Occasionally, World Cup soccer has its Group Of Death. This year, NHL hockey may have its Bracket Of Death. That would be the 4-5 pairing in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs, which at the moment, would feature the defending champion Anaheim Ducks against the perennial contenders, the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks have been to the Stanley Cup final in two of the past four years; the Sharks are the only NHL team to have one at least one playoff round in each of the past three years. Both harbour Stanley Cup dreams this season, but if the standings don't change in the next four weeks, one of them will be gone after the first round. The Sharks did themselves a world of good by ralling to defeat the Ottawa Senators in overtime late Wednesday night, closing to within three points of the first-place Dallas Stars in the Pacific Division, with three games in hand. A first-place finish in the Pacific would almost certainly guarantee the winner the second overall seed and a much more winnable opening-round match.
Last month, in conversation, Joe Thornton said winning the division was an absolute priority after the Sharks found themselves in that 4-5 bracket in each of the previous two seasons. Last year, they were tied for the fifth most points in the league and faced the team tied for the third most, the Nashville Predators. Their reward for upsetting the Predators in the first round was a date with the Detroit Red Wings, who eventually defeated them in six games. Of late, the best sign for the Sharks is the coming to life offensively of a trio of players, Jonathan Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski, all of whom were mired in lengthy slumps for big parts of the season. Marleau's two goals made the difference against the Senators and Cheechoo, ever since he was restored to Thornton's line, has been on a goal-scoring tear (16 goals in his past 21 games), reminiscent of the way he played the first year the two of them were together (Thornton joined the team in a trade from Boston Nov. 30, 2005, Cheechoo ended up winning the NHL's goal-scoring crown that year with 56). The Sharks have an astonishingly good road record(22-7-3); now it looks as if they're sorting out their home-ice woes at precisely the right time of the season.
