Playoff seeding will be big for Sharks
SAN JOSE — Having one or both might be critically important for the Sharks this season if they want to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four years.
The red-hot Sharks entered Wednesday in third place in the Pacific with 57 points, one point back of both the Calgary Flames and the Vegas Golden Knights, teams that have been on an equally torrid pace.
It makes sense, then, that the best way for the Sharks to get back to a Cup final would be to win the division, play a wild card team in the first round, and avoid facing both Calgary and Vegas just to reach the Western Conference final.
The Sharks, who have finished third in the division in three straight years, play Vegas at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
“I think seeding is going to be important this year with our division,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said Wednesday.
“I think that’s going to be a piece, especially with the dropoff when you look at the three teams and the potential wild card teams. That doesn’t mean there’s going to be any easy rounds. But that is a piece and that has to motivate you going forward.”
The Sharks are in the midst of their best stretch of the season as their 13-3-2 record since Dec. 2 has put them 12 points up the fourth place team in the Pacific, the Anaheim Ducks, with 37 regular season games to go.
Still, when center Logan Couture glanced at the NHL standings Tuesday night after the Sharks’ win over the Edmonton Oilers, he noticed something a bit unique.
Three of the four teams at the top of the NHL table were from the Pacific Division, although Washington, Toronto and Winnipeg had a better points percentage with 56 points in 42 games,
“It just shows how competitive this division is right now, and no one seems to lose,” Couture said, “especially the top teams.”
Even if the Sharks win the division and get past the first round, they’ll still likely have to face either Calgary or Vegas in the second round.
The Sharks are 1-1 against the Flames this season, and have generally been successful at the Saddledome in Calgary in recent years, their 8-5 loss on Dec. 31 not withstanding. T-Mobile Arena just off the Las Vegas Strip, though, has not been as welcoming a destination.
Including their second round playoff meeting with Vegas last season, the Sharks are 1-4-1 all-time at T-Mobile Arena.
In their one visit there this season, on Nov. 24, the Sharks were smoked 6-0, falling behind 14 seconds into the first period and trailing 4-0 after 16:28.
If you’re going to try and set a tone in advance of a potential playoff meeting and come up with a blueprint for how win games in that raucous environment, might as well start right now. The Golden Knights, by the way, have won seven straight games.
“It’s a big game after what happened last year in the playoffs and earlier this season when they took it to us,” Couture said. “That game was over after the first 10 minutes or so. Looking for a better effort. We’re playing hockey at this point of the season, but they probably are as well.
“They’re as hot as anyone in the league right now.”
The Sharks’ one victory in Las Vegas came in Game 2 of that playoff series, as Couture scored a power play goal off a nifty pass from Kevin Labanc at the 5:13 mark of the second overtime to give his team a 4-3 victory to level the series at one win apiece.
Vegas would go on to win the series four games to two, as the Sharks gave up home ice advantage and never got it back.
“We have the ability to go in there and win games, and we know that,” DeBoer said. “For whatever reason we haven’t brought our A-game, or we’ve self destructed at different point in games in there.
“Whether it’s because of the environment or what, we’re going to have to get used to that. You’re going to have to win some games in that building going forward. Not just this year, but they’re not going away.”
On the mend — Injured defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic (upper body) and Justin Braun (lower body) joined Jacob Middleton and Rourke Chartier as the only Sharks players on the ice Wednesday morning before the Sharks flew to Las Vegas.
DeBoer said early Wednesday afternoon that he thought both players would be doubtful for Thursday’s game, but didn’t how either player would react to their skate.
“The skating and everything feels good, but (you) worry about the contact and that next battle level,” Braun said. “Just being a little cautions right now. I’m getting close to being ready to go.
“The boys are rolling right now, so if they can keep that going, it gives me more time to get back to 100 percent.”
On the mend, Part II — DeBoer said he was feeling much better Wednesday than he was the day before when he was suffering from concussion-like symptoms and had to miss the game against the Oilers. DeBoer was struck in the temple by a puck while he was behind the bench for the Sharks’ game against Los Angeles on Monday. He said he didn’t think anything of it at the time before he went to bed.
“Got up the next morning, came into the rink here and didn’t feel good,” DeBoer said. “I thought it was the flu coming on, I didn’t think it had anything to do with (getting hit in the head). Then as we got closer to game time, started to get a few more symptoms. It was definitely connected, but feel better today.”
“Safe to say I had a concussion. I’m out of protocol, though, My wife put me in the dark room.”