Flight for the Cup in the West

East has been picked, and now it's time to look at the crystal ball for the West. Again, I'll be brief, since I have some suspicion that I have to return for some corrections later. Enjoy!

First round in the West. Canucks will take down the Kings, but it will take six games. They have too much firepower for LA and the goalies match evenly. Blues will carry on with their respectable regular season and shut down the Sharks in five. San Jose's inconsistency and exhaustion from the fight for the last playoff spots pave the way. Blackhawks will overpower the Coyotes in five games. These teams are quite similar, but Chicago is a bit better pretty much everywhere. Mike Smith is the best goaltender in this match up but it will not carry the team. Nashville Predators have the perfect opportunity to avenge all the losses in the hands of Detroit Red Wings. And that they will do, beating the banged up and tired Wings in straight four. Pekka Rinne will shut the door and let the four lines grind away the victories.

Second round in the West. Canucks will see their second Presidents' Trophy season end in vain too, this time in the hands of St. Louis Blues. The tight defensive system of the Blues combined with some below the expectations play by the Canucks will result in a Blues victory in six games. Predators will outlast the Blackhawks in seven games. Preds win the defensive games, Hawks will take a few guns blazing. In the end it all comes down to massive difference in goal and Rinne will carry the team to West finals.

Third round in the West. Nashville Predators has ended up with a dream team for their style of play this season. They will fight against somewhat similar style of the Blues and will emerge victorious in six games. They go for the ultimate finals in search for the Stanley Cup but also with a lot on line in regards of keeping their lineup together for the following seasons.

Playoff race - Mar 11 - Sharks in free fall, Avs in eighth

Saturday night just put an exclamation mark in the end of San Jose Sharks' terrible run of late. Now they sit outside of the playoff bound crowd and keep on shaking their heads in disbelief. Solid performance by Phoenix Coyotes had them at 3-0. With this lineup, it's hard to believe they cannot score. And now they really need to figure out how to improve their game, or they're actually out of the playoffs for the first time 02-03 season.

While the Sharks keep on struggling, Colorado Avalanche has been able to pick up their game enough to overtake San Jose for eighth position is the West. Overtime victory over Edmonton Oilers was valuable indeed. However, the Avs need to keep in mind that their one point lead over Sharks is partly due the fact that they've played three more games. And if the Sharks find their game for even one victory in those three, they're back in the playoff mix.

The West race is tight, and there's LA and Calgary following right behind these two. Neither of them hasn't however been able to string together enough wins to run over .500 in the recent past. While everyone struggles, Sharks' free fall may not be as costly as it could.

On playoff bound teams' player notes it's worth mentioning Dallas having captain Brenden Morrow back to score the game winner after 18 games out with injuries. Also on the radar in Nashville, the Kostitsyn brothers seem to be on a brilliant roll after getting reunited at the trade deadline. Andrei 3+3 and Sergei 2+4 in the last five games. Now the Predators seem to have found some scoring threats to compliment their stellar defense, led by Pekka Rinne in goal. Look out everyone!