The Sharks begin their Western Conference Semi-finals matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on the road at the Joe Lewis Arena tonight. The Wings played the Calgary Flames in Round 1. The series was tightly played, with the Wings ultimately prevailing over the Flames through their forward depth, better transition game, and (somewhat surprisingly) better team speed as the series went on. Mikka Kiprusoff, the Flames netminder, couldn't hold off the Wings offense forever, and Kipper was the only real hope the Flames had to take the series.

Series Backstory
The hockey commentariat all think the Sharks-Wings series is going to be a good one, and most think the Sharks will win in 6 or 7 games. The Wings are dealing with injuries to Tomas Holmstrom, their tough, net-crashing shot-tipper, and D-man Frank Lebda, who was sucker- punched by Daymond Langkow in round 1, and is suffering from post- concussion symptoms. The Sharks are, miraculously, injury-free right now, although Jonathan Cheechoo isn't 100% after the knee-injury from Game 1 of the Nashville series.

By Ian, contributing

Why Sharks Fans Should Be Worried
Detroit matched up against a physical Calgary team better than most people expected. Platonic Ideal, NHL Defenseman Category, Niklas Lidstrom keeps playing effortlessly beautiful and intelligent hockey. Witness the series-winning goal against Calgary in the 2nd OT in Game 6. Both teams were on a line-change, and Lidstrom had the puck along the near boards close to the benches. Seeing Johan Franzen heading toward the far-side in the neutral zone, Lidstrom banked the puck off the far boards, catching Franzen in full-stride as he entered the Calgary zone, not allowing the Calgary defense to get set-up. After criss-crossing with Robert Lang, Franzen's snap-shot snuck by Kiprusoff. Game. Series. None of that happens if Lidstrom does the typical play in that situation, dumping the puck-in and letting the Wings forwards chase it down in the corners.

There's a lot of quiet talent in Hockeytown, both on O and D. The Wings system discourages individual flashiness in favor of smart team- play. Guys like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Lang are capable of being game-breakers, and on other teams would probably be putting up a lot more points and appearing in deodorant commercials. In Detroit, they're part of a balanced scoring attack.

In goal, Dominik Hasek rebounded from some terrible years plus injuries (and retirement) to post some excellent numbers in the regular season (.915 save percentage, 2.05 goals-against average, 38-11 record). He's not the Dominator any longer, but he can still confound the other team with his Gumby-On-Quaaludes non-style between the pipes.

Why Sharks Fans Should Be Happy
Let's start with Hasek. He was good, but not outstanding in the Calgary series, and the Calgary forwards all suffer from Darryl Sutter disease (characterized by a sudden lack of production, unimaginative offensive plays, and the propensity to try to grind out 1 goal games). The Sharks forwards are much, much deeper than Calgary's, and will test Hasek more than the Flames. As we've said before, the Sharks style is based on their speed and size, and that tends to wear-out the opposing teams as the games and playoff series go on. Hasek, at this point in his career, is one lateral save away from splitting in half due to his 43,507th groin pull. For the Sharks, Evgeni Nabokov got stronger as the first round went on, and he always seems to play his best against legendary goalies (he owned Patrick Roy for a while).

On D, the Wings have better offensive defensemen, but the Sharks aren't exactly slouches either. Matt Carl, Marc-Eduard Vlasic, Craig Rivet, and Christian Ehrhoff can move the puck around, and Rivet has inspired the others to go for the one-timer on occasion, which directly contributed to the Sharks victory over Nashville. Scott Hannan and Kyle McLaren are excellent defensive D-men.

The Key to the Series
Special teams will be big in this series. The Sharks play disciplined hockey, so they're not in the box much, but it'll be especially important against the Red Wings, who have the type of power-play that can win games they otherwise have no business of being in. The Sharks have smart penalty killers, headed by Mike Grier, Curtis Brown, and Marcel Goc.

The big question is how the Sharks power-play will rebound after a poor series against the Predators. Sure, they scored a few goals right after the penalty expired, but they need to cash-in more during their power-plays (and especially during 5-3s). During the regular season, the Sharks absolutely destroyed the Wings with the man advantage, and the Sharks have been looping video footage of the carnage in their locker-room as reminders of what a devastating power-play looks like. If the Sharks can draw penalties with their speed and size advantage, and score at a decent clip on the power-play, they'll likely win this series. Their 5-5 play was superb against Nashville, and won them the series, but if the power-play falters again against the Wings, they'll make the Sharks pay for it in a 7 game series.

Fishmonger Predict-O-Meter: Sharks in 6, with a lot of nail-biters, and disgusting frozen octopus on the ice

The Rest of the NHL
Buffalo Donald Trumps vs. the New York Rangers
The Trumps are slicker than a batch of toupee glue solvent, and Jagr and company just don't seem like Conference-championship material.
Fishmonger Predict-O-Meter: Trumps in 5, and it won't be that close

New Jersey Devils vs. the Ottawa Senators
The Senators manhandled the Penguins in the first round, and they have the skill to beat a merely good Martin Brodeur. If Brodeur is better than merely good, though, El Diablo cackles and pushes Marvin the Martian out the door with his red-hot trident.
Fishmonger Predict-O-Meter: Ottawa in 7

Anaheim Ducks vs. the Vancouver Canucks
A one-line team like the Canucks can beat another offensively challenged team like the Dallas Stars, although it apparently takes 7 bruising games to do that. The Ducks eat one-line teams on short rest for a mid-morning snack. Roberto Luongo is an amazing goalie, but he'll have to have 3 or 4 shutouts for the Canucks to win this one.
Fishmonger Predict-O-Meter: Ducks in 5