Sharks unveil own broom, oust Ducks, await Knights
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A foghorn rumbled for 10 seconds. Players celebrated on the ice with hugs. In the crowd, thousands of San Jose Sharks fans waved rally towels, each white hand cloth featuring the word “#DUCKHUNT” above an animation of a cartoon shark clutching two Nintendo-like ducks by the throat.
Amid the third-period hysteria, Vaughn Karpan kept silent.
The Golden Knights’ director of player personnel was here at the SAP Center as an advance scout. From the auxiliary press box, he stood in a gray window-pane suit, coolly watching the goal replay and jotting notes with an orange mechanical pencil.
The Knights know their next opponent.
Mark it down.
San Jose completed a sweep of the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, a late goal from center Tomas Hertl the difference in a 2-1 win. Something has to give in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Las Vegas and San Jose will meet after having both cruised to 4-0 series wins.
An electric atmosphere awaits the Golden Knights in San Jose.
SHARKS
The arena, which seats 17,562 people, is coined the “Shark Tank.” It resembles a Steven Spielberg creation, the music from the “Jaws” soundtrack blaring at the start of power plays. Fans outstretch their arms, curl their fingers and collapse their hands together to simulate chomping teeth. They chant, “Shark attack! Shark attack!” as passes blur across the rink.
Indeed, playoff fever is here. Ghirardelli, a popular chocolate manufacturer headquartered in nearby San Leandro, sells chocolate hockey pucks at concession stands; the sweet is a special only for the postseason. Likewise, in the team store, there are playoff-themed foam fingers and black T-shirts that read, “All for the Cup.”
But there is also history.
Beneath replica jerseys for center Joe Pavelski, forward Evander Kane and defenseman Brent Burns, fans wear the past on their sleeves.
The Golden Knights are unanchored by such history, their existence as an expansion franchise part of the excitement to their 2017-18 run.
This is the Sharks’ 26th year. They’ve enjoyed regular-season success without glory. They’ve never won a Stanley Cup. They’ve been to the finals just once, that berth coming two seasons ago. It concluded with a Game 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Game 6, yeah,” said Larry Wells, a 56-year-old Sharks fan who attended Wednesday’s game. “It’s tough. They won it here on our ice. That really (stung). … I wait every year to re-up on my seats because it hurts. It hurts a lot. I want to win it before I die. I want to see it. Every year I say, ‘This could be it.’”
The Golden Knights and Sharks met four times in the regular season.
The Knights won three and lost once in overtime.
Marc Laplante, an officer for the San Rafael Police Department, said that he’s owned Sharks season tickets for 15 years. He sat Wednesday in Section 223, Row 14 beside friend Dave Pirofalo.
“I think every Sharks fan here is excited, but we’re apprehensive because of our prior history,” Laplante said. “And seeing what Vegas just did, crushing the (Los Angeles) Kings four-nothing. … The Golden Knights are red hot. I’ll be nervous.”
The Golden Knights will look to match the temperament of Karpan’s reaction to Hertl’s winner.
Not nervous. Composed.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gehlkennfl on Twitter.