Western Conference Semifinals #2. San Jose vs. #3. Detroit.

Sharks were expecting an easy road over a beat up Kings team and didn't get one, while Detroit came out firing against Phoenix. Last year the Sharks eliminated the Wings in the Western Conference Semifinals. Detroit's looking for revenge. Here are my 3 keys to the series.

Number 1: Zetterburg.

Absent in the first series. Not an issue. Coming back this series. GIANT help. With him Detroit is just a better team overall and with how they played last series, that is frightening. Expect him to light the lamp or at least help light the lamp many times.

Number 2: Goaltending.

Jimmy Howard last year and this year during the regular season hasn't been fantastic against the Sharks but was excellent against Phoenix last series. On the opposite side, Niemi was fantastic against the Wings this regular season going 3-0 but struggled during the first series against Los Angeles. It's going to be interesting to see which one of them shows up. Fair warning. If you like defensive games, do not watch this series. With high powered offenses and goalies who have had their share of struggles, these games are going to be high scoring.

Number 3: Overtime.

Detroit better hope they can close out the games during regulation. Sharks had 3 overtime games against Los Angeles. L.A's defense is great. Jonathan Quick is great. And somehow the Sharks won all 3 of those overtime games. They turn it up a notch in overtime and if they can beat Quick, my guess is Howard won't be as tough.

Players to watch: San Jose-Joe Thornton

Some people said Thornton got the "choker" label off his back with his game 6 overtime goal. (In my personal opinion he was never a playoff choker. Just because he didn't produce as many points as people thought doesn't mean he didn't play hard defensively and give his team chances to score.) Well if people still think he is a choker he can make it a little bit better with a good series against Detroit. Like I said above he doesn't need to produce points. He is the captain. Captains help their team get over humps and win games. If he does his job as a captain, he has a good series in my book.

Detroit-Jimmy Howard.

Like I said he's been mediocre against San Jose this year and last years playoffs. He will need to be clutch to stop a high powered offense like the offense of the San Jose Sharks. Detroit will rely heavily on him. There may be a game where for some reason they just can't find the net and that's when Howard will need to step up. If not, this series will be awful for Detroit.

Prediction

San Jose has regular season success against the Wings going 3-1 (3-0 with Niemi as the starting goalie.) Sharks win it in 7.