The NHL Playoffs are upon us. Let’s welcome the best time of the year with a preliminary look at the playoff series that lay ahead.
Pacific Division: (#2) Los Angeles Kings vs (#3) San Jose Sharks
What a surprise, the Pacific Division bracket will once again be a battle for Southern California. The Ducks locked up the top spot in the Pacific, setting a date between two bitter rivals in the first round.
The last time these two teams met in the postseason, the Sharks leapt out to a 3-0 series lead and looked to have the Kings on the ropes. Even the great Jonathan Quick was being pulled from games. But the Kings of course came roaring back to win four straight en route to their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Let’s look at some of the keys to victory for both sides.
Why the Kings will win: Because they won’t die.
Here’s a fun fact from Fear the Fin at SB Nation: The Kings have lost four Game 1s under Darryl Sutter. They are 1-3 in Game 2s following those losses. They are 3-1 in those series. That is unbelievable. That a team can come back from being down so often is a testament to their tenacity, their toughness and a whole lot of other things that can’t be quantified. The Kings just will not die. So now that the Sharks have taken away home-ice advantage, they need to take the boot and squash. Hard. Otherwise, Los Angeles could scratch and claw their way back into the series before they have time to say “2014.”
They also rarely give up on a game when trailing. Living in New York, the many two-goal comebacks in the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals against the Rangers is still very fresh/raw. No lead is safe from the Kings.
Los Angeles’ X-Factor: Staking claim to the blue paint.
Much has been made of the Los Angeles’ roster in terms of size. The Sharks are plenty big too, but it bears repeating. The Kings have several players like Milan Lucic and Dwight King that love applying pressure on the netminder. The Kings have had a couple of fortunate bounces go their way already, having two goals in Game 1 bank off of Sharks and past Martin Jones. The persistent rushes and reckless abandon down low will be a big key factor LA.
Why the Sharks will win: They’re most at home when not at home.
The San Jose Sharks had the best road record in the National Hockey League this season at 28-10-3. They have already taken away home-ice from the Kings, claiming Game 1 at the Staples Center. They will have to be better at the Shark Tank though. They posted an abysmal 18-20-3 record at the SAP Center this season. At one point they were as bad as 5-12-1. So while they picked up their play at the turn of the calendar year, it still gives Los Angeles more of a reason to not be worried should they fall further behind in the series.
San Jose’s X-Factor: Drawing out Jonathan Quick.
Jonathan Quick is the most aggressive goaltender in the league, coming way out of his crease to challenge shooters on the reg. His aggressiveness does open up some opportunities for backdoor chances and some additional scoring opportunities on netmouth scrambles. In Game 1, the Sharks beat Quick far side, off a deflection in the low slot, in a cluster that had Quick come all the way out of the blue paint, and off a wraparound. Quick may be one of the winningest active playoff goaltenders, but he is fallible if he overcommits.
Another big factor will be Jumbo Joe himself, Joe Thornton. Thornton has taken a lot of heat over the years and has even lost the captaincy while in San Jose. But he had at least one point in each of the last 33 regular season wins. The Sharks won 46 games total. So basically, when they win, Thornton has a hand in the win. Ironically, he was held off the scoresheet in Game 1. But if he gets hot? Look out.
This will be a bloody, hard-hitting, brutal series. It will be a battle in every sense of the word, for both the players and the east-coast viewers like myself trying to stay awake to watch the game in its entirety.
Nevertheless, it will be incredibly entertaining.
Prediction: Kings in 7.
