Nashville Predators verses the Colorado Avalanche; the Winnipeg Jets verses the Minnesota Wild; the Las Vegas Golden Knights verses the Los Angeles Kings; and, the Anaheim Ducks verses the San Jose Sharks.


San Jose finished sixth with 100 points. The Sharks were without Joe Thornton for the latter part of the season with an injured right MCL.  There is a possibility Joe might return during the play-offs. Injuries have plagued the team, taking out Evander Kane and Barclay Goodrow among others, but they somehow managed to gain a spot.


Among the Sharks, Brent Burns came out on top with 67 points (12 goals, 55 assists). Brent had 332 shots. Folks, he’s a defenseman and let’s not forget, he won the Norris Trophy last year. Joe Pavelski is next with 66 points ((22 goals, 44 assists) and 224 shots. Logan Couture is third on the points list with 61 (34 goals and 27 assists) followed by Tomas Hertl at 46 (22 goals and 24 assists).


Only the Los Angeles Kings (85%) during the regular season had a better penalty killing percentage than the Sharks (84.8%), and Anaheim at a 83.2%. As for the short handed advantage, they could be better at 20.6% but their first round opponent, Anaheim was a dismal 17.8%. San Jose averaged 33 shots per game (#8 in the league) while Anaheim maintained 30.2. and for that all important face-ff win: the Sharks seized the puck first 51.2% of the time while Anaheim managed it 51.3%.

Follow Sharks news on these sites:

https://www.nhl.com/sharks/

http://bleacherreport.com/san-jose-sharks



Each game will be televised, either on the NHL channel, NBCSN, or as the games progress, NBC.






Stay safe out there and Go Sharks!

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