Despite playoff history, Sharks don’t have a Stanley Cup
The San Jose Sharks are in the midst of their 18th Stanley Cup playoff appearance in the past 20 years, a run that included four straight Pacific Division titles.
The Golden Knights qualified for the playoffs in their first year and just won their first series by sweeping the Los Angeles Kings.
Yet the franchises enter their Western Conference semifinal series with the same number of Stanley Cup titles.
The playoffs have not always been the best time of year for the Sharks, whether they were losing Game 7 to the Kings in back-to-back seasons — including one series in which they led 3-0 — or falling to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals.
San Jose hopes to change its fortunes this season, and it appears to be in fine form after sweeping the Ducks in the opening round.
The Sharks are still without mainstay Joe Thornton, who has missed 39 games with a right knee injury and has already been ruled out for Game 1 against the Knights.
San Jose added reinforcements in his absence and is 16-6-1 since acquiring forward Evander Kane from Buffalo and Eric Fehr from Toronto at the trade deadline.
Now they get a chance at the Knights, whom the fans asked for when they chanted, “We Want Vegas!” during a blowout win in Game 3 over the Ducks.
The coaching staff may not be as enthusiastic about the matchup after finishing 1-2-1 against the expansion team this season.
“All I can tell you is I remember playing them in November and walking out and going, ‘This isn’t a mirage. These guys are for real,’” San Jose coach Pete DeBoer said. “Their game was real, the way they came at you, the tenacity they play with, the depth they have. My opinion hasn’t changed. It’s a great test for us.”
The Knights are far from an average first-year team, as longtime Sharks fans are keenly aware. San Jose’s first two seasons in the NHL were dreadful.
The Sharks led the league in losses with 58 in their inaugural 1991-92 season and followed that up with a staggering 71 defeats the next year.
Somehow, San Jose managed to qualify for the playoffs in the 1993-94 season with the biggest turnaround in NHL history, a 58-point swing from a year earlier. The Sharks stunned the vaunted Detroit Red Wings in their first playoff series before a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to Toronto.
Despite the slow start, a passionate fan base was formed in those early years.
“Back then, it was like welcoming a new baby and everyone just wanted to come over and see what it looked like,” said radio play-by-play voice Dan Rusanowski, who has called Sharks games since that first season. “I think Vegas probably has some of that going on now. It really brought the whole community together here.”
Of course, the Knights have been a much cuter baby.
Rusanowski thinks San Jose has some advantages in the series, despite Vegas winning the division title and three of the four regular-season meetings.
“I think the Sharks have a little bit more experience as a group,” he said. “They lost in the finals to Pittsburgh just two years ago, so they’ve got that in the bank. They’ve got veteran leadership and players that have been a part of the culture for a long time. Otherwise, you look up and down the roster and the teams are fairly even and similar. The depth on defense for the Sharks is really a big factor in their success, as well.”
San Jose certainly believes it is playing well enough to advance.
DeBoer scoffed at a reporter’s question this week about whether he would consider pairing a now-healthy Joakim Ryan with defensive star Brent Burns — who played 62 games together before Ryan was injured — or keep Burns with Paul Martin, whom he teamed with the last 11 games of the regular season and the first-round series against Anaheim. Burns and Martin were paired on defense the past two seasons.
“We just won four straight against a great hockey team,” DeBoer said. “I’d be an idiot to make lineup changes. We’ll let you guys overthink that. Make as many lineup changes as you want.
“But unless we find it necessary, why would you mess with how we’re playing right now?”
Gerard Gallant probably feels the same way on the Knights’ bench.
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
