Dylan DeMelo finally gets chance to dress for playoff game.

SANJOSE » Dylan DeMelo has been in a jacket and tie for the last 30 Sharks playoff games. Thursday night, he finally got an opportunity to put on a uniform.

DeMelo, 24, was alongside Brenden Dillon on the Sharks’ third defense pair, where he’s been for the majority of the season. Kevin Labanc who also made his playoff debut, was on the third forward line with center Chris Tierney and fellow winger Timo Meier — easily the Sharks’ youngest line with an average age of 22.

“I’m not worried about inexperience at all,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “Even the guys you’re talking about have been in pressure situations in their time here and have done it the right way. I have no reservations about any of the inexperienced guys we have about them being ready to start.”

The seventh defenseman for the last two postseasons, DeMelo didn’t dress for any of the Sharks’ 24 playoff games in 2016, or their six- game series against the Edmonton Oilers last year.

“For sure excited,” DeMelo said earlier this week. “Obviously watched our playoff run two years ago when we went to the finals and last year sitting on the sidelines. You want to be in the thick of things with the guys.

“It’s kind of what you always read about, is playing in the playoffs and chasing the Cup, so, to kind of finally be here and actually getting a chance to play is going to be a lot of fun.”

While the Sharks will count on getting big minutes from Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Brent Burns and Justin Braun, DeMelo will still have to provide stability for the 13-16 minutes of ice time he’s likely to average in the series.

The Sharks’ depth and experience on the blue line figured to be one of their areas of strength, with their five other defensemen combining for 279 playoff games.

“From watching and talking to the guys, I think I have a good expectation for how it’s going to be,” DeMelo said. “I think my game translates well to the playoffs. I think I do a lot of good things and play hard, so I don’t think it’’s going to be too much of a drop off.”

Labanc also started Thursday on the Sharks’ first power play unit, which will be needed to produce for the Sharks in what’s expected to be a low scoring series. The Sharks’ power play ranked 16th in the NHL at 20.6 percent, and was 3-for-12 against the Ducks this season.

“If you’re on the top unit, you have to do everything you can to produce,” Labanc said. “That’s why I think I’m out there. I want to produce. I want to help the team.”

• Evander Kane, also making his playoff debut Thursday, stayed off the ice for the Sharks’ optional skate Thursday morning. He dealt with an upper body early last week, missing two games, but played 21:40 to lead all Sharks forwards in the team’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota on Saturday.

“Once we clinched, it was just about feeling as good as I possibly could for Game 1,” Kane said Thursday morning. “Just excited about it.”

• Kane, Eric Fehr (lower body) and Melker Karlsson (undisclosed) all got an extra day to heal with the series starting Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Fehr missed the last seven games of the regular season and Karlsson sat out the last two. Those two and Marcus Sorensen comprised the fourth line.

“Every extra day helps,” Fehr said. “You’re working on building strength and trying to make sure you’re prepared, and the extra couple days always helps.”

• Karlsson’s work on the penalty kill this season was one of the biggest reasons the unit was ranked second in the league this season at 84.8 percent, and may be why he was in the lineup over other wingers like Joel Ward, Jannik Hansen and Barclay Goodrow.

The Ducks’ power play was ranked 22nd in the league this year, but did register a goal in each of their last two regular season games.

“It’s always huge,” Karlsson said. “We’ve been playing pretty good on the PK. It’s going to be a big challenge here, though, to try and shut them down.”