Wild West Conference (May 12 Game 7 Recap and Preview)

Blues vs. Stars Game 7 Recap

         The Blues appeared ready to play in game 7 yesterday, while the Stars did not appear to be. The Blues came out with a dominant 6-1 win on the road to advance to the western conference finals, where they will face either the San Jose Sharks or Nashville Predators.

         Robby Fabbri opened the scoring with a power play goal at 5:23. The Blues would then go on to score two goals in the final two minutes of the 1^st. Paul Stastny snuck a shot into the net at 18:22, followed by a long-range buzzer beater from Patrik Berglund at 19:56. Dallas’s goalie woes continued when Lehtonen was replaced by Antti Niemi for the the 2^nd period after giving up 3 goals on 8 shots. The Blues continued their dominance when David Backes scored at 3:50. Troy Brouwer would make it 5-0 when he finished off a pretty passing play at 15:06.

         In the 3^rd period, Dallas finally woke up. Patrick Eaves scored for the Stars off a fortuitous bounce in front of the net at 5:15. Though the building finally had some life, it was too late for the Stars. With nothing to lose, they pulled the goalie with about 7 minutes remaining. Vladimir Tarasenko scored on the empty net at 15:20. Paul Stastny, Robby Fabbri, and Troy Brouwer all finished the night with a goal and two assists. As a result, the Blues won the exciting series in a decisive game 7 to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2001.

Predators vs. Sharks Game 7 Preview

         The Nashville Predators come into San Jose tonight for a final showdown with the San Jose Sharks. The victor of this series will face St. Louis in the conference finals. San Jose has featured a powerful offence while Nashville has exhibited grit and the will to win.

         The Sharks attempted to close out the series in overtime of game 6, but the Predators had other plans. Viktor Arvidsson became the unlikely hero of the game and possibly the series when he scored off a wicked backhander at 2:03 to win the game. Now we have nearly reached the moment of truth: a 7^th game to decide the ultimate winner of the series.

         Predators head coach Peter Laviolette has won 5 straight game 7s as a coach, including game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final with the Carolina Hurricanes. Can he do it again? The Predators and their fans sure hope so. While game 7s have recently not been kind to the Sharks, this year’s team is different. Under new coach Pete DeBoer, the Sharks offence seems to find a way to get it done in clutch situations more often than in the past.

         Though both teams look very good, I’m going to have to agree with the experts on this one. Many have chosen the Sharks to win game 7. However, I wouldn’t count out the Predators by any means. They have surprised many this postseason, and I feel they have what it takes to win this year. I still think the Sharks will win, but it might take a late goal or overtime goal to do so.