Now that we're into the Conference Finals, the pace of NHL hockey slows down a bit.
Just a few weeks ago, a Saturday was a back-to-back-to-back playoff extravaganza. Today—crickets.
The San Jose Sharks will kick off the Western Conference Final on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT. This is the Sharks' first trip to the final four since they got manhandled by the Canucks in 2011, while the Blues haven't been there since 2001, when they lost to the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche.
Neither team has ever won a Stanley Cup, and San Jose has never made the final in franchise history. As the best of the expansion franchises under a neophyte coach named Scotty Bowman back in 1967, the Blues reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three years of existence, were swept 4-0 each time, and haven't been back since.
St. Louis' success will almost certainly drive up the asking price of imminent unrestricted free agents David Backes and Troy Brouwer. With 12 points and three game-winning goals so far, Blues captain Backes is playing the best clutch hockey of his career. Brouwer isn't far behind with five goals and 10 points in 14 games after a 39-point regular season.
From what I've seen, the Blues have gotten hot at the right time—finally healthy after a season filled with injuries. The Sharks' only injury is a day-to-day leg issue for Matt Nieto, so both teams are in remarkably good shape as they head into the third round after a couple of intense seven-game series.
No ex-Canucks for us to freak out about on either side in the West.
In many ways, these teams are mirror images of each other, with plenty of offensive firepower, a mix of youth and veterans and unproven but effective goaltending. I think the team that's successful in this round is the one that doesn't sag under the pressure—though again, both teams proved their newfound resilience when they beat the Kings and the Blackhawks in the first round.
I think this series will be decided by the narrowest of margins. I'll go Blues in seven.
What do you think?
Over in the East, we see defenseman Jason Garrison back in the final four for the second straight year since being cast off by the Canucks during the summer of 2014. Victor Hedman is doing the heavy lifting once again for the Tampa Bay Lightning, but Garrison is second in icetime among the Lightning defense, averaging 20:07 per game, and scored the overtime winner in Game 4 against the Islanders in the last round, helping to advance his team.
Meanwhile, Nick Bonino is now hanging with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as part of the best group of centres in the NHL. Through two rounds, Crosby has three goals, 11 points, and is a minus-two. Malkin has three goals, nine points, and is a minus-one. And Bonino has two goals—one a game-winner—and 10 points, and is plus-seven, playing on his killer line with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin.
If you missed this, Bonino became a phenomenon thanks to this wicked awesome goal call from Hockey Night in Canada's Punjabi edition, earlier in the Pittsburgh-Washington series.
The play-by-play announcer got another run at it when Bonino scored the OT goal to end the series on Tuesday.
At The Players' Tribune, former players Ryan Whitney and Mike Rupp do a great job of breaking down why Pittsburgh's three-line attack has been unstoppable so far.
The Penguins' first game against the Lightning didn't go so well—they lost 3-1 on Friday night—but once again, Tampa Bay has a Ben Bishop injury to contend with. X-rays apparently came back negative after he was stretchered off the ice in Game 1. At this point, it's unlikely that we'll get much information on Bishop's status going forward, whether it's him or Andrei Vasilevskiy in net.
I'm torn in this series, too. The Lightning can draw on their experience from last year's run to the Stanley Cup Final—and they may have a shot at getting Steven Stamkos and/or Anton Stralman back in their lineup in this series. But—see above—this Pittsburgh thing has been pretty magical.
Taking home-ice advantage into account, and the amazing netminding of Matt Murray, give me Penguins in seven.
The Latest From Russia:
I'm heading to the rink soon for Canada/Slovakia, which gets underway at 10 a.m. PT. The Canadians continue to cruise and at this point, it looks like they won't be adding any players to the lineup from the teams that were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
There were question marks going in about the team's defence, but it's hard to complain about four goals against in Canada's first four games. Hopefully, today we'll see a better 60-minute effort than what the Canadians brought against Germany, when a weak second period momentarily put the team's 14-game winning streak in doubt.
The other big story from Canuck-land is former Vancouver first-rounder Nicklas Jensen, who continues to dazzle for Denmark. After the Danes were destroyed 10-1 by the Russians on Thursday night, they bounced back with a 3-2 shootout win over Latvia, with Jensen scoring the deciding goal.
Jensen also picked up his third goal of the tournament on the power play to open the scoring. Shootout goals count in personal stats in IIHF hockey, so Jensen now leads Denmark in scoring with 4-1-5. The Danes currently sit just one point out of fourth place in Group A, so they still have a chance to move past a more traditional hockey power such as Switzerland or Sweden and advance to the medal round.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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