The Sharks Move On, The Kings Go Home

Crossing down the line, behind the net, crashing the net in front. Joe Thornton scores and the San Jose Sharks clinch the series and move on to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Joe Thornton gives it to them.

Yeah, that would probably be my radio play-by-play if I was announcing something on TSN or Versus or whatever. Point is, the San Jose Sharks have finally ousted their bitter rivals in the series, the Los Angeles Kings, and as such have allowed themselves to move on in the series, getting rid of a few demons along the way.



Throughout the series, I thought it would go back and forth with both teams struggling to gain some systematic advantage in this series. But in the end, the LA Kings really could not stop an overpowerful San Jose team that was hungry to get to the second round.



But I'll move back to the San Jose Sharks in a moment and we'll just talk about what happened to the Los Angeles Kings in this series. Well, for one, it's their defense. Yes, it looked stellar at times, and it helped them get two big wins on the road, but it really didn't translate to their home-ice advantage. They lost all three gams at home and they lost all three games that went into overtime. (Games 1, 3, and 6) Jonathan Quick did all he could in this series, but ultimately the lack of offense and the pressure of the defense really couldn't help these Kings get out of the hole and into the second round. They have not advanced to the second round in two seasons and haven't been able to do so since the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals when Wayne Gretzky was still on the team. He even attended the game they still weren't able to get themselves the win that would've allowed them to go to Game 7. Their powerplay was also horrendous. It was only 5-for-24 in the series, meaning the Sharks knew how to use defense when down a man.

That's enough about the LA Kings. Now to give my time to the San Jose Sharks. I'd like to say congratulations to them because they showed a lot of heart and knew how to keep the LA Kings behind them, except in that Game 3 but they came back and won it. I think some things can be changed for the second round, such as defense. All in all, however, the Sharks proved they knew they can fight even through the toughest times on the ice. Their offense was intact. Antti Niemi proved to be the big star in net in this series and guys like Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton stepped it up in big ways to allow for the Sharks to move on to the second round.

But there are some things that need to be cleared up. The emotional factor is a big deal but some players like Jamie McGinn need to keep themselves in check and prevent their big hits, which McGinn received and had a game misconduct that pretty much allowed the Kings to remain on the powerplay for the rest of regulation.

A good series, I must say. Probably one of the best series I've seen in such a long while. Back and forth game, but the Sharks ultimately took it out. Now that the Ducks and the Kings are out, the Sharks are the only California team that's still left in the playoffs. And they still got a long way to go.