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They have faced each other in the playoffs four times before, with each team winning twice. The Wings have the unhappy recent memory, losing last year in the second round to the Sharks in five games.
The Wings are in a different situation than last year, when they were coming off a seven-game series against the Phoenix Coyotes.
"A lot of different things are different," Danny Cleary said. "We're a better team than we were last year. Obviously, we don't have the one-day layover from Game 7.
"We're looking for a little redemption. We all know the feeling we had when we lost and we want to keep going here. We've got a good team, and we believe we've got a real good chance."
The Sharks also won the season series, 3-1, so they have a bit of a psychological edge from that perspective.
"They got a good team, and they're going to present a good obstacle for us," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "But we're looking forward to it, should be a lot of fun.
"They beat us last year and ended our season. That in itself should have us a little fired up and wary."
Here's a look at how the teams match up:
Forwards
Both teams have a lot of depth up front. Certainly the Sharks have the advantage in size while the Wings have the edge in experience.
Ryan Clowe led the Sharks with four goals and three assists in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. Rookie Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Ian White each had five points.
For the Wings, Pavel Datsyuk dazzled and deked his way to two goals and four assists in the four-game sweep of the Coyotes. Quietly, Valtteri Filppula had five points in the four games.
The Wings will get a boost by getting Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen back from injuries. Zetterberg missed the entire first round with a left knee injury while Franzen missed Game 4 with a left ankle injury.
"It's been a while since I played, especially in a playoff game, so I'm fired up," Zetterberg said.
Defensemen
Dan Boyle is the workhorse for the Sharks, averaging 27:10 in the first round, the most of any player on either team. Douglas Murray, Jason Demers, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, White and Niclas Wallin round out the top six. Wallin, 36, was on the Carolina Hurricanes when they won the Stanley Cup in 2006.
Because of the success of his team, Babcock was able to spread the minutes around for his defensemen in the first round.
Six-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom, a finalist for this year's Norris, turned 41 Thursday but finished second in the league among defensemen in scoring during the regular season. Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Jonathan Ericsson and Ruslan Salei make up the rest of the top defensemen. Salei and Kronwall tied with Datsyuk as a plus-6 in the first round.
Goaltenders
Antti Niemi already has a Stanley Cup on his resume from last season with the Chicago Blackhawks, but he wasn't quite stellar in the first round against the Kings.
Niemi had a 3.99 goals-against average and .863 save percentage. However, Finnish countryman Antero Niittymaki will be ready if needed.
A lot of the focus before the first round was on Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, playing in just his second postseason. Despite winning 37 games, Howard had a subpar sophomore season with a 2.79 goals-against average and .908 save percentage.
Yet Howard raised his play against the Coyotes, with a 2.50 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. The biggest difference was in his serious approach, when the easygoing goalie told reporters after the sweep of the Coyotes that he'd "smile in June."
Coaches
These two coaches know each other very well as Sharks coach Todd McLellan was an assistant on Babcock's staff in Detroit.
McLellan has won more than 150 games in his first three seasons in San Jose, only the second coach in league history to reach that mark. Mike Keenan won 152 games in his first three years with the Philadelphia Flyers.
But even McLellan's stellar resume doesn't quite match that of Babcock, the man who led the Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2008 and the Canadians to Olympic gold in 2010.
Special teams
The Wings know they can't let the Sharks score at a 33.3 percent clip on the power play as the Coyotes did in the first round. Although the Sharks only had two power play goals in 23 opportunities against the Kings, they had the league's second-ranked power play in the regular season.
"One of the areas we've got to really improve in this series versus last series is our penalty kill has got to be good," Babcock said. "L.A. did a good job staying in in the series because (goalie Jonathan) Quick was solid and the penalty kill was good.
"If you let San Jose's power play get rolling, it'll be trouble for you."
As for the reverse, the Wings were fourth on the power play in the first round, scoring four times in 15 chances. The Sharks had an average penalty kill against the Kings, finishing ninth.
Intangibles
The questions facing the Wings are what effect the long layoff will have on them, what impact will Henrik Zetterberg have in his playoff debut and can Jimmy Howard continue his strong play in goal?
For the Sharks, it's the same question every year -- is this the year they get over the hump and win the Cup? Will the expectations weigh on them again or will they break through?
Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/nhl/article_external/red_wings_look_to_bounce_sharks/4643082
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