Sharks at ease after loss at home
L. A. goalie Quick has been stellar
The San Jose Sharks would like to assure everyone they are not like the little girl sitting in front of the television set in Poltergiest, quietly whispering “They’re here,” as they stare helplessly at the arrival of a powerful, menacing entity known as the L.A. Kings.
Yes, the Kings stormed into this series with a vengeance, outhitting San Jose 61-39 and muscling their way to a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 3, but San Jose doesn’t believe L. A. has awakened the ghosts of playoffs past.
The Sharks looked calm as they emerged from team meetings Tuesday, insisting they have nothing to be rattled about.
“We’re comfortable with our game,” said head coach Pete DeBoer.
“We know what our good game looks like and I think as a group we’re confident that if we throw that good game out there we’ll be on the right side of this.
“You’re dealing with a team that’s won two Stanley Cups in the last four or five years, they’re not going to go away quietly. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. But I’m comfortable that if we bring our best game to the rink we’ll be in the right spot at the end of this thing.”
The Sharks still have the 2-1 lead and were probably the better team in Game 3.
If Kings goalie Jonathan Quick wasn’t unbelievable it’s 3-0 San Jose.
And while everyone would still be asking about their epic collapse of two seasons ago, nobody would believe for a second that it could happen again.
But the Kings coming back from down 2-0 suddenly look like a very real possibility.
“We came up here with the idea of cutting their lead in half and waking up in the morning knowing that we’ve done what we needed to do (feels good),” said Kings captain Dustin Brown.
“Now you just have to put it behind you and get focused for the next one. When we start Wednesday night everything is square again, but we’ve got renewed energy.”
And well they should. The Kings are looking very much like the Kings of old. They’re getting MVP goaltending from Quick, they’re imposing their will physically, they’re settling in to lowscoring playoff hockey and their top end forwards seem to be growing stronger by the game.
Brown says if they do come back in this series, it will be more about that than anything that happened between these teams in 2014.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with their past or our past,” said Brown. “If you look this season as a singular event, they’ve had the upper hand on us - and this is just pushing back on the notion that they’re going to have an easy time.
“In the first two games I don’t think we played as well as we would have liked. I think last game was more about us just pushing back.”
The message has been received, loudly and clearly.
Asked if the Sharks lost momentum because of Game 3, Logan Couture says it doesn’t matter, that momentum will belong to whatever team is better in Game 4. “It’s a tight series,” he said. “The first three games have been close, all one-goal games. We said from the start it would be a tough, long series. Now we have a chance to play in front of our home fans and go up 3-1. I think we’re excited to be where we’re at.
“We’re confident. I mean, we’re up 2-1 in the series. Last game could have gone either way. We have a great opportunity ahead of us.”
The Kings won two Stanley Cups by being able to elevate their game at just the right moment, so the Sharks are fully aware they have to find a higher level, too.