SAN JOSE, CA – The second and fifth seeds in the Western Conference begin their third round series and it starts in the intimidating setting of the SAP Center, also known as the “Shark Tank” tonight. Separated by just two points in the regular season, the Sharks with 101 and the Blues with 99, this conference duel is about as evenly matched as a hockey fan could want.
In hosting the Blues, San Jose comes off two grueling, seven-game rounds. The Sharks opened the postseason against Vegas, whose upstart efforts in their inaugural campaign carried over into their second season, posing a threat to the team in teal.
After winning Game 1, San Jose lost the next three, creating a challenging situation for the highly-rated club. After goaltender Martin Jones regaining his confidence and producing solid play in Game 5, the Sharks then won the final three games, topped off with a Game 7 victory after a controversial, late-in-regulation call which game them a five-minute power play midway through the final frame where they scored four goals. The comeback was just the 29th time in NHL history a team had won a series after falling behind three games to one.
San Jose then battled Colorado in the second round, a surging club fueled by a youthful group of high-draft pick players which only looks to get better in the short-term. The Avalanche gave San Jose fits and despite never taking a lead in games won during the season, never feel behind by more than a game and completed until the end, a 3-2 victory by the Sharks.
San Jose season began with a slow start, even after the arrival of Erik Karlsson from Ottawa before the current campaign began. After struggling to get chemistry among the team, the Sharks began to get some traction in December after going 12-9-5 before entering the final calendar month of the season. San Jose then went 34-18-4 the next 56 games, just falling six points short of Pacific-winning Calgary.
Still holding home-ice advantage, San Jose hosts the hottest team in the NHL. St. Louis. To appreciate just how special the Blues’ run has been, you have to look back to November 20th when the first of many changes began to occur for a team whose record was 7-9-3. It was then that Mike Yeo was relieved of his duties amid a last place position in the 31-team circuit, in-fighting among players during games on the bench and at practice, all contributing to a disappointing start to what was to be such a promising season after many new and talented players were brought in over the off-season.
Craig Berube, serving as an assistant at the time, was installed as interim coach with former St. Louis players Steve Ott and Mike Van Ryn as his assistants. In the next 18 games, the club went 8-9-1 and on January 3rd, played Washington at home. While the 5-2 victory against the defending champion Capitals was sweet, it was possible Robert Bortuzzo’s dropping of gloves against Tom Wilson that may have sparked what has become an epic season. Wilson had been suspended for a pre-season hit he delivered to St. Louis Oskar Sundqvist, leading to a lengthy stay in the injured list and the Washington ruffian a 14-game suspension.
Goalie Jordan Binnington (#50) of the St Louis Blues makes a glove save
Two days later, rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, made his NHL debut, posting a 3-0 shutout against Philadelphia, the first result beginning a rookie regular season campaign of 24-5-1 with a 1.89 goals against average and a 0.927 save percentage.
Since January 3rd, St. Louis then went 29-10-3. In their only two meetings of the season, the Blues defeated the league’s top team, Tampa Bay, who enjoyed a record setting campaign of 62-16-4. St. Louis even held the top spot in the No other team had ever gone from last to the playoffs and the Blues are not done yet in what is their seventh trip to the round leading up to the Cup Final. They have advanced to challenge for the Cup just three times, all in their first three campaigns, beginning in 1967-68.
Here is a breakdown of the key elements of the third round battle between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues.
After some anxious moments in the first season against Vegas, the Sharks have become an offensive threat. In the regular season, the team had 11 players with 10 or more goals. They led the league in goals per game at 3.52, second only to the high-octane Tampa Bay Lightning who ended the regular season with 3.92 goals per game.
Tomas Hertl (48) looks to make a pass – Photo by Jack Lima
In 14 playoff games, San Jose’s Tomas Hertl and Logan Courture have netted 9 goals with defenseman Brent Burns pitting 5. All three have 14 points and lead a balanced attack sure to give St. Louis’ big and mobile defense fits.
St. Louis has shown a resilience in winning games they end up grinding out for one-goal victories. In thirteen games and posting an 8-5 record, St. Louis won all four, first-round games against Winnipeg by one goal and three of their four wins against Dallas were by one goal. Incidentally, two of their losses were by one goal.
