Down 2-0, Are the Habs & Sharks in trouble

We are two games into the Conference Finals and Montreal & San Jose are in a situation that no team wants to be in. Both are trailing in their respective series to Philadelphia & Chicago two games to none.

All day yesterday I had people asking me if I thought either team was done or had any chance of coming back and winning their series. Today I want to elaborate on what each team chances are of coming back to win their series.

Montreal:

What has hurt the Canadiens most is the fact that Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton is channeling his inner Bernie Parent and shutting down the Habs offense.

Philly has outscored Montreal 9-0 this series and Leighton hasn't given up a goal since Boston's Milan Lucic scored late in the 1st period of game seven last Friday.

While Leighton has played well since making his return from an ankle injury his defense has done a great job helping him out. Leighton isn't giving up any rebounds and if he does Philly's defense has been there to either clear the puck or tie up any Habs that are looking to score.

So, do I think Montreal is in trouble? I don't, Not yet at least.

The whole story of the Habs this season has been their resiliency and their ability to come back from situations in which we thought they were done.

They came back from down 3-1 to defeat Washington & from down 3-2 to defeat Pittsburgh, both of whom I think are better hockey teams than Philadelphia.

Despite losing the 1st two games in Philly the next two are in Montreal. NBC analyst Pierre McGuire has said that you really aren't in trouble until you lose your 1st game on home ice.

If Montreal needs any inspiration all they have to do is look back to the 1st two games of last year's Stanley Cup finals when Pittsburgh looked like they didn't belong on the same sheet of ice as Detroit. That ended up turning out well for Pittsburgh in the end. (Yes, it still hurts.)

I'm not ready to count out Montreal yet. However if they fail to win tonight I don't think they will be able to rally from three games down to win the series.

San Jose:

The Sharks, like Montreal, have lost the 1st two games of their series. The difference is that San Jose had home ice where Montreal didn't. Now the Sharks have to go on the road and win two games in a hostile United Center in front of a fan base that has waited 18 years to play in a Stanley Cup Finals & 49 years to win a cup.

One of the reasons that San Jose is in this position is that only one of their best players, Patrick Marleau has shown up this series. Marleau has two goals & one assist this series but the other top forwards have been silent for San Jose.

Joe Thornton & Dany Heatley only have one assist & Joe Pavelski hasn't scored since Game two against Detroit. Meanwhile San Jose's defense has had trouble stopping Chicago's top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane & Dustin Byfuglien.

In goal, Chicago's Antti Niemi has outplayed San Jose's Evgeni Nabokv. Sharks fans reading this will say this sounds all too familiar as this happens every post-season to San Jose. Nabokov ends up getting out-played in net by a goaltender thought to be less talented than him.

I think the Sharks are in worse shape than Montreal right now. When this series started I expected both teams to split games three & four in Chicago. I still that think that will happen which isn't good for San Jose. The way Chicago has played on the road I'm not convinced San Jose can come back and win this series.

Game three between Philadelphia & Montreal is at 6 PM tonight on Versus. Thanks for reading & enjoy the hockey.