For the past decade, the San Jose Sharks have been one of the best teams in the NHL.
Until the Stanley Cup play-offs begin, that is.
During the league’s long regular season, which does little more than arrange play-off pairings for the 16 (from 30) teams who compete for the cup, the Sharks have been intimidating. During the past 10 seasons, they have won 58 per cent of 786 games and have qualified for the play-offs each spring, once as the winner of the league’s President’s Trophy for best record.
Then the trouble begins. In the play-offs, the Sharks too often are toothless. They went out in the first round in the season they won the President’s Trophy.
The Sharks have reached the Western Conference finals three times, but have gone no further. They are the league’s best club never to have played in the cup finals.
In the first round of the play-offs this season, they sprinted to a 3-0 lead over the Los Angeles Kings, the 2012 champions, and the deal seemed done. But the Kings have won the past two, 6-3 and 3-0, on each occasion driving San Jose’s Finnish goalie, Antti Niemi, from the game.
Ahead of Game 6, tonight in Los Angeles, the Sharks’ disastrous play-offs history is suddenly on the minds of their fans – and perhaps their players, too.
The Sharks were “red rotten” in Game 5, said their coach, Todd McLellan. “That’s simply put.”
The Sharks of the regular season were known for fast starts, particularly in their own arena. But, typically, they are not performing in the play-offs as they did previously. The Kings scored on three of their first 19 shots on Saturday, Niemi was benched by McLellan, and the visitors rolled to victory behind their own goalie, Jonathan Quick.
When trying to explain San Jose’s shaky Stanley Cup record, pundits tend to emphasise their attacking élan, but also their modest defence and goalkeeping, which can be overcome during the 82-game grind but often are fatal in the play-offs.
The veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau receive much of the criticism for San Jose’s failures, in part because they have been part of most of it. As his team’s No 1 goalie for four seasons, Niemi also is a target.
The Kings still have a hill to climb. Only three teams in NHL history, from the 175 who have fallen into a 3-0 series hole, have won the next four, and only once since 1974. The Kings assume nothing.
“It’s a Game 7, obviously, for us again,” Anze Kopitar said, referring to the “must-win” aspect of Game 6. “We’re going to enjoy this and start getting ready, and same old story, really.”
However, the Kings are the team with momentum, and the Sharks are the team with the unfortunate history.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
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