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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