SAN JOSE -- Throughout the Sharks' 82-game, 2018-19 campaign, the team's opponents scored the first goal 38 times. Three of those contests fell during San Jose’s four-game season series against the Vegas Golden Knights, and all three of those opening goals occurred less than five minutes into the game. Heck, in their first meeting of the season back on November 24, William Karlsson put the Knights on the board 1-0 just 14 seconds into the contest.
“That was a problem of ours all year,” Logan Couture told NBC Sports California after Sharks’ morning skate ahead of Game 1 against those same Golden Knights. “I think we gave up a lot of goals on the first shot in the first couple minutes of a game.”
The stakes are high for Team Teal in this rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs second round, when the Knights knocked the Sharks out of the Cup run in six games. Now San Jose, with a healthy roster that has redemption on its mind, knows how important it is to not let Vegas get the early jump.
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“Start well, and if we can, get the first one and go from there,” Couture said. “(The Knights) come out strong. They’re a good team, they try to jump on you on the first shift. If you’re out on your first shift of the game, have a good one.”
Erik Karlsson, who is gearing up for his first playoff game with the Sharks, agreed. “I think we’re a team that starts well. That’s one of our key identities, and that’s something I think we’ve been lacking a little bit lately.”
Keeping Vegas from getting on the board early becomes an even more important piece of the puzzle with eyes across the league trained on this series’ goaltending matchup. Martin Jones ended his regular season campaign with a 2.94 goals-against average and .896 save percentage. (Although to be fair, Marc-Andre Fleury was shaky at the end of the regular season for Vegas, letting in four goals in his second-to-last start and five goals in the season finale.) While Jones’ playoff numbers from previous seasons are impressive, it’s imperative for him and the defense in front of him to hold down the fort when the Knights’ offense comes surging into the Sharks’ zone early on.
One key when it comes to working to keep Vegas off the board early is to play with a high level of “desperation” -– a word Sharks’ bench boss Peter DeBoer used frequently throughout the regular season. With the “second season” about to get underway, the head coach told NBC Sports California he doesn’t think desperation will be a problem – but how the Sharks react to adversity during the series can play a part.
San Jose Sharks
“I don’t think there are any speeches you need to make about being desperate or being hungry or being ready to compete,” he said. “For me, it’s how we respond to what happens out there. I think our response to what Vegas has done in the past hasn’t been great. We’ve worked on it and gotten better at it this year. That’s going to be a key piece of this.”
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However the puck bounces in the first few minutes, this series is no doubt going to be an intense one. The Sharks and Knights have played each other tough all season, and with San Jose looking to avenge last year’s second-round exit at the hands of Vegas, that tension and excitement are only going to be escalated.
“It’s fun to play at this time of the year because it’s fun to play against other teams that are doing well,” Karlsson said. “It’s a great challenge and we’re looking forward to that.”