Sharks say overconfidence not an issue
The optimist sees the Sharks have advanced all three times previously after winning the first two games of a playoff series on the road.
The pessimist notes it was just last spring when Anaheim rallied after losing its first two at home against Edmonton to reach the West finals for the second time in three years.
How does San Jose view bringing a 2-0 lead into the Shark Tank for Game 3 on Monday?
“We did our job so far. We don’t want to look too far ahead,” Sharks center Eric Fehr said. “We can’t expect it to be easy. As long as we have the right mindset coming home, that we have to work the same way and play the same game, that will be good for us.”
“Overconfidence is not part of our DNA,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer added.
The Sharks have had good
goaltending, special-teams contributions and resilience in the first two games of their best-of-seven firstround series against the chippy Ducks.
Goalie Martin Jones has stopped 53 of 55 shots, including all 23 in the third periods of the first two games. San Jose’s two power-play goals — Evander Kane’s 5-on-3 strike in Game 1 and Logan Couture’s first-period tiebreaker in Game 2 — both represent game-winners.
DeBoer has had success rolling four lines, which prevents over-taxing top players in the event of a long overtime or an extended series. And San Jose has not succumbed to Anaheim’s tendency to goad opponents into undisciplined play.
“It’s been critical,” DeBoer said. “Anaheim’s got some guys who are very good at dragging you into that kind of stuff, and who have made a career out of it. So far, we’ve done a real good job of refusing to get into that type of game and sticking to what we do, which is being hard, physical and fast whistle to whistle.”
As the series moves to SAP Center for Games 3 and 4, DeBoer anticipates his team won’t play differently. Aside from assigning defensemen MarcEdouard Vlasic and Justin Braun against Anaheim’s top forwards, DeBoer is comfortable letting the rest of the game simply unfold.
“We’re not a team that’s married to matchups,” he said. “We want to come at you with four lines and use our depth, and we’re not willing to get away from establishing that game chasing matchups.
“I think the bigger advantage is the crowd, the environment and being able to sleep in your own beds. We’re looking more forward to that than matchups.”
DeBoer thinks that way because the Sharks have goals from five players and points from 11 skaters. He opted for speed over size — inserting Marcus Sorensen and Melker Karlsson on the fourth line — and that has paid early dividends.
“That’s what we need,” DeBoer said. “We talked about that since Day 1; we’re the sum of our parts. We have to be a four-line team and we have to get contributions from everybody.
“We have some very good players who are capable of coming in and helping us, too,” he added. “Playoff-proven guys like Joel Ward, Barclay Goodrow, Jannik Hansen. So it’s nice to have that type of depth.”