The San Jose Sharks slayed their dragon by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in an entertaining six-game series.
They’ll be taking on the underdog Nashville Predators who just upset the Pacific Division champs in the Anaheim Ducks.
San Jose will start with home-ice advantage.
Here’s a look at how the two teams match up.
ADVANCED STATS:
Sharks: 5on5CF% – 51.7; 5on5Sv% – .923; 5on5Sh% – 7.79; PDO = 100.1
Predators: 5on5CF% – 52.5; 5on5Sv% – 92.20; 5on5Sh% – 7.26; PDO – 99.5
(via stats.hockeyanalysis.com)
Head-to-head
San Jose: 1-2-0
Nashville: 2-0-1
LAST GAME PLAYED HEAD-TO-HEAD:
The Sharks had to mount a comeback against the Predators in early April, doing so when Logan Couture scored the winner in a shootout to take it 3-2.
LAST TIME THEY MET IN THE PLAYOFFS:
It’s been a while but the Sharks and Preds have faced off twice in the post-season, in 2005-06 and in ’06-’07 when San Jose cruised to a 4-1 series victory. Peter Forsberg potted a couple of goals for the Preds in a losing cause, Tomas Vokoun was the backstop in Nashville and Patrick Marleau scored the series-winner in Game 5.
SAN JOSE’S HIGHLIGHT OF ROUND 1:
Even with a 3-1 series lead, the Sharks were far from eliminating the Los Angeles Kings. Remember, they blew a 3-0 series lead in 2014 (because I’m sure you needed the reminder). So this beautiful toe drag, top shelf snipe by Joonas Donskoi to put the Sharks up 1-0 early in Game 5 was a huge table setter. The Sharks did take a 3-0 lead in the game that they blew, but rather than fold, they were the ones to respond and came away with a 6-3 victory to eliminate the Kings. This year is different.
NASHVILLE’S HIGHLIGHT OF ROUND 1:
This is what GM David Poile was hoping to see when he acquired his franchise centre Ryan Johansen in a trade for Seth Jones.
