(Sports Network) - Detroit and San Jose begin their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series this evening, when the Red Wings host the Sharks in Game 1 from Joe Louis Arena.

In the first round, the top-seeded Red Wings drew the Calgary Flames, a team that posted 30 of its 43 wins during the regular season at home. The home team held serve for the first five games of the series before Detroit broke through in Calgary on Sunday to end the conference quarterfinal set in six games.

Dominik Hasek, Detroit's 42-year-old goaltender, proved to be the team's greatest asset against the Flames. Hasek, winner of six Vezina and two Hart Trophies, faced only 129 shots in the six contests, but posted a 1.57 goals against average and .922 save percentage.

The Czech-born Hasek, who also has won a Stanley Cup title and Olympic gold medal, has a 57-41 lifetime record in the playoffs.

Leading the Red Wings in scoring during the set against the Flames was four- time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. The Swedish blueliner punched in two goals and added six assists to lead Detroit.

Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen were the top-scoring forwards for Detroit in the opening round, as the pair each posted five points against the Flames. Datsyuk was just signed to the longest contract in franchise history before the Calgary series, as he inked a seven-year deal with the Red Wings.

The Sharks have been one of the most-feared teams in the NHL since acquiring centerman Joe Thornton in the early stages of the 2005-06 campaign and this year they hope to have what it takes to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.

The Sharks come into this postseason as the fifth seed, an unfortunate result of being in the same division as the Anaheim Ducks, but San Jose still posted a franchise-record 107 points during the 2006-07 regular season.

Thornton, last year's Art Ross and Hart Trophy winner, was the No. 1 overall pick by Boston in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft and has blossomed into the NHL's premier playmaker. The 27-year-old led the NHL with 92 assists this season, and his 114 total points trailed only Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby for tops in the circuit. Thornton, who had 96 assists in 2005-06, joined Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players in league history to notch 90-plus helpers in consecutive seasons.

It's not surprising that Thornton led the Sharks with six points, all assists, as San Jose ousted Nashville in five games during this year's conference quarterfinals. However, Thornton is not a one-man team by any stretch of the imagination.

Milan Michalek, a 22-year-old winger from the Czech Republic, benefited from playing on the top line with Thornton and notched a team-leading four goals in the series against the Predators. Fellow linemate Jonathan Cheechoo, who has scored 93 goals over the last two regular seasons, had three assists in the opening round.

With a centerman like Thornton leading the way for the Sharks, it's not a shock that teams sometimes forget about Patrick Marleau, the main man on San Jose's formidable second-line. Marleau had 78 points (32 goals, 46 assists) this season and picked up that pace a bit against the Predators, as he posted three goals and three assists in the five game. The Saskatchewan native also scored the game-winning goal late in the third period of the series-clinching Game 5 victory.

Evgeni Nabokov had a solid first series in net for the Sharks, as he went 4-1 with a 2.39 goals against average and .902 save percentage. The 31-year-old netminder has an overall postseason record of 22-16.

The Sharks won three of the four encounters with Detroit during the regular season and outscored the Red Wings, 18-9, in those meetings. San Jose posted a 9-4 victory over visiting Detroit in the last matchup between the clubs on January 4.

This will be the first playoff series between these clubs since 1995, when the Red Wings swept San Jose in the conference semifinals. The year before, the Sharks ousted Detroit from the opening round in seven games.

The second game of this series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Motown.