Chicago and Dallas both went to 7 games in each of their respective series, while Chicago suffered a scare after being pegged back by the Oilers after going ahead 3-0, Dallas survived a fightback from San Jose to eliminate their divisional rivals.
While Dallas will find it harsh times to get by an even more powerful Chicago team, they'll need to improve their PP (where they went 0 for 20 in the series) and penalty kill (which has only been clicking at 86.2%).
The Offense:
Chicago was led by the play of Alexander Frolov who had 9 points in the 7 games against Edmonton. Rocket Richard winner Marian Gaborik had 6 goals in the series, but with only 1 game winner they haven't been timely goals. That being said, scoring 27 goals in the 7 games averages almost 4 goals a game.
Dallas on the other hand averaged just over 2.5 goals a game allowing them to sneak by San Jose by winning the close games. Jason Pominville was the series winner for Dallas, 7 points including 2 goals, both of those being game winners (one of them being the winner in game 7). Although unable to score on the powerplay, the Stars has been excellent 5 on 5, with only two players (Zajac and Weight) who have not registered a point this series.
The Defense:
Chicago was led by Andrei Markov and Mark Streit on the blueline with 8 and 7 points respectively. While point per game production from these two is more than impressive, the lack of depth from the bottom 4 defensemen could be a problem. 8 points from the remaining defensemen could be a sign of weaker offensive power from them, especially with the offensive power of Mike Green.
The Stars had 13 points from their blueline, though more than a third of them came from Francois Beauchemin. However, with Beauchemin's indiscipline play (24 PIMS) it means that the other blueliners are depended upon more. Although Beauchemin and Mitchell did well to shut down Ovechkin, Boucher and Tyutin will need to improve to shut down Lecavalier, Dumont and Svatos.
The Goaltending:
Though Nicklas Backstrom started off well through 3 games, having a shutout in the opening game, his play deserted him and finished the series 2.49 GAA and .903 SV%. Although Chicago had to contend with the Oilers star Johan Franzen, the inconsistent play of Backstrom could cost the Hawks the series.
Contending with the offensive power of San Jose for 7 games, the 2.75 GAA and .893 SV% are arguably good numbers. However, if the Stars want to get by the Hawks, he'll need to improve his play.
Winners of the Series:
I went with a Chicago sweep last time and Dallas losing out to San Jose in 7 games. This series I'm still going with a Chicago win but inconsistent play will see it last to 6 games.
-- Edited by BluesGM on Thursday 7th of May 2009 07:39:37 AM
-- Edited by BluesGM on Thursday 7th of May 2009 07:39:55 AM
