The View from San Jose

CSNBAYAREA.COM

Kevin Kurz: Sharks don’t waver after falling behind early in Game 2

Incredibly, the Sharks were more dominant in Sunday night’s 7-2 win than they were in Game 1, when they basically cruised to a 6-3 victory to open the series.

The only real difference from Thursday was the start. Instead of striking for three goals in the opening frame like they did in Game 1, the Sharks couldn’t solve Quick, who looked like his elite self in turning aside scoring chance after scoring chance while helping the Kings maintain a 2-0 lead at the break.

Kevin Kurz: Fourth line showing Sharks have more depth than Kings

Contributing on the scoresheet is a welcome development. Torres now has two goals in as many playoff games, also getting one in Game 1.

“It’s huge,” Torres said. “You just look at all the teams that go deep and win games in the playoffs, everybody is contributing. Tonight it was our line to get it going, and the big guys took over.”

Ray Ratto: Through two games, Sharks-Kings proving everyone a liar

San Jose boatraced the Kings Sunday, 7-2, making Thursday’s 6-3 win a taut affair by comparison. The Sharks were quicker and bigger from top to bottom, and essentially made a hash of everything L.A. coach Darryl Sutter thought could work. In other words, the Sharks have more goals after two games in this series than they did in the entirety of their second-round loss to the Kings last year, and rendered Kings goalie Jonathan Quick a javelin catcher.

Which is exactly what they swear cannot continue, the fibbing fibbers.

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

David Pollak: Sharks crush Kings, take 2-0 series lead

The offense kicked in after McLellan made the long anticipated move of slotting Pavelski back in his earlier role as third-line center and moved Tomas Hertl up to the top line alongside Thornton and Brent Burns.

“You have to do what’s right for the team,” McLellan said. “What was right for the team tonight was Pav playing in that three hole for a couple periods, and guess what? He got rewarded. When we get to L.A. he could very well be back up on that wing, and away we go.”

Carl Steward: Sharks get boost from fourth line

The unusual scoring binge notwithstanding, Desjardins thought his line with Brown and Torres was only doing what it was supposed to do with the Sharks facing such a tough uphill climb after the opening 20 minutes.

“The job of any fourth line is to come in and create momentum for your team,” he said. “Lay the body and be effective that way, and if you can chip in, you chip in. Tonight, we were fortunate enough to get two goals.”

Mark Purdy: Sharks win, but series far from over

“We’ve got a big test in a couple of nights,” said Sharks forward Raffi Torres, speaking of Tuesday’s Game 3 at Staples Center. “We’re kidding ourselves if we think it’s going to be like this in L.A.”

Torres is correct. But man, it sure was fun to see the Kings try to play Whack-A-Shark at SAP Center. Whack-A-Shark is a little like the arcade game Whack-A-Mole, except with more spearing penalties and blood.

GRANTLAND

Katie Baker: We Went There: A Night in the Shark Tank

Sports fans and opinionistas have famously short memories, but in the playoffs you might as well be dealing with a bunch of protagonists from Memento. The Sharks are up 2-0 against the Kings right now, yes, but those planning the parade route past the Guadalupe River should be reminded that all San Jose has done so far is defend home ice. (A necessary element, considering their dismal record in L.A.’s Staples Center.) When the Sharks and Kings played each other last postseason, the home team won all seven games.

NHL.COM

Corey Masisak: Sharks’ seven-goal blitz routs Kings

Seven different Sharks scored Sunday, three days after six different guys in black did the same in a 6-3 victory in Game 1. The Kings will need to find an answer for San Jose’s speed and efficiency on the rush in a hurry, because Game 3 of this series is Tuesday night at Staples Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS, CSN-CA, PRIME).

The Sharks had seven goals against Quick after Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinal series last season. They put seven past him in 25:41 on Sunday. San Jose scored 10 goals on Quick in the 2013 postseason series; they had 12 against him and another into an empty net barely past the midpoint of Game 2 in this one.

Eric Gilmore: Fourth line sparks Sharks in Game 2 rout of Kings

The agitating trio of Torres, Brown and Desjardins clearly appeared to irritate the Kings, especially late in the game. At one point Kings defenseman Matt Greene drew four minutes for roughing after Torres came to a stop in Quick’s crease. Torres got two minutes, a bloody cut above an eye then chants of “Raf-fi! Raf-fi” from Sharks fans.

“It’s nice,” said Torres, who also scored a goal in the Sharks’ 6-3 win in Game 1. “I don’t know what to say. It’s kind of weird.”

ESPN.COM

Pierre LeBrun: Sharks’ onslaught has Kings stunned

Wave after wave after wave, from the top line to the fourth line, the Sharks’ speed and forecheck is causing mayhem for the Kings, who look slow-footed and a step behind as the Sharks dominate puck possession and produce odd-man rush after odd-man rush.

“I know that we need to play that way,” McLellan said of his team’s heart-stopping pace. “We’ve got to get the puck going.

SB Nation – FEAR THE FIN

Jake Sundstrom: Sharks crush Kings to take 2-0 series lead

Despite the Sharks controlling most of the play following the Kings first goal, Jonathan Quick denied all comers including great saves against Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingels. As the narrative gods demand, a great save at one end resulted in a nifty goal on the other as a slick pass from Jeff Carter found the stick of Trevor Lewis who deflected it past Niemi to make it 2-0 L.A.

In an effort to further the Mike Brown Is A Valuable Player narrative, the face-punching, goalie-running, former-Oiler received a pass in between the dots and shot one over the right shoulder of Quick to end the shutout. Moments later Jarret Stoll committed a silly penalty to send the Sharks on the man-advantage — Brown, momentum changer, is well on his way to becoming the series MVP.

The Neutral: On Easter Sunday, Todd McLellan had his come-to-Jesus moment

“I thought as the game was going on they had us running around a little bit with the line matchups,” McLellan said afterwards. “They obviously scrambled it and I didn’t like the way it was going in our end. We needed something else.”

And they got something else. The next time Tomas Hertl stepped on the ice—a little over two minutes following the conclusion of the shift that saw he, Sheppard and Wingels surrender three shot attempts while spending the entirety of it in their own zone—it was with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Forty-one seconds later, the seven-goal comeback began. Coincidence? For sure, to some extent. Despite being down two goals, the Sharks hadn’t been playing poorly. But the move of Hertl to his customary spot on the top line and Joe Pavelski to third-line center in order to stabilize a unit in total lack of stability since its inception has been a long time coming. As expected, it allowed the Sharks to mount an unrelenting offensive push; just wave after wave of pressure that ultimately drowned the Kings as the new-look third line of Pavelski, Sheppard (who, unsurprisingly, was far more effective at wing than he ever was at center) and Wingels along with the second and fourth lines generated two goals apiece in San Jose’s monumental comeback effort.