For the third time in the past four seasons, the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings will face off in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The two California rivals split the two meetings, with the favored Sharks defeating Los Angeles in six games in 2011 and the favored Kings knocked off San Jose in a seven-game series that saw the home team win each game last year.
Home ice has been a huge factor in the past year and a half when these two face off, and San Jose holds the advantage in this year’s series. Winning a game at the SAP Center (affectionately known as the “Shark Tank”) will be very hard for the Kings, but it is something that they will have to do at least once in order to win the series.
Both teams go into the postseason with completely different pedigrees.
The Kings are known to be a scrappy team that peaks during playoff time even if they did not have a good record. This was showcased in 2012, as the Kings won the Stanley Cup despite being the eight-seed in the Western Conference.
San Jose, on the other hand, has continually failed to live up to expectations. The Sharks have been a top-two seed in five of the past ten seasons, but have never made it to the Stanley Cup Final.
Last year’s underdog Sharks team still had an impressive run, however, despite losing in the second round. As a six-seed, they swept the favored Vancouver Canucks before pushing Los Angeles to seven games.
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick will be a key to this series. In the past two playoff seasons, Quick has done an incredible job in net, posting a 25-13 record and won a Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. His job of stifling San Jose was the main reason his Kings advanced past their rivals.
San Jose, however, also has quite an impressive netminder in Antti Niemi. Niemi won a Stanley Cup in his rookie season of 2010 with the Chicago Blackhawks and has become one of the NHL’s top-tier goaltenders in his time as a Shark.
As far as star power goes, this series will not lack any.
Los Angeles bolstered its offense at the trade deadline by adding veteran Marian Gaborik to play with Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Dustin Brown. The Kings also boast a blue line that consists of names like Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov, who became a playoff hero last year.
San Jose is a mix of old and young. Veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau will once again try to lead their team to the promised land while youngsters Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl will provide some speed and quickness offensively.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic has emerged as a star on the San Jose blue line and helps provide a very deep defensive core with veterans Dan Boyle and Brad Stuart.
This may be the most intriguing of all of the first-round matchups. Los Angeles is known for playoff success while the Sharks are known for the opposite; however, San Jose owns a crucial home-ice advantage.
It will be impossible for the Kings to win the series if they do not win a game at San Jose: a task that will not be easily accomplished.
Even though the Kings have played so well in the postseason, it seems about time for a first-round letdown. It also seems like time for the Sharks to finally take a step forward, as this may be one of the final seasons that their Stanley Cup window remains open.
Both teams are incredibly well-rounded, but San Jose will take this round. The home-ice advantage and extra hunger for victory will be enough to give the Sharks the strength to knock out their rivals and move one step closer to the ultimate goal.
Prediction: Sharks in 7