The view from San Jose

The possibility remains for a first-round playoff series between the Kings and the San Jose Sharks, and wouldn’t that be something? The teams have played five times this season — with one remaining — and have had two low-scoring games, three high-scoring games, one in which the Kings dominated and one in which the Sharks dominated. A little bit of everything. The Sharks are still sitting in a good spot. They’re 13-2-3 since Feb. 13 and certainly hold their Pacific Division fate in their own hands, as they finish the season with three games against Phoenix, two against Anaheim and one each against Dallas and the Kings. Here’s how last night’s Kings-Sharks game was covered by the San Jose Mercury News, followed by some additional quotes from the Sharks’ locker room…

Sharks rally to earn point, lose in shootout

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COACH TODD MCLELLAN
(on the late game-tying goal…) “You never expect something like that to happen. I’m glad that our guys were persistent on the puck. It was bouncing around like crazy.  We talked about throwing pucks to the net and good things would happen. We didn’t do it for the first two periods; it took us 40 minutes to figure out that that’s what we needed to do. We were fortunate, with three seconds, left to get it.”

(on Patrick Marleau’s game…) “Patty scored a real good one late in the third. He’s really played well lately; he’s scored big goals for our team. I thought that, even from the beginning of the game, I thought he showed up to play. I thought we were missing some players early. You can’t win at this time of the year with only 12 or 13, the rest only watching or gliding along.”

(on the season series against the Kings…) “Against a team like that, that’s not a bad record. They’re a very good team, they play a strong game along the boards, they protect the puck well, they’re very good defensively, their goaltending is outstanding, their penalty kill is good. Sounds like a very challenging team for anyone to play against, not only now but in the playoffs.”

DANY HEATLEY
(on the game…) “Certainly when it’s 3-2, that’s a great way to get that point. Throughout the game, I thought there were good moments and bad moments. I thought we took probably too many penalties, but we showed a lot of resiliency, not only coming back from the 3-2 but the 2-1 and entering that point, and then the shootout anything can happen.”

(on Logan Couture’s game…) “He’s found a way to score goals and make plays and get things done out there. He’s scored a lot of big goals and been in on a lot of big plays for us.”

(on the Sharks’ potential playoff seeding…) “I think an `easy’ first round is not going to happen. We have to face a good, quality team. I think it’s been a fight all year, not only in our division but throughout the conference. Whomever you get in the first round is going to be a tough one.”