Sunday Night Previews

San Jose Sharks v Detroit Redwings

After a narrow 2-1 ovetime win in game 1 the Sharks will be looking to extend their lead in the series to 2-0.
They certainly had the jump over Detroit last time out and will want the same effort all over the ice.
This game is a Mid-day face off over on the west coast of America so both teams will have to deal with the fact they are starting around 8 hours earlier than they usually would. This shouldn't be a problem for the teams as a practice would start around this time, the players should be used to skating early.
Thornton has begun to pick up some points the last few games and is becoming more of a threat as the playoffs go on. Detroit will need to be aware of this him as well as Pavelski, who always seems to manage to get big goals against the Wings. If they can shut the form players on the Sharks down it will mean that they will have to look elsewhere for goals. The problem is, there are many players on the Sharks roster able to step in and contribute.

Detroit will be looking for their own star players to come up big in game 2. Zetterberg was rusty in game 1 after missing the entire 1st round. Cleary and Franzen were kept quiet all game and Datsyuk didn't have the influence he would have wanted in the game. Should Zetterberg and Datysuk be split up? The perennial question that the anwer looks like will be no for game 2. The keys for the Redwings to win this game will be to get more pucks on net and create more chances, the star players coming through with big games to get them the goals and another big performance from Howard wouldn't go a miss. The netminder was great in game 1 and looks a lot more comfortable in the playoffs this year. Detroit really needed 1 of the away games at the start of this series. They have one chance to get that later on.

Washington Capital v Tampa Bay Lightning

Both teams sustained injuries to players in game 1 and it will be interesting to see who is back and who isn't. There is no news whether Simone Gagne will play after he fell hard to the ice after a hit but Pavel Kubina should be back into the lineup for Tampa Bay. Washington's Carlson should be back but it looks like they will be missing Mike Knuble still who has been out since round 1.
The Lightning have been fantastic away from home this playoffs having won 3 times in Pittsburgh and now in Washington. a 4-1 record could become 5-1 tonight if the Caps can't find a way to stop Tampa Bay's scoring. That scoring has come in part from a very good looking 3rd line of Bergenheim/Downie/Moore, all 3 getting a goal in game 1. Not only will the Caps have to worry about the star names of St Louis, LeCavalier and Stamkos they will have to shut this line down too.

Washington held a 2-1 lead in that 1st game and got away from their defensive set up to allow Tampa 3 unanswered goals. They had been getting the slender leads against the Rangers and then shutting the games down and if it is this defensive style that will get them through the series then they will have to go back to it. The Caps have struggled for scoring whilst the Lightning have knocked in 8's and 5's in games so the last thing they want to do is get into a shootout against their opponents. If they can control the game and make it hard for the Lightning to enter the zone they might be able to shut them down. How about they mirror the 1-3-1 tactic that Tampa Bay played so well in game 1 to try and beat them at their own game?

No idea who will win this game. Tampa Bay seem to be the team who are on a roll at the minute and would love a 2-0 lead going back home. Im still waiting for Washington to impress me this playoffs, that game has got to come soon.