| Team Matchups |
| San
Jose |
| Nashville |
 |
| Offense |
B+ | The Sharks stuck to their plan and ended up scoring
the first goal of the game to put the heat on Nashville, and the last goal of
the game to ice teh series. San Jose continued to get contributions from a
variety of sources, which prevent Nashville from keying on any specific
line. |
D+ | Other than a 39 second spurt to start the 2nd period,
teh Predators offense was AWOL once again. Their speed turned out to be a
on-factor in the series, as the Nashville forwards never really had a chance to
unleash itself. |
|
| Defense |
B- | After giving up a power play goal to Jason Arnott in
the 2nd period, the Sharks defense went into neutral. They would pay the price
when Peter Forsberg setup a pretty goal with a feed from behind the Sharks net.
The defense shut the Predators down all night, except for that slight
lapse. |
C- | Nashville's defense didn't play horribly, they just
got beat by a better team. Look for the Preds to beef up on defense this off
season to make up for the one glaring hole in their lineup. |
|
| Power Play |
D | The Sharks finally scored a power play goal, but they
also misfired on a 5-on-3 that could have knotted the game earlier. Marleau's
PP tally was only the Sharks 2nd goal in 28 chances. What happened to the
league's 2nd ranked regular season power play? |
C+ | Nashville continued to get production out of its
power play, even though they had have teh chances that the Sharks did. They
created chances by forcing the issue down low. Arnott scored in Game 5 because
the Predators sent bodies down low to pounce on rebounds. |
|
| Penalty Kill |
B- | Mike Grier, Scott Hannan and Criag Rivet killed off
what may have been the series deciding moment. With a 2 man advantage those 3
came up big, when it counted the most. |
A- | 1 goal in 7 chances isn't perfect, but it's about as
close as anyone was gong to get in this series. Overall the Predators killed
off 26 of 28 chances. It was the lone bright spot for Nashville all
series. |
|
| Goaltending |
B+ | Evgeni Nabokov had a routine evening, although he
could have kept Arnott's goal off the board had he shut his pads on Weber
initial shot attempt. Nabokov's goal mouth save late in the 3rd also preserved
theK victory. |
B+ | It seemed like Vokoun had a teammate perched on top
of him every time the Sharks scored a goal. That was the case on Clowe's goal
and he had a teammate crammed in the goal on Marleau's game winner. |
|
|
| |
| |
| Individual
Matchups |
| |
| |
|
| Hero |
| Patrick Marleau - The Sharks captin was huge in the
Sharks - Predators series last year. This year, he saved his biggest
performance for the final game of the series. It doesn;t get much better than
bagging the game tyng and game winning goals.
Ron Wilson (Honorable
Mention) - Gutsy call to stack Marelau's line with Thornton in the 3rd period.
That decision turned into teh game winning goal. |
| Jason Arnott - the playoff veteran stepped up his
game and got the Preds into the contest with his power play goal in the 2nd
period. Nashville needed the boost in confidence, and that helped contribute to
the energy that notched the 2nd goal 39 seconds later.
Ryan Suter
(Honorable Mention) - The kid played big minuites for the Predators in the
series. He was on the ice when Clowe scored, but he was there for a reason. His
future is a bright one. |
|
| Goat |
| Kyle McLaren - His holding penalty following Curtis
Brown's tripping call could have been disasterous for San Jose. A veteran
defenseman can't put his team in that kind of hole in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Sharks dodged a bullet. |
| Scott Nichol - His spearing penalty turned the tide
on his team's chances. Christian Enhrhoff was headed to the box for
interference, but Nichol let his emotions get the best of him, which would lead
to Marleau's game tying goal. |
|
