by Digger

All World All Sports continues our NHL Quarterfinal Playoff review... The Western Conference.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs (8) Nashville Predators
Detroit finished up 2007/08 as the NHL's best team (54-21-7, 115 pts) and seem locked in for another run at Lord Stanley. Standing in their way, Nashville. The Predators played inspired hockey vs Detroit this season and promise to do the same during this early round. Detroit won the season series 5 games to 3 ... with two of those games needing OT. Wings biggest decision is which red hot goalies opens in Game 1, Osgood or Hasek?
Leaders: Detroit - Pavil Datsyuk 31 goals, 97 points. Chris Osgood 27-9-4, 2.09 / Dominik Hasek 27-10-3, 2.14
Nashville: Jason Arnott 28 goals, 72 points / J.P. Doumit 29 goals, 72 points. Dan Ellis 23-10-3, 2.34

Wings fly in 5.

(2) San Jose Sharks vs (7) Calgary Flames
Calgary edged out San Jose 3 close games to 1 this season. Will they continue to enjoy roasted Sharks? The untold story here is both teams net minders are burnt out. Mikka Kiprusoff played 76 games for Calgary, Evgeni Nabokov 77 for San Jose. This must be a serious concern heading into post season play. The upside, both goalies have been stretched to the max.
Leaders: San Jose - Joe Thornton 29 goals, 96 points. Evgeni Nabokov 46-21-8, 2.14
Calgary - Jeromoe Iginla 50 goals, 98 points. Mikka Kiprusoff 39-26-10, 2.69

Flames torch Sharks in 6.

(3) Minnesota Wild vs (6) Colorado Avalanche
Minnesota Wild should be thankful they're not playing the Colorado team of old. On paper, Minnesota should dominate play. Yet, these teams played tight against each other all season long (Wild 5-3). Home ice will be a major factor in this series. During the regular season Minnesota's PP on both sides outplayed Colorado's. Wipe the stats clean now, but having a powerplay edge and a hotter netminder will be tough to defeat.
Leaders: Minnesota - Marion Gaborik 42 goals, 83 points. Niklas Backstrom 33-13-8, 2.31
Colorado - Paul Statsny 34 goals, 71 points. Jose Theodore 28-21-3, 2.44

Minnesota in 5.

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs (5) Dallas Stars
Winners of the regular season series 5-3, Dallas is hungry for Duck. This is a pretty even matchup. Both teams lack true goal scorers. Both squads play team oriented games. This series will be decided at the blue line and by which team makes fewer mistakes. Both arena's will be rockin'.

Leaders: Anaheim - Ryan Getzlaf 24 goals, 82 points. Jean-Sabastien Giguere 35-17-6, 2.12
Dallas - Mike Ribeiro 27 goals, 83 points. Marty Turco 32-21-6, 2.31

Stars shine in 7.

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