SHARKS SHOWING PLAYOFF BITE
Tale of post-season woe no more
SAN JOSE, CALIF. In the past, San Jose making it to the Western Conference final has kind of been like the Buffalo Bills making it to the Super Bowl.
It took a tremendous amount of will and talent to go three rounds deep in the playoffs and establish themselves as one of the elite teams in the league, but once they got there the only thing missing was a flight attendant telling them to assume the crash position.
They’ve fallen hard every time, going 0-for-3 and winning just three of 15 games in trying to take the last step before the Stanley Cup final.
In 2011, they were the No. 2 seed in the NHL and lost 4-1 to Vancouver. In 2010, they were the President’s Trophy winners and got swept 4-0 by Chicago.
In 2004, the Calgary Flames beat them 4-2.
And now they’re back, taking on the tough St. Louis Blues in a series that begins Sunday in Missouri.
Does the conference final bring back bad memories? Sure. But like any alpha dogs, the Sharks can’t wait to get back in the fight
“It’s nice to get back there,” said San Jose’s red hot centre Logan Couture, who leads all playoff scorers with 17 points. “My first two years in the league we made it to the conference final and you think it’s easy, you think it’s going to come every year and it doesn’t.
“It makes you realize that you really have to take advantage of the chances you get; if you have a very good team, you have to take advantage of it.”
And the Sharks absolutely believe they have a very good team, good enough to finally close this deal.
A lot of the people who lost a lot of hockey pools picking San Jose to go deep will need to see it before they believe it, but that’s fine with the Sharks.
“There will still be doubters unless we go all the way,” said Couture. “If you’re a hockey player, you’re used to that.”
Like they said when everyone was expecting them to wilt before the mighty Los Angeles Kings in the first round — this Sharks team isn’t THAT Sharks team.
“That’s genuine, that’s from our group,” said head coach Pete DeBoer. “This isn’t the same team as it’s been in the past. We have a whole bunch of new bodies and a whole different cast of characters. A whole different identity, a whole different coaching staff.”
The Sharks still have veteran leaders Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns and Couture, but the supporting cast is what has everyone in San Jose so confident.
“The core guys are still the same, but the core guys here are great, they have great habits, they’ve been well coached for a decade by the previous staff,” said DeBoer, adding San Jose didn’t fail in the past because Thornton and Marleau let them down, they failed because the rest of the team couldn’t keep up.
“They’re not the problem, it was filling in behind them. We have those type of people here now and the guys at the top feel that and are feeding off it.”
Joel Ward adds size and experience, rookie Joonas Donskoi has seven points in 12 playoff games, 22-year-old Tomas Hertl can play on the top line, Chris Tierney has elevated his game for the playoffs and on defence they’ve only added Brent Burns, Paul Martin and Roman Polak since the last trip to the conference final
“We’re not here without that depth,” said DeBoer. “If you look at the teams that are left standing, they’re here because of their depth. It’s been a message since Day 1, you’re not just here to watch the big guys play, you’re here to contribute and you’re a big piece of this.”
Now San Jose can throw second and third waves at an opponent and it does.
“We’ve been saying it all year, we’re just deep,” said Thornton. “We have a deep team. We roll four lines, we roll six D and we have so much trust with each other that whoever goes over the boards we have confidence they’ll do the job. You saw it last game. Pete just kept rolling and wave after wave, we just kept going after them.
“We’re just a confident group.”
In St. Louis, the Sharks will meet an opponent in the process of rebuilding its own playoff reputation. The Blues have been considered Cup contenders for several years, only to stumble in the first or second round.
It’s always been said that if they can ever get rolling, look out. Well, beating the defending Stanley Cup champions and the first-place team in the West to get here is a pretty good roll.
“They’re really, really good,” said Thornton. “They’ve knocked off some good teams so far. So it’s going to be a great test.”
In the playoffs, lack of discipline is costly. Against the San Jose Sharks, it’s fatal.
The Sharks power play has been lethal in the post season, clicking at nearly 31 per cent with 13 goals in 12 games.
“It’s a great weapon,” said DeBoer. “It keeps the other teams honest. It’s won us games, which is what you need it to do.
“You need all the pieces the further you get, you can’t just survive on the power play, and I don’t think we’re just a power play team, but it’s a great weapon to have, a gamechanging weapon.”