Brent Burns, File Photo by Jack Lima
After delivering a franchise-record 13 players with 10 or more goals, Vladimir Tarasenko led the pack with 33 while newcomer Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron followed with 28 and 23 respectively. They finished 15th overall in goals against through 82 games at 2.98 goals per game, but the mid-range ranking has more to do with the poor early results, than the recent trend. In the playoffs, Jaden Schwartz leads with 8, Tarasenko has 5 while second round, Game 7 hero Pat Maroon has 3, tied with Perron for third on the team.
Right Wing Vladimir Tarasenko (#91) of the St Louis Blues
The balanced threats from both teams make for an exciting offensive output.
On the back-end, San Jose leads their defensive strength with Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, each of which log the most ice time among team defensemen. In the playoffs, Burns is averaging nearly 30 minutes while Karlsson is just behind his teammate with just more than 25. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun are spending more than 25 and 21 minutes respectively while Brendan Dillon (16:37), Tim Heed (11:51) and Joakim Ryan (8:00) are sharing the bottom two spots in the rotation.
For St. Louis in the postseason, captain Alex Pietrangelo and Colton third-year giant Colton Paryko are tops in team ice-time with 25:43 and 23:51 minutes respectively in the playoffs. Veteran Jay Bouwmeester looks invigorated with 22:47 minutes in the action and newcomer Vince Dunn has logged 16:39 minutes. The final two spots have been shared by Joel Edmundson with 16:19 minutes followed by Carl Gunnarsson with 15:44 and Robert Bortuzzo with 14:01, with the latter expected to get more play in this series.
In the blue paint, Martin Jones has been spectacular after a shaky first four games in goal during the first round. Since those games, he has gone 7-3 and has a current playoff year record of 8-5 (Aaron Dell had the Game 2 loss to Vegas on April 12th) with a 2.72 goals against average and a 0.910 save percentage. His recent play has fueled the Sharks to a deserving final four post.
St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington is the story of the year, igniting an historic season which propelled him to become a Calder Trophy Finalist and earliler discussion in the Vezina conversation before nominations where announced. He has had a calming influence on the powerful St. Louis defense. Posting a record of 8-5 in the postseason with a 2.39 goals against average and a 0.915 save percentage, Binnington seems unfazed by the added attention showering him. The overhead view of his reaction to Maroon’s double overtime winner against Dallas is indicative of his calm demeanor.
All of these elements roll up under the direction of two solid coaches, one of which who has long been solid and one of which who is just now enjoying success at the NHL level.
Peter DeBoer leads a Sharks club who last enjoyed post-season success in the third round under his direction in 2016 when San Jose battled St. Louis to a 4-2 series victory before falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins by that same tally for the Stanley Cup. DeBoer also led a talented New Jersey Devils club in the 2012 Final, losing to Los Angeles in six games.
Blues bench boss Craig Berube is enjoying success at the NHL for the first time in the post season. A Jack Adams Finalist, Berube has transformed his team just six weeks after taking over, fueling a resurgence in a team which disappointed in the first three months of the season to a genuine threat to win their first Stanley Cup.
This should be a great tilt and it gets started tonight. The schedule for the series is below:
Saturday, May 11, 8 p.m.: Blues @ Sharks | NBC, SN, CBC, TVA Sports
Monday, May 13, 9 p.m.: Blues @ Sharks | NBCSN, SN, CBC, TVA Sports
Wednesday, May 15, 8 p.m.: Sharks @ Blues | NBCSN, SN360, CBC, TVA Sports
Friday, May 17, 8 p.m.: Sharks @ Blues | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports
*Sunday, May 19, 3 p.m.: Blues @ Sharks | NBC, SN, CBC, TVA Sports
*Tuesday, May 21, 8 p.m.: Sharks @ Blues | NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports
*Thursday, May 23, 9 p.m.: Blues @ Sharks | NBC, SN1, CBC, TVA Sports
* if necessary
Dennis Morrell has a lengthy background in the great game as a hockey writer, photographer, goalie coach, player and currently active USA Hockey-certified referee with over 1,000 games under his striped jersey. His passion for the game began in the early 70s with his first glance at skaters in Clayton’s Shaw Park. He can be reached at dennis.morrell@prohockeynews.com and you can follow him on Twitter at DMMORRELL.
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