SHARKSPAGE

San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings Western Conference Quarterfinal Stanley Cup playoff preview

LOS ANGELES KINGS GOALTENDER #32 JONATHAN QUICK (35-22-3, 2.24GAA, .920SV%)

SHARKS VS. KINGS SEASON SERIES AND OVERALL STATS

CURRENT BETTING LINES:

San Jose -220, Los Angeles Kings +180
Regulation time – LA +260, DRAW +295, SJ -130
Over 5/Under 5 – OVER -125, UNDER +105
First period goals: 0 +300, 1 +170, 2 +250, 3+ +340
Second period goals: 0 +425, 1 +200, 2 +225, 3+ +240
Third period goals: 0 +425, 1 +185, 2 +225, 3+ +240

Betting lines from SportsInteraction.

The opportunity for a California team to face a Californian rival in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a rare one. Over the 43 season history of the Los Angeles Kings, they have met an intra-state rival once. The Kings defeated the Oakland Seals in their second franchise game 7 back in 1969. In the 20th anniversary season of the San Jose Sharks, Team Teal can also look back on a lone intra-state meeting. After rolling through the regular season in 2009 and winning a Presidents Trophy with 117 points, the Sharks lost in 6 games to the hated Anaheim Ducks.

Southern California 2, Northern California 0.

Now could be time for Nocal redemption, but the play on the ice could look considerably different than it was coming out of the lockout 6 years ago. Back then a truculent Brian Burke managed team was more apt to inflict fear on the ice, then try to score goals. A confident Sharks team used it’s size and power game and did not back down in the slightest. What followed for two seasons was some of the best and most demanding hockey over the last decade. That regular season pace and intensity did not directly translate to their first playoff meeting. For the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings, Thursday night’s playoff matchup could take on a different tenor than regular season meetings as well.

A brief San Jose Sharks first round playoff preview:

This is the seventh straight Stanley Cup Playoff appearance for San Jose. In 5 of the previous 6 opening playoff rounds, the Sharks have advanced. A west coast team that often plays under the radar, San Jose was an insider pick by many MSM journalists to go deep in playoffs past. A failure to make a Conference Final or Stanley Cup Final appearance in 4 straight seasons resulted in many shying away from Shark prediction for the last 2 years. This is a much different San Jose team dealing with many of the same issues and questions externally if not internally.

The bulk of the playoff criticism fell on two players, former captain Patrick Marleau and current captain Joe Thornton. “Your best players need to be your best players” may be the most used hockey cliche of all time, but for San Jose in the playoffs the best players were good enough but not quite. Patrick Marleau, tied with Detroit’s Johan Franzen for the most playoff game winning goals over the last 10 years, could be brilliant in flashes but invisible in others. For the Stanley Cup Playoffs, more goals are scored and games are won with hard work in the dirty areas in front of the net and in the corners. Both Marleau and Thornton returned from playoff exits and played a nasty, mean style of defensive two-way hockey to start subsequent seasons. Maintaining that intensity over an 82-game regular season and into the playoffs was difficult. This season, Marleau and Thornton have re-established themselves as strong defensive players, and both have improved on that gritty style of play as the season progressed.

While the bulk of past criticism may focus on Marleau and Thornton, left unmentioned are injuries and playoff dry spells suffered by a number of quality, veteran players. In a 5-year stretch of playoff appearances from 1998-2002, secondary support players like Viktor Kozlov, Tony Granato, Joe Murphy, Teemu Selanne and Adam Graves could not contribute enough to get the Sharks over the top. In the current stretch of 7 straight postseason appearances, secondary offensive players like Alyn McCauley, Milan Michalek, Ville Nieminen, Bill Guerin, Mike Grier and Travis Moen failed to help Marleau and Thornton put their teams over the top. Injuries crept up in 2009 and 2010, with Marleau suffering the first knee injury of his career, and right wings Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi trying to produce while hobbled in 2010. Playoff losses in San Jose have been a team effort, but the direction EVP/GM Doug Wilson took this season is a window into the possible solution.

