from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Watching the San Jose Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 Thursday night reminded me of how the "peloton" is beginning to thin out in the Western Conference. OK, I don't know anything about cycling but I get brownie points for "peloton," right? In any case, the Wild are game and they're a great story, they want to swing with the big boys in the West so badly. But truth is, the big boys are an exclusive club: Chicago, St. Louis, San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles (in no particular order). They're not only the best five teams in the West, they might be the best five teams in the NHL. All of which makes me look forward to Saturday night's game in Vancouver between the Canucks and Bruins. Vancouver has impressively played itself back into contention ahead of Friday's home game with Edmonton. The Bruins, to me, are the class of the Eastern Conference. Drop the puck, as they say.

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