The San Jose Sharks slayed their dragon by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in an entertaining six-game series.

They’ll be taking on the underdog Nashville Predators who just upset the Pacific Division champs in the Anaheim Ducks.

San Jose will start with home-ice advantage.

Here’s a look at how the two teams match up.

ADVANCED STATS:

Sharks: 5on5CF% – 51.7; 5on5Sv% – .923; 5on5Sh% – 7.79; PDO = 100.1

Predators: 5on5CF% – 52.5; 5on5Sv% – 92.20; 5on5Sh% – 7.26; PDO – 99.5

(via stats.hockeyanalysis.com)

Head-to-head

San Jose: 1-2-0

Nashville: 2-0-1

LAST GAME PLAYED HEAD-TO-HEAD:

The Sharks had to mount a comeback against the Predators in early April, doing so when Logan Couture scored the winner in a shootout to take it 3-2.

LAST TIME THEY MET IN THE PLAYOFFS:

It’s been a while but the Sharks and Preds have faced off twice in the post-season, in 2005-06 and in ’06-’07 when San Jose cruised to a 4-1 series victory. Peter Forsberg potted a couple of goals for the Preds in a losing cause, Tomas Vokoun was the backstop in Nashville and Patrick Marleau scored the series-winner in Game 5.

SAN JOSE’S HIGHLIGHT OF ROUND 1:

Even with a 3-1 series lead, the Sharks were far from eliminating the Los Angeles Kings. Remember, they blew a 3-0 series lead in 2014 (because I’m sure you needed the reminder). So this beautiful toe drag, top shelf snipe by Joonas Donskoi to put the Sharks up 1-0 early in Game 5 was a huge table setter. The Sharks did take a 3-0 lead in the game that they blew, but rather than fold, they were the ones to respond and came away with a 6-3 victory to eliminate the Kings. This year is different.



NASHVILLE’S HIGHLIGHT OF ROUND 1:

This is what GM David Poile was hoping to see when he acquired his franchise centre Ryan Johansen in a trade for Seth Jones.







