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Friday, 29 April 2011 13:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

(2) Sharks vs. (3) Red Wings

Sharks Leading Postseason Scorer: Ryane Clowe, 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists).

Red Wings Leading Postseason Scorer: Pavel Datsyuk, 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists).

Sharks Regular Season Statistics

Red Wings Regular Season Statistics

Sharks with Stanley Cup bling: Dan Boyle, Ben Eager, Kent Huskins, Antti Niemi (right), Niclas Wallin.

Red Wings with Stanley Cup bling: Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen, Darren Helm, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Kronwall, Nicklas Lidstrom, Drew Miller, Mike Modano, Chris Osgood, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Henrik Zetterberg.

Something worthwhile about the Red Wings: Detroit leads the postseason with an average of 4.5 goals scored per game.

Something useless about the Sharks that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Pat Falloon was the Sharks leading scorer in their inaugural season of 1992-93 with 59 points.

Something useless about the Red Wings that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: Two former Red Wings first-round draft picks have played for the Penguins. They are Pete Mahovlich (1963) and Jim Rutherford (1969).

Former Penguins on the Sharks: None.

Former Penguins on the Red Wings: None.

Who needs to be the difference for the Sharks: Antti Niemi. He was very shaky in the first round against the Kings and was pulled twice in favor of backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki twice. He'll need to button things up against a Red Wings team which tormented a much better goaltender in Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov during the first round.

Who needs to be the difference for the Red Wings: Pavel Datsyuk (above), Henrik Zetterberg, Darren Helm. The Red Wings' best defensive weapons are their forwards. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are regular candidates for the Selke Trophy. They'll nee to find a way to clamp down on the Shark's deep roster of offensive forwards like Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Joe Pavelski.

Best Sharks YouTube Video We Could Find: Joe Thornton's series-clinching overtime goal against the Kings in Game 6 of their quarterfinal series:

Best Red Wings YouTube Video We Could Find: This ridiculous through the legs shot by Datsyuk which led to a goal by Helm in Game 2 of their quarterfinal series against the Coyotes:

EN Prediction: The Red Wings are healthy for the most part. The big Red Machine is running smoothly and Jimmy Howard is a much more stable element in net than Niemi. Look for a return to the conference final for Detroit. Red Wings 4-2.

(Photos: Niemi-Christian Petersen/Getty Images; Datsyuk-Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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