Struggling with an average record and unpredictable play after a post-Christmas flop, a 6-game losing streak in January signaled a need for changes to be made. Rugged forward Ryane Clowe called out his team for wanting to score instead of getting their nose dirty and using hard work to win close games. Hints of a turnaround were evident before the Sharks first subsequent win, but bad luck and bad bounces did not erase a more defensively responsible play on the ice. San Jose GM Doug Wilson brought in Ben Eager from Atlanta, and picked up Kyle Wellwood on waivers January 18th. Sidestepping a trade deadline shopping spree for offensive defenseman, Wilson also brought in puck moving right shooting defenseman Ian White February 18th.

The results speak for themselves. Adding three veterans to an already deep lineup, the Sharks went on a 26-4-4 run after the end of the 6-game losing streak. Excessive line juggling eventually settled down into three solid scoring lines, and a veteran fourth line that can put its stamp on a playoff series if it stays out of the box and remains in the opponents face. The Sharks defense has changed from years past. It is different from the hard edged, withering net front defensive style employed by former head coach Darryl Sutter. Two of the record point setting four horseman (Boyle, Blake, Ehrhoff, Vlasic) utilized by former coach Ron Wilson are gone. At Todd McLellan’s disposal health permitting are 3 sets of right-left shots with a puck moving and defensive element on each pair. Offensive dman of the future, Justin Braun, and a veteran dman with PK experience, Kent Huskins, could be available as reserves (Huskins missed the last 22 games of the season with an undisclosed injury).

The parity on the ice between the 1 through 8 seeds in the Western Conference is extraordinarily close, with any team having the ability to knock off another on any night. Given that parity from the Western Conference and the Pacific Division in particular, the difference may come down to depth, compete level, and discipline. San Jose has three line scoring depth, a 2-way capable defense, and veteran forwards that have experience being used in different situations on the fly. Without second leading scorer Anze Kopitar and with the possible return of second leading scorer Justin Williams, the Kings will lean heavily on goaltender Jonathan Quick, a strong defense and the second best PK in the NHL. The margin for error for Los Angeles is slim, and there is no room for the attrition that may follow a grueling 7-game series.

The Kings ability to dictate play and force the Sharks to certain areas of the ice made them one of the most dangerous opponents to face in the postseason. That changed dramatically from a 4-3 shootout loss in Los Angeles on March 24th to a 6-1 blowout win in San Jose on Monday, April 4th. The absence of Anze Kopitar’s 24:04 of ice time for the season finale between SJ and LA completely erased the Kings momentum. Whether a Dustin Brown or Dustin Penner can carry a similar load remains to be seen. Based on the latest NHL odds and MSM predictions, that is not the prevailing opinion. The Sharks vs Kings WCQF series will also provide one of the best goaltending matchups in the first round. A thorough look at each starting goaltender in the series will be posted tomorrow.

Bottom line: Even with depth and injury advantages, too close to call.

Hopefully the Sharks and the Kings can build on the respect the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers showed earlier this week. After 42-year old paramedic Bryan Stow was beaten severely following a game in Los Angeles, the Giants and Dodgers came together Monday before the SF home opener in order to ask fans to keep the rivalry on the field and not in the stands. A Santa Cruz native, Stow worked games at HP Pavilion as part of the EMT staff. “Our organization and our players were trying to support Brian and his family through this tough time,” Sharks EVP/GM Doug Wilson told NHL radio after visiting with the family in southern California.

[Update] Justin Williams ready to go for Game 1 – LAKingsInsider.com.

[Update2] All signs point to long run for Sharks – Pierre LeBrun for ESPN.com.

San Jose’s league-wide perception as a playoff underachiever has largely been born of lofty expectations as much from the media as anybody else. They’ve gone from boutique pick to whipping boys by the pundits.

“I don’t get upset when I hear that stuff,” Sharks winger Ryane Clowe told ESPN.com on Wednesday, the eve of his team’s playoff opener. “For good reason we can be criticized about our playoffs, but I think last year was a good year for us and we can build off that.

[Update3] Gearing up for Game 1: Justin Williams to play, Ian White on his first NHL playoffs, Ben Eager on his Chris Pronger moment – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.