Round 2: Red Wings (1) vs. Sharks (5)

Season series: 3-1, Sharks

Offense: In 51 career playoff games, Joe Thornton has tallied just eight goals and 33 points, numbers that are going to have to improve in this series for San Jose to advance. The Sharks generated the fifth-most goals in the league this season despite finishing in the bottom half of shots on goal, a good thing given how few chances the Red Wings will allow on Dominik Hasek. San Jose's going to need some strong play from unheralded candidates, including Ryane Clowe, Mark Bell and others in the supporting cast. Detroit, meanwhile, looks a little bit bigger and meaner up front with Johan Franzen, Todd Bertuzzi and Kyle Calder, and Nick Lidstrom has been absolutely dynamite all season at generating scoring chances and making heads up plays on the power play. San Jose was stronger with the man advantage during the season, but struggled mightily in Round 1 and will be up against a top-notch penalty kill. Edge: Detroit

Defense: It's the green against the grey. San Jose has managed to get absolutely stunning contributions from first years Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Matt Carle, and complemented their core nicely by adding savvy vet Craig Rivet at the trade deadline. Rivet has been logging the biggest minutes of any player in this series outside of Lidstrom, and will be a big factor here, as there's the potential for him to be burned by some of Detroit's high-end snipers. The biggest challenge is likely to be that of the Lidstrom-Markov pairing, who will be tasked with taking out Cheechoo-Thornton-Michalek at even strength. My guess is they're up to that challenge. Edge: Detroit

Goaltending: The Sharks have two terrific netminders, and Evgeni Nabokov has been dynamite since taking over the starter's role full time down the stretch. He didn't get a sniff in goal during last year's playoffs, even as Vesa Toskala dropped the ball against the Oilers, and will really be looking to standout here. Hasek, on the other hand, has been solid this season in facing the fewest even strength shots per minute in the league, a trend that's likely to continue here. The only way he's a factor is if the Sharks can really rattle him and get the old-timer flipping and flopping every time he feels a breeze. Edge: San Jose, given Nabokov is one of the league's real secrets.

Prediction: For all the talk of the vaunted old Red Wings, Detroit has only advanced past the second round once in the past seven playoff years since winning back-to-back Cups in 1997-98. Still, this is a far different cast than we've seen in the past, and their complete domination of a pretty good Calgary team would seem to indicate they're ready to vanquish the ghosts of playoffs past. San Jose's going to need some unexpected performances in order for this to go the distance, but my money's on Lidstrom, who has established himself this season as one of the best defencemen to have ever played the game. Detroit in 6

Blogs to read: james mirtle, Globe on Hockey, Sharkspage, The Battle of California, On the Wings, Abel to Yzerman