Wingnuts, we find ourselves in a familiar place at a familiar time of year. That's right, we've been rewarded for the Red Wings's postseason pounding of the Coyotes/Jets/Golden Seals/whatever the hell they're going to be by next year by being given a chance to even the score with the San Jose Sharks, the team who booted the Wings from the playoffs last year.
That's right, Sharks: We're back, and this time it's personal.
San Jose battled a beleaguered Los Angeles team that was hurting for offense up front with their main man Anze Kopitar out with injury. The Red Wings, however, are getting a couple of their main men back, as Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen are reportedly going to be good to go for Game 1 which goes down tonight in San Jose.
I feel that if the Wings can remember a lot of the little things they did against Phoenix, this series with SJ will be much different than last year, but only -IF-. The young guys need to keep being beasts, Todd Bertuzzi needs to make his presence physically known, and Pavel Datsyuk should be looking to put on a show every single game. Detroit is rested and ready, and we cannot afford to blow this opportunity to come out fresh and composed against a San Jose team that really struggled with the hurting Kings, something that totally sobered me as far as the lethality of the Sharks went.
One player to watch tonight will be Zetterberg. I'm hoping that he's as raring to make an impact as I think he'll be and comes back from his injury with a big first game in this series. Franzen might also be a key factor in these first two crucial road games, as he took the Sharks apart last year by himself in Game 4 of the Semis. My final pick to watch tonight is Darren Helm. I'll be curious to see who he zones in on this time around, same way he did on Ed Jovonovski in the Phoenix series. Whoever it is that Helmer targets in teal better start praying, because it's going to be hell for them over the next set of games.
It's the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it's the Conference Semifinals, and it's on tonight, Wingnuts!
Class is dismissed.
Let's Go Red Wings!!